The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-02-02

THE blouse Is sartorial robin.
IL heralds the approach Of
spring. 1t is the kind Of access
sorry to costume that both pleases and
irritates. That II is usually wrong Is
the verdict Of most women. When 1t
Is right it is very, very right, and that
IL the best that can be said for 1t.
Its possibilities for evil are not
limited. Those who recognize that the
neck line governs the appearance Of
the face know full well the chances for
good and evil that rest in the collar of
n separate waist.
There is no end to the making OF
blouses. as of books. No one can cavil
at the paucity of these garments Any
shop in any town at any time is apt
TO confuse a woman with the multiple
offerings hurled at her across the
counter the moment she asks to look
at blouses.
These bits of the costume are the
small change of the shopkeeper. They
are taken in and out of stock, Off and
on the counter. throughout the differ
ent months of the year. They FIJI in
spaces. They break the monotony of
business which arrives between the
periods of high pressure. 1t is not
true that what a woman wants she
can always get in this department of
dress, but 1t is overwhelmingly true
that whatever she says she wants is
answered by an avalanche of designs
offered to her as the best and the
latest
oh! If only there were a censor to
cut out forever from the vocabulary of
those who sell clothes the expression
1T is the newest thing." Its constant
repetition reminds one of the sugges-
ton made by Ian MacLaren that it
would be a good thing for the Uni
versity Of Edinburgh to have a chair
of humor, for 1t would keep many a
dry body out of the Presbyterian
pulpit.
Out of the mass of women who
search for blouses at this time of
the year and who are very often Sc
duced into buying the wrong thing
because they listen to the statement
that it is the --latest thing" there
oiiSV AN" "ho hiio"
what they want in blouses and who
get it. Many know what they want
in life. but few achieve It, which is
an old bit Of philosophy that applies
to the art OF apparel
Certain shops rest firmly on this
foundation of the individualist' in
sistence upon having exactly what she
wishes Some shopkeepers have been
able to buy country houses and motor
cars through catering to this class of
women. and not trying to persuade
them into buying a host of things
which are not expressive of their type
Naturally, it would not be possible for
the shops. great and small, to keep a
limited line OF blouses which some
buyers have chosen for reasons good
and true, for thousands OF women
buy blouse as they buy dug-with
little actual knowledge OF its good or
bad points; they take the word Of
some one else and let it go at that.
These women bring money to a shop
and they insist upon variety
Out of this capriciousness arise mill
ions of addressed women. Variety
may be the spice of life. but 1t is
rarely the spice of dress. The woman
who knows her type and sticks to
it is the one who gets ahead above
her fellow women, after the fashion
of the asps in a Grecian urn.
The individualist, therefore. does not
as rule go to the large shops for her
blouses. She goes to those. certain
small places that rest their fame on
giving these women what they desire.
Here there is no persuasive siren calls