The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1921-09-23
Dress Feminine-The Ever vexing
And Perplexinq Question

Dress Feminine-The Ever vexinu
And Perplexing Question
Woman and her clothes and the fix.
ing of her hair. continue ever and anon
to provoke diatribes from pulpit and
press and self-appointed censors, some.
times more or less venimous and
vicious, and sometimes turned into
merciless wit, mirth and ridicule.
One editor indicts the mothers of the
land recently winning SO many Iaur-
els for her war services for what
he calls indecency in dress.
He proceeds 10 say that whatever
IS ahead of us-and It can not be
blinked-in lowered standards due to
dress, mothers with daughters of alb
normal physical appearance, if they
dress them indecentIy, can not escape
responsibility and blame. 2
Anc then after using terms not at
all delicate or refined and which we
dare not use in these columns be-
cause too sensuous, he says:
Such girls have come naturally
into shocking abandonment of what
we once used to find of sweet unaf-
fected modesty'
Then he indicts the designers of
Womens' clothes as having in view
the lessening of the restraints of mo-
desty and virtue hitherto existing SO
becoming bteween the sexes.
Mary King, whether maid or mat
ron. we do not know, takes up the
cudgel in defense of her sex in the
Guide, the official organ of the Fra
ternal Aid Union, from which we make
a few pertinent extracts:
Much ado about nothing. / would
say in response to the editors disser-
tation on the subject of the modern
woman's dress.
1T is extreme with it's scant abbre-
waited skirts, and decollete waists with
short sleeves. But is it any more ex-
IRENE than the costumes we can see
in pictures of the past?
The fifteenth century produced
hoop skirts, wigs, evening gowns of
such 'lowness' as to border on in
decency.
Not many years ago woman
gowns dragged the streets, collecting
germs of every known and unknown
description. Is it not better to have
the limbs untrammeled, so that the
human body may move naturally?
THE startling costumes of today
are an expression of the times and of
the young peoples individuality. =
Perhaps not the best expression, but
| they denote a stage of evolution which
will eventually mean higher era of
civilization =
And in the same publications. in an
swer to the editor, Laura B. Ennis,
also takes exceptions and makes the
following defense:
1T is very wearisome, this eternal
| problem of clothes. and to no one
more than woman herself. We can
understand the wall of the mother
who exclaimed distractedly; Oh, /
wish we might dress like the women
of China or India, in one style of
garment, year in and year out: l am
so tired of discussing hemstitched
ruffles and band-run tucks, embroider-
ed vests and beaded fronts: if l have
to plan another dress this summer /
think shall escape to the wilds.
But in spite of this frequent re-
bellion, one generation overlaps the
next and one year treads upon the
heels of the following year, each
Fastening to introduce the latest
change in fashions. Manufacturers
find it advantageous to encourage this
love of change and the style vacillate
with every new day.
| 1.-THE shortened skirt has come in
for rather more than its share of
criticism.
However it appears to enjoy the
attention it has been receiving, for
the more it has been laughed at the
shorter it has grown 1t is but JUS
tice to it to give credit for having
added, if not "a cubit'' to its width,
yet sufficient breadth of material
to effect saving grace. With cloth
at the shocking prices per yard of
the past years the men have felt that
even narrow dresses cost quite
enough: and if the skirts were cut
narrow. in order to preserve the sym
metry they must needs be short.
Spring overhauling and cleaning
led to the rearranging Of an old chest
OF clothes this week and with this
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