Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-12-03

WASHINGTON, d. c., Nov. 80
An interesting struggle between the
American Woma and the dictators
of fashion is in full swing. New
York oracles proclaim that the leg
is no longer fashionable. Gener-
ally, the faintest whisper from the
sanctums OF fashion is heard from
Maine to New Mexico. and the re-
spouse is instantaneous.
But this time there is a we'll de-
fined revolt against the edict. Much
of feminine New York, anblike
has taken to ankle length skirts.
But in cities and way stations across
the country the knee is still proudly
| shown by fappers, d~ebutantss
others who make up the fashion pa
rade.
1t seems apparent hal the fem
mime leg released after centuries
of bondage, is loath to retire.
why should it?" asks a fiapper
| of our acquaintance. "A knee
length skirt attracts no
at a bathing beach. No one looks
more than twice at a girl in golr
knickers. Why should a knee be
seen on the beach bu. hide 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
E1izabeth's court amused and
shocked. The shoes worn by the
medieval courier-which ended in
--s.- ., Fal% on tKun hnWOnd his nal
ural feet and had spurs at the back
like bird claws-were good for
hours of absorbing conversation; Sir
Gawain of Gawkshire had just had
a pair made. No one supposed ne
would adopt the fashion. The Duke
of Duckton had written a furious
denunciation 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
Themselves by %inventing new modes
and then exaggerating them until.
like over-blown balloons, they ex-
ploded. 4 style that was regarded
as shocking was regarded as tame
by the next generation, which hon
estly saw nothing terrible in it, but
was all excited over the newest ex-
travagant mode.
All this time court ladies wore
long dresses. sometimes with trains
so cumbersome that the moralists
raved bitterly against the frivoli-
ties of womanhood. Women of
rank kept the knee and even the
ankle carefully concealed beneath
skirts. The neck and arm appeared
and disappeared but the leg re-
manned a mysterious appendage.
Court Tradition Dominates
II is all these centuries of court
tradition that make the feminine
leg so unconventional a display. 1t
is only in the past few centuries
that the people as a have been
following the fashions. And now
that we do, we take our prece-
dents frcm court styles. not from
peasant clothing. IL we look to
peasant garb, We find hat a wo-
mans 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 pretend
ed that she moved on wheels.
According to books on costume
the peasant women of some parts
of Holland wore IAN exceedingly
short skirt" A picture shows the
skirt as being about the length Of
the modern skirt that shocks the
passing generation. A Swiss peas
ant girl of Lucerne a few decades
back is shown wearing a skirt thai
the book frankly says revealed tho
knee and sometimes the garter
But there is no background in these
pictures showing a row of lifted
eyebrows.
These women dressed in shorI
skirts for farm work. And wheI
they made holiday clothes they
used the same pattern and made
the costume beautiful by embroid'
cry and better material.
The court lady's hardest wori
was crossing the ball room without
tangling her train. She could af'
tford to lie a cripple for the sake
of fashion. The busy peasant could
not.
Today the modern woman is more
akin to the peasant woman in the
activity of her life. The short
skirt. therefore. suits her. Th'
Happer who sails down the avenu'
at noon Is a shop or Office worker
She will. 10 Is true. go to extreme
limits TO make herself fashionable
But she still flaunts the short Skin
! and dares the horrible fate of be
ing perhaps regarded as old-fash
toned. The short skirt. We havl