Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-11-09
DOROTHY DIX TALKS :
A Few More Fig Leaves
BY DOROTHY DIX
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman Writer.
T T is cheering news to hear that the mis-
l sant Eodora+io. &c u 49, -. -. - -


turned it's attention to the matter oil
dress reform, particularly as it applies to
young girls, and has gone on record as ad T
Vocatlng the lengthening of feminine gar
nents at both ends, and adding few more
layers OF thickness to the string of beads
that now does service for a bodice
Heaven knows it is time that someboG-
called halt on the dsrobing mania thalS
seems to be affecting the women of the So
called civilized world-a mania that has
nothing to recommend it because it is an az
front to both decency and art.
Conceding that morality is largely mat
ter or geography, we must also admit that
we OF the Northern Hemisphere are out of
the latitude in which a woman can appearz
IN pubic IN semi-nude state and still main |
tain the perfect flower of her modesty Al
belle of the Zulu Islands may be able to com
b1ne the soul of a white dove with grass
mat as her only costume, but that is a eli \
matte achievement of which we are incap4s
able.
The influence of dress is more potent upon
women than all of the ten commandments
and no honest. person will deny that one of
the main reasons that the young girls of TOD
day are bolder and more forward than their6
mothers and grandmothers, is because they
are less clothed. For when a woman throws
away almost all of her seven wells, she throws
away with them lot of her reserve, modesty|
and innocence.
they sin against art, in the present undress4
ed fashion We might forgive the nude in
society If every woman were a Venus de-
Milo, and built along specifications that raw.
ish the eye with their beauty.
But, alas and alack, such is far from being
the case. Clothes have been the mantle oil
charity that covered tubs of fat, and gravel
yards full of bones, and none of. us had the'
remotest idea of how many grotesque femi4
nine forms nature had perpetrated units
women began shea-ing off their frocks at tho
bottom and cutting them out at the necks
Then what a spectacle we have beheld Of
mile post ankles, and splay feet; of low
necks and triple chins; of wish-bones and liv.y
ing skeletons! Surely women have brok ED
their mirrors and To-. their sense of humorI
or else they would make a frantic grab foI5
the concealing, the alluring petticoat again
and the swathing chiffons that take the curse
off either flesh or thinness.
But the reform in women's clothes is like
all other reforms. 1t must start from With
in, and that is what makes it encouraging I'd
hear that the Federation of Women's clubs
has taken the matter up, for this great or1
ganization can put it across If it so desires.
The trouble with the individual mother in
trying to make her daughter dress modestlyj
is that she runs counter to what all the
other girls are doing, and mothers influenced
as compared to the influence of the mob, id
null and void. If all the other girls are wear
little Eve alive that can be induced to add
third fig leaf to her costume.
Therefore, to get any results, mothers must
act in concert, and when the hundreds OF
thousands of mothers who compose the Fed1
Grafton of Women's clubs put down them
broad, fat-soled, sensible, mddle-aged feet
on any abuse, it l., going to be squashed aa
fiat as pancake, and cease to exist.
Why, they could make red flannel fasf1
ionable a ball gown and every girl crazy
to wear it, if they wanted to- For these
women carry around in their little handbags
the money that keeps the retail trade going
and the minute that they say, with one voice.
that they want decent clothes for their
girls, and will buy no other, that instant del
signers, dressmakers, tailors and manufact7
urers will get busy making up garments that
will combine beauty, style and modesty.
And Mamie, and Sadie, and Katie will bel
just as crazy about the new sensible-lengthI
skirts, and the modest decolletes, as they areI
about the see-more garments that they
are wearing, for they will be the latest things
in the shops, and all the girls will be wear
ing them.
Women have not yet realized what Al
tremendous power they hold in their hands,
through being the purse bearers, for it is the
wives and mothers Who spend the money that
the husbands and fathers earn.
1t is the middle-aged women who buy theI
clothes, and furniture, who decide on what
PAPERS and magazines shall be taken, what
books read, what places of amusement shs!l|
be attended. Therefore. these mothers, III
they will act in concert, can set the styles,|
and make or ruin any place of business, or|
amusement by giving or Withholding their
patronage.
No manufacturer would put out type of|
garment they refuse to buy. No dance hall
would permit the kind of dancing that they
would not let their daughters dance. mol
theater would put on plays that they would
not let their daughters see, and that they
would not see themselves.
So after all, the whole thing is up to the|
mothers. They can make the world exactly
the sort of place they want their children|
to live in, for the hand that pays, rules the
world.
1t is wonderful to think what the combined
mother influence might do. And terrible to|
think how little it does do. Perhaps theI
Fed ration of Women's clubs is going to|
mobilize this great power and put it into NC
ton. If it does, it will be the lever of ArcLi-
medes that will left the universe and raisS!
it up to higher things.