Great Falls tribune., 1921-12-05

| LeFeSLuR struggle DcLWoCu eS I.
lean woman and the dictators Of fash
| ion is in full swing, New York oracles
proclaim that the leg is no Longer
fashionable. Generally, the faintest
whisper from the sanctums OF fashloI
| is heard from Maine to New Mexico
and the response is instantaneous.
But this time there is well defined
revolt against the edict. Much Of fem
mime New York, lamblike, has taker
/ to ankle length skirts. But in cities
and way stations across the country
the knee is still proudly shown BY
flappers, debutantes and others who
make up the fashion parade.
1t seems apparent that the feminine
leg, released after centuries OF bond
age, is loath to retire.
| "Why should it?" asks a flapper
| of our acquaintance. "A knee length
skirt attracts no attetino at a bathing
| beach. No one looks more than twice
at girl in golf knickers. Why should
knee be seen on the beach but hid
den on the street!"
The answer seems to be that fashion
has always been the worlds favorite
topic for gossip. Court beaux and
beauties would have been bored to
revolution had they not had the latest
styles to defend and denounce. The
farthingale kept Elizabeth's court
amused and shocked The shoes worn
by the medieval courtier-which ended
in points foot or two beyond his
back like bird claws-were good for
hours of absorbing conversation; Sir
Gawain of Gawkshire had just had a
pair made No one supposed he would
adopt the fashion. The Duke Of Duck
ton had written a furious denouncia-
ton Of the fashion in shoes. That
would mean a new lease on life for
the pointed toe.
So, throughout European history,
kings, queens, and courts amused them
selves by inventing new codes and
then exaggerating them until, like
over-born balloons, they exploded. A
style that was regarded as shocking
was regarded as tame by the next gen.
Grafton, which honestly saw nothing
terrible in it, but was all excited over
the newest extravagant mode.
All this time court ladies wore long
dresses, som etimes with trains 80 cum
bersome that the moralists raved bit
terly against the frivolities of woman
hood. Women of rank kept the knee
and even the ankle carefully concealed
beneath skirts. The neck and arm ap
peared and disappeared but the leg re-
manned a mysterious appendage.
Court Tradition Predominates
1t is all these centuries of court ira
dition that make the feminine leg so
unconventional a display. It is only in
the past few centuries that the people
as a mass have been following the
fashions. And now that we do, we
take our precedents from court
styles, not from peasant clothing. If
l11S In f,y,I hat
woman's ankle, and even the calf
and knee were in many countries
shown as q matter Of course in the
very days when a court damsel pre-
tended that she moved on wheels.
According to books on costume, the
peasant women Of some parts of Hol-
land wore IAN exceedingly short skirt. J"
A picture shows the skirt as being
about the length of the modern skirt
that shocks the passing generation. A
Swiss peasant girl of Lucerne q few
decades back is shown wearing skirt
that the book frankly says revealed
the knee and sometimes the garter.
But there is no background in these
pictures showing row of lifted eye
brows.
These women dressed in short skirts
for farm work And when they made
holiday clothes they used the same
pattern and made the costume beauti-
full by embroidery and better material.
The court lady's hardest work was
crossing the ballroom without tangling
her train. She could afford to be
cripple for the sake Of fashion. The
busy peasant could not
To-day the modern woman is, more
akin to the peasant woman in the ac-
tivity Of her life. The short skirt,