Evening star., 1920-07-04

of danger.
Probably the easiest way to poor
appearance is the necessity OF rebuild
ing other peoples clothes to cover one
body and serve ones needs.
Next to that may be the possession
of sufficient dress allowance TO BUY AT
random and through caprice.
The dressmakers are not always the
best guides for the woman who mas
no opinion of her own as 10 what she
should wear They may have the best
Intentions but their limitations are Sc
rious and far stricter than the EtitE
knows or would understand.
They must work according TO their set
OF models. they have no time 10 orlSl-
nate except in minor matters ana they
would be poor commensurate, unworthy
of the name, if they turned OIL a Gus
TONER merely because she did not like
what they had She must be suited
somehow, by some show of persuasion
and some exercise of tact
= x
The famous dressmakers may be
artists, but they are not equipped 10
suit each persons figure. only lhe
specialists are able TO cope with the
demand for d different frock for each
client, and their prices are necessarily
high. So the woman who depends upon
a sizable bank account to obtain 1or
herself the costumes that Will put her
in the ranks of those who are always
well dressed. is following false theory
She is often deplorably dressed, and
continues to be so throughout her life
1t takes welI-formulated doctrine
of dress to permit. or rather to assist
a woman in her struggles against
those who are often determined 10
dress her according to the last fash
ion. This. also, is part of the cor
mercial art, and it indicates q re-
markable dressmaker who will try 20
sell a customer only that which she
says suits her style.
The seamstreSs is the only worNer
of that kind who will work as she is
directed. And. she can not always fol-
low either a model or the spoken idea,
so one faces dilemma whichever way
she turns for guidance
The fundamental truth of good
dressing however, is to have an iron
bound policy about what you can
wear and what you cannot: the Tor
mer is the more important and to
hold to it throughout all the chang
ing fashions, not avoiding them, but
making them conform to your policy.
No, it is not simple to arrive at
such formula. Women have died
before they have put it in working
order 1t is said of horses that they
can learn to eat sawdust, but they die
as soon as they have learned to do it
So it is with women and clothes-not
always, praise be, but far too often toI
make the idea comforta bic.
The trouble is this: Many women
have a strong idea what they want
and they would like to have the cour-
age to carry it through. but they
shrink from that word "old-fashion
ed 1t has a sinister sound-one of
poverty, of economy, of not being able
to keep up with the procession.
AS it is only the extra rich who
can afford to wear paste replicas of
jewels. SO it is only the rich who can
afford to go through the years wear
ing clothes cut on the same pattern
and in the same color. They are quite
willing that the world should ascribe
it to eccentricity. 1t cannot be put
down to that most humiliating thing
to an American, poverty.
Every woman should really possess
the courage to wear what she knows is
her style, what she is fully convinced is
her way to look well. She should give
up the obsession that possesses most
Americans that they should sacrifice
lovliness to style. theh face TO the figure
and dress in imitation of each other.
1t is true that all countries do this
more or less, since the world has gone
to Paris for its fashions twice a year,
yet out of these replicas stand the
women who dress according to their So
cial requirements, their environments,
their physical virtues and defects.
There are times when they miss the
mark. of course. but they have an un-
doubted personality in their appearance
which the sheep do not possess.
The women who, above all other
types need to study dress with absorp-
ton are those who are undeniably stout.
The world of fashion is not their play
ground. They cannot gambol over the
pastures with the colts The glory and
the charm that is the heritage of the
thin, the willowy, the young, are not
for them. They must tread a careful
path. and it should be hedged with
thorns to keep them from stepping out
of il.
OF course life is made more difficult
for them by this situation. They can
not afford to take shopping lightly. They
cannot buy quickly and carelessly in
order TO have time and vitality for other
pursuits and pleasures. They must
stop, look and listen every time they
get a new garment, and especially a
new hat.
They do not have this task thrust
upon them by middle age. The neces-
sity for performing ii well and learning
the lesson thoroughly comes with the
first sign of heavineSS. As soon as flesh
appears, then is the time to work. The
sooner the theory is outlined and the
experiments turn into organized effort,
just so soon does tranquility set in.
There is no sure way to make the
thick back into the thin, the heavy into
the supple, the stodgy into the sinuous.
Better not count on any InCIHON Jnat
will restore that which has been lost.
Young girls are sometimes compelled to
learn the lesson Of COncealing flesh. and
even flesh itself is not so difficult to
dress as the combination of flesh and
bone and muscle, the component parts
OF a heavy woman.
Nothing il 50 foolish as TO begin by
trying 10 make the world believe one is
thin by reducing the measurements by
torture The tight corset the fitted
frock. a multitude OF whalebones were
the old instruments of flesh torture
America was filed with women who
tried this method Of constraining their
figures once upon Il time They pos
SeSsed the shape which the men OF that
day called a fine figure. one of swelling
curves. strongly compressed, covered
with fabric that followed every indenta-
ton.
There are some men who continue e
admire that kind of figure but there
are no women who do If they possess
il. they deplore it, and few are so care
less of the new method as 10 try to ap-
pear small by compression.
y ! \
Brassieres exist but corsets viii
high busts have disappeared. Tigh
lacing is unknown except as young
sters hear of il. The woman VIII,
would attempt to achieve an eighteen
inch waist todsv would be as mucf
of a curiosity even in this country a
the woman with the Chinese foot.
The method that is modern and ha
proved the best is to loosen the cor
set until there are few indentationS
The waistine is made large to CORE
spond with The size Of the hips anf
bust. That does not mean that III,
measurements must he the same. bu