Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-11-17


is the feeling that surges in every
woman's mind and heart when. Wash
ington says. infrequently, what can
be done in our own chosen line Of
work at slight expenditure of
. The alleged dress reform BY the
White House leaders In the early
Roosevelt administration was like q
burning torch thrown where there
was gunpowder--every one tried fran
tically to stamp it out. To dress we'll
and for social occasions as well as
everyday nfe-on $500 a year was
an, and during those years the price
of all clothing was far beneath the
present SCALE
Now. when washington-throug
through the White House.gi ts A as
the average cost of being well dressed
the following figures, one feels like
giving up the whole problem of how
to look wen on little. The total yearly
who make smart appearance (the
phrase belongs with the statistics) is
$126 year. Can you do it?
Outside clothing lsuits, coats, sweatr
efes sat ys iiss a sSoss sss iss5
gloves. ss:s2; stockings. $3.50; corsets,
$3.41; underwear, $7.18, and miscel-
laneous, $14.2z.
AS REGARDS external clOth.nR. IL
would appear that the average wage
earning woman who is we'll dressed
usually chooses these items of her
wardrobe from the following priced
articles: Suit or coat (alternate years),
SIS to $50; shirt waists. SO to SIS; one
piece dress. SIS; wool skirt, IS to $40;
summer skirts. 50 to IS; party dress
(worn for two years., $25.
III close economy is necessary q
j. skirt at about IS may be worn with
separate waists in lieu of SIS one
piece dress, or q dress waist worn with
q suit may be substituted for an even
ing dress, or a winter coat may be
worn Tor three seasons, or an evening
Of the range of choice 1t appears that
woman may reasonably be expected
to secure outside clothing for a good
$40 to SIS.
LAS regards articles Of dress other
than outside clothing, the necessary
expenditures would be distributed
roughly as follows: Hats, SO to sis;
stoeaines g to ~ eorset sss g to g:
underwear, IS to SO. and misce1ia-
eous, approximately $40. Allowing for
individual variation in prices and
.ture of from $50 to $50 for these ar
ticles. which as a rule have to be re-
placed each year.
"Combining these two amounts-out-
articles Of dress, $50 to sso-the total
yearly expenditure would range from
$40 to $1s5. averaging approximately,
Il
True, these are wage-earning wom-
en-. the story points out; but it adds
that they are as well dressed as the
immense majority Of women who have
no more than. and often not nearly as
much as. the wage-earner to spend on
clothes: and furthermore, as idlers are
rare these days the budget may be
taken as intended for the average
woman. No one includes the million
aire In any form OF appeal, informa-
ton or advice to women on the mat
ter of clothes.
THE rest of this story is not to point
out that this thing can be done. The
cs Be- By a TIE mso
can draw her own conclusions and in
dulge in any of the outbursts that
her temperament demands or inspires
II she can gain from 1t inspiration and
stimulation for her own expenditures
then she has solved difficult problem,
the worst next to food, which Is how
tp be clothed on next to nothing.
Wen. figures belong to the Individual
but fashions 20 the multitude: there
fore 1t 10 easier to be dictatorial
about the latter than the former. The
law is better established; the mathe-
NAUTICAL average has no part. Fashions
, are, or they are not. They are launched
Gwen II they do not succeed, and the
exceeding interest in them Is often
caused by the great gamble which Is
connected with them.
The directoire inspiration in the un-
corseted figure is a gamble, roughly
speaking. 1t was launched some
months ago, but the public thought 1t
one Of those revivals that rarely get
beyond the salons Of the extreme de-
signers Yet this inspiration has sur
ytved the months, and 1t grows In
fashion, II not In grace. We call 1t
airectoire merely because that epoch
IN dress exploited 1t, along with a host
OF other fashions that were taken up
In the name Of classic" 1t started as
reaction from the furbelows Of the
pre-revolutionary time, as worn by
Marie Antoinette. It was called the
Greek costume, and the historians tell
US that It came about through the
attempt OF two famous young sculptors
to cut pattern for such a robe for a