The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-01-06
Dorothy Dix Tails
The Business Girls Clothes.
By DOROTHY DIX
WeE1a's Highest Paid Woman Wr1ses;


Now girls like to speak of ill health
as if it were some mysterious afflic-
ton of Providence for which they are
not responsible, but in their secret
souls they know that they bring nine
tenths of their sickness upon them
selves by the way they dress. They
spend the money on silly finery that
should go into good warm flannels.
They buy party dress when they
need good cloak for everyday wear.
They mince thru sloppy. snowy, mud
dy streets in silk stockings and paper
caught a cold. They sit up and shiver.
and shake, in thin silk skirts and lace
blouses that are open down to their
wishbones, and can't imagine why
they have a cough that keeps them
feverish, and dull and heavy.
If women didn't have as many lives
as a cat, not one of them would sur
vive a winter with the fool way they
dress. They must have ten times the
stamina of men to get away with it,
and when they learn to wear sensible
clothes, employers will prefer them to
men because they will lose $50 much
less time on account of being sick.
The business girl should dress AP-
PROPRIATELY. An office is not a
drawing room or a dance hall. 1t is
a place in which to work, and girl
should dress accordingly. Fluffy ruff
files, and gew gaws, decolletes and
elaborate coiffeurs are out of place,
and brand. the wearer as not knowing
what's what, and when to wear it.
To succeed in business a girl not
only must be competent, but must
look the part. You would never trust
the Judgment and efficiency of a man
who came down to business in the
morning wearing his dress clothes.
Neither more does any employer ever
feel that it is worth while to train a
girl for a higher place, no matter how
bright she seems, if she comes to
business all dolled up as if she were
going to a party. It's the girl who
is dressed as if she meant business,
and was ready to do any kind of work,
who climbs up from cash girl to buy
err, and from stenographer to private
secretary.
The business girl should remember
that cleanliness is next to goodness
in the woman who works with men,
and that being well-groomed must be
part of her religion. Men are more
particular about personal cleanliness
than women are, and man Will for
give a woman anything quicker than
he will soiled finery, and unkept
hands, and hair that needed a sham
poo. Therefore, whatever else you
do, never economic on soap and
water and the laundry.
: The business girl should dress COM
fortably, se1.sibly,. appropriately, pre-
ferably in dark clothes without jung
ling ornaments or jewelry.. but she
should make herself look as well as
she can, and lave as good clothes as
she can possibly afford. Men like to
have a pretty, trim, trig, salert-look-
ing girl about them. Someone who is
easy on thu eyes No trump need
ever apply for a good job.
Furthermore, it pays woman to
be we'll dressed in business, because
we all Judge a fellow creatures
ability by his or her earning capacity,
and we expect to see that registered
on his or her back. So to succeed,
the business girl should dress like
SUGGESTIVE solid substantial kind of
success that can draw money out of
the bank on its face.