Evening star., 1920-05-30
Popularity Of Cotton
Garments in Warm
Weather Use of
Such Fabrics as Dish
Toweling, Denim,
Calico and Cotton
Wolfe for Blouses
That Transform
Skirts Into Frocks.
BY ANNE RITTENH0UsE.

coat suit O1ten CdFeISSSiS uouSHe
and used by the dozen. The
reason for its new Importance is that 1t
combines with the skirt to make one
piece frock 1t has held this position Of
honor throughout the winter. But It
has new luster cast upon it by the sum-
mer eason.
Economy may thrust its head through
all ones efforts at good dressing, but
when summer arrives with its not
weather the tension is released and one
becomes a bit more extravagant.
1t is not possible for human nature
living in this temperate climate of ours.
which is as hot as a jungle at times IN
the summer, to cling to the straight and
narrow path of one suit. or one dark
frock Life would become unbearable.
The heat in itself, to say nothing of the
insects. make the summer sufficiently
full of tribulation without adding the
trouble of improper clothing.
No one achieves a sense of being well
dressed, or even being comfortab BILE
throughout our long. warm summers
without realizing the pleasures of a full
wardrobe. Even the most thrifty recog-
nize that truth. Even those who are
least inclined to a clever manipulation
of their wardrobe grow enthusiastic over
an accumulation of garments for the
five months that separate the winters.
Much of the eagerness shown toward
clothes and fashions in summer by
those who neglect them in winter is
due to the inner instructive love in
woman for bright colors, cheerful
combinations and transparent fabrics.
There is again the surging impulse
to experiment with materials that are
not costly. A woman hesitates over a
frock of silk at four dollars yard.
but when she can buy cotton voile, or
a piece of plaid muslin, length of
flowered dimity, few yards of wide
does not feel there is any special
strain on her pocketbook.
If she We're compelled to take the
realize that she would be involved in
material to costly dressmaker. and
a price Of a hundred dollars or more
for one frock. she would hesitate to
buy more than that one.
Each woman thinks she has more
self-control than she really possesses.
and she never realizes her weakness
means that too often she feels herself
sufficiently enduring to go through the
hot weather with dark clothes until
the day when the weather arrives;
then she cries aloud for dozen thin
gowns.
So, even if she orders one good sum-
mer frock from a costly dreSsmaker
she will build up large wardrobe il
she is wise in recognizing her limita-
tions of endurance and if the customs
of the country have taught her that
such strain upon her temper is worse
than absurd.
A decade ago the northern states
overthrew their traditional idea that
it was not necessary to dress in sum-
mer and followed the southerner in a
tentative manner. No change in the
records of the thermometer induced
this action, for the weather experts
assure US there is merely a fraction
of an inch in weather changes during
a century. but the women of the north
ern states began to realize that those
who live in the southern states had
the best of it; they did not prepare a
wardrobe for the summer on theory,
but built it up from actual experience,
not doubling whether the season
would be sufficiently cool to permit
the constant wearing of ones spring
clothes
1t saves much vitality and a per-
picked mental condition to face the
facts of life. This might be stretched
further than the problem of dress, and
those who have serious natures may
scorn the idea of brining serious phi
losophy to bear on the subject of the
wardrobe; but this attitude is in itself
false one. Food and clothing are
the primary objects in life to human
being, and there is no mental twist or
turn that will prevent their being
such as long as the human race in
habits this planet.
The dweller in climates that are
consistently hot during the summer
are the ones who. accepting condi-
tions. arrange to meet them. They
make wash frocks by the hamper. not
by one and two.
The northerner seems to arrange for
summer in much the same way as she
gets ready for winter, minus the fur
coat and the heavy suit. She seems to
go through the years hoping that the
worst will never happen in the actions
of the thermometer and that the light
weight frock and suit will actually
carry her through the season until au-
tumn arrives.
True. the woman who lives in a city
has hard time Of it mapping out her
sartorial campaign for the hot months;
she has to take into consideration op-
posing conditions. Days of vacation
demand one kind of clothing. the
different kind. She often feels it is
not humanity possible to be practical,
attractive and economical at one time
and she sinks into lethargy or indif-
ference. Under this beating down
process she is addressed from May
until October. when she springs into
something quite gay and self-confi-
dent. She knows what she can do
Women are divided into classes ac-
cording to whether or not they dress
well in summer. 1t is a season which
defeats the best intentions. 1t brings
into play ones judgment. vitality, good
taste and concentrated effort as dress
ing for winter never does.
Half the trouble lies in the general
attitude toward the climate, which is
a triumph OF hope over experience.
Eliminate this mental viewpoint and a
woman goes to work with all her wits
to beat the thermometer. She faces the
fact that money must be spent and
clothes must be plentiful.
That the northerner at last accepts
the southerner's long established con-
viction that summers are long and hot
and that thin clothes mitigate them, is
the real reason for the window displays
Of garments that would be suitable to
Panama.
Revolutions have occurred daily for
six years, and one does not need to
present specious arguments to establish
an overturn of one condition and the
acceptance of a new one. The peoples
will is running strongly at the moment.
showing that the world produces massed
human action in cycles just as it pro-
duces severe winters, summers. the boil
weevil and the locust swarm in cycles.
The one thing to hold fast in the mind
is that they occur not only to our gen.
erauon, Out preceding II, at intervals,
through the thousands of years.
The necessity to meet the weather
and not attempt to evade it by wearing
unsuitable clothes is one of the minor
! revolutions that began to coerce the
| people from their well blazed path as
! long ago as the beginning Of the decade.
Slowly, and possibly finally. the desire
| TO dress in summer as though one lived
| in Panama has entered the minds of the
people who live in Maine. Recognizing
| this revolution in summer apparel. the
next question is what to get. An i'm