The sun., 1919-02-09
War Lessons Have Impressed Value of Utility Garments
and Developed Materials From Which to Make
lhem-One of the Greatest Improvements
Is the Discarding of Rubbers

~ yoMEN should take tho rainy
M/ day seriously. They should
w not save up for Il; they
should prepare for It The Saving up"
process may sound wise to philosophers
and Il may appeal 70 financiers when
translated IN terms Of coins: but when
(. applies to apparel the philosophy
and tire practice are all wrong.
Can any woman answer the Ques-
ton as to why she should look her
worst on a day when she needs to
Iook her best7 Why does she feel
ina. every occasion in life requires
q certain kind Of costume except a
fay Of bad weather? Thinking along
the right track would make one con-
fdent that a special costume for a
rainy day Is as necessary as one for
dinner party. The average woman.
in fact the vast majority OF women,
viii tell you that they wear out their
old clothes when the skies are gray,
me snow flies and the rain soaks the
atmosphere and floods the streets.
There are individuals who achieve
n life the distinction of wearing old
clothes as we'll as they do new ones;
q investing any costume with GER
ain chic. But these are individuals.
rars types among women who are en-
led by all the others and who are en-
aoled through this personal achieve
snsnt to be economical II they so desire.
Ihsy arc a class apart; they are not
models for other women. No one can
initiate them. An extraordinary dis
notion in dress is a gift. as Harry
lauder says. and not a habit.
Vow. cutting out these women who
lay do anything they Please IN the
-aalm Of dress, there is a world OF
women to be guided, counselled and
c3ided in the kind OF clothes they save
- for bad weather. II clothes cannot
'a worn in the sunshine 1t is obvious
nat they are unbecom!ng, ungraceful.
ont Of style. They must have serious
defects or they would continue in har-
ness. Hung in the dark corners Of the
c,oset and taken out only for the dark
hours Of the day, they canno, be eX-
rected 70 glorify or enhance a woman's
appearance. Yet one finds almost in
variably that these are the clothes
which DOT the streets on rainy days:
hat appear in the shops and that do
duty at luncheon.
And what IS the result? A woman
dresses herself in all the things that
she dislikes and has discarded. goes
abroad under gray sky and finds her.
self accepting an invitation TO luncf,
"r dropping in for an afternoon tea
when the sun is shining. the streets
are dry, and she looks like the symbol
81 an old clothes shop.
Another curious phase in a woma ms
mind concerning wet weather costum-
cry IL that she must wrap herself UP
n weishty garments that exhaust her
Ter two hours wear. She does not
ring into her bad weather apparel the
same cleverness that she exercises in
hsr other cold weather clothes. She
1ss learned. however. through many
rnd cnNlents tlat weight Is not neCeS-
aarily warmth; that excessive warmth
Is injurious when one Is exercising
and that It is unhealthy TO constantly
wing from a hot shop to cold stree:
n clothes intended for the tempera-
-rre Of the latter ana not the former.
Takine II by and large. she merely
onlits bad weather from her calcula-
Ions when arranging her wardrobe.
Sire trusts to chance and to old clothes
. carry her through.
Sah judgment. this. Tho American
woman lives in a climate that disports
self capriciously throughout the win
ter and early spring, with no inten-
''oa Of remaining serene and quiet
or more than a few days at a
e'-etch. II was hackeray, wasn't 1t,
Who said that the American climate
d'vided itself into billiards of cold sue
ls-ded by billiards OF heat?
The truth is there is an interim. a
"eskly interim between the two. and
fo- this the average American woman
uoes not prepare. II she had one