South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-12-04
WOMAN'S SPORTS
CHANGE FASHION
Long Skirts and One-Piece
Bathing Suit Caused by
Athletic Interest.

NEW YORK. Dec. 3-Upon the
swing 81 n golf club depends the
width or the skirt a tennis racquet
decides the type Of corset a woman
shall wear. while "a butterfly dive
disposes OF all discussion as TO the
VrOpriety Of a One-pieCe bathing
NIit. such is the Importance OF com
siort when one is engaged in outdoor
sports
These athletic activities Of women.
which have become popular within
the last decade and a half. have rev
oIutionized the feminine silhouette
and changed bonds into freedom. No
women in the world are less ham
pcred by their clothes than the
American women. and there is no
other country where outdoor sports
are so generally INDUCED In as here.
Defy Paris Dress Edict.
So devoted have sports loving wO-
men become 10 their comfortably
short skirts that when Paris re-
Gently decided that feminine ankles
were 90 be shrouded in folds of
fashionable material American wo-
men openly rebelled. They declared
skirts. or even 20 skirts much longer
than they had been wearing.
Not one of dozens interviewed on
the subject of whether American
wonanhood was again 90 become an
adjunct Of the street cleaning de
partment and help sweep up curbs
and sidewalks favored the ankle
length skirt. And invariably each
based her objection on the discom-
fort such "a skirt entails when board
ing a car or climbing steps
Sport Fashions For Business.
sport fashions have been accepted
as the daytime dress for the bust
ness and professional woman They
am know the comfort OF "A sport suit
and the boomers and brassiere and
pliable corset worn underneath. and
10 support them i'm their determine
ton To cling TO comfort for working
hours thGy call attention TO the trim
appearance of women who dress in
this Style
Physicians and athletic instructors
stand by them i'm their refusal TO
permit any radical change in the ia
vOred sport dress. Health COmmis-
sioner Copeland Of New York heart
lily approves the short skirt for
everyday wear. both for looks and
sanitary attributes So does DR..
Thomas d Wood. athletic director
of Teachers college. and for the
same reasans. Both declared the
sensible dress of today about as
sensible as ever had been achieved
by the combined aid of those who
design fashions and those who wear
hem.
Even Invade Mems Wear.
An act Of congress. which permit
ted the late Or. Mary Walker 10
wear masculine attire because she
Considered Il more comfortable and
better adapted 20 her activities than
the long. wide. hair-cloth stiffened
skirts and leg o. mutton sleeves in
vogue In the heydey of her career,
never quite accustomer or recon
ciled the public TO seeing a woman
dressed in mems trousers.
II the world hadn't grown accus-
toned 10 seeing women riding as
tribe in the neatest Of breeches and
coats. or hiking over the country
roads I'm khaki knickerbOckers, or
skiing In brothers. army toys, or
playing golf in the trimmest of BIZ
furcated tweeds, there probably
would have been more necks craned
when "knickers" were introduced.
The Rainy Daisies" as the mem
hers of that club which instigated
the fashion OF the short skirts are
called. gave vivid picture of what
New York City's streets looked like
rs years ago. when feminine mem
bers of society were unwillingly en-
listed IN the street cleaning job. The
little movement started then by a
group of women shocked the pub
lie more perhaps than cigarette
smoking or skirts worn up 10 the
knees. And all they wanted was
the pubuc's approval OF a fashion
that lifted hens just a tiny bit above
the ground.
Greeted With Jeers.
Did they get it, Ask any OF that
little band OF Rainy Daisies" who
trotted forth in wet weather and in
snow and even IN sunshine wearing
skirts that measured exactly four
inches from the ground. They will
tell YOU that instead of approval
they were jeered at by men and wo-
men. small boys threw stones at
them and society women drew aside
their own trailing skirts as II there
might be contamination in the very
presence Of a dress so shocking on
e. perfectly good pair Of feet instead
If or stills or wheels.
And the expressions that these
D. matrons OF the unemanCipated group
outraged. frightened and slain the
short skirt wearers If the thoughts
behind the expressions could have
been realized.
When this first organized group Of
women decided IL was high time 20
lift the hem Of dresses TO a decent
and sanitary height above the pave
ments and put a stop 20 the carrying
OF germs from curbs and pavements
10 hearth rugs. al they asked for
was a modest four inches 10 escape,
though they voted in favor OF a
skirt six inches from the floor foI
those who liked them so astonish-
InEly short But the club members
themselves were satisfied 20 accept
q freedom OF less.
Led skirt Movement.
and 20 let the public know that
they were IN dead earnest, that they
stood for principle. for an advance
Tor women, for greater health and
comfort for their own and future
generations. and not for a mere
fashion, they adopted a uniform and
topped IL with a blue badge which
they wore on one shoulder.
The movement gained converts.
skirts lost contact with the ground
but they won approval IN various
quarters and az last dressmak ers