The Washington times., 1921-02-23

share In the CONNIE re ialIzing of fash
Ions. and high boots and high skirts
called masculine attention away from
feminine heads and faces. shouting In
loud signal language:
Look here--Tm q woman and don't
you forget It," Miss Frances E. Will
lard. LID, the maiden queen OF
America, used to say: Think OF us
sometimes as human, not always as
woman" But fashion will not stand
for that.
THEY COVER THEIR EARS.
All tricks OF comedy have been
outdone by summer furs and murled
ears. Many a time on the street I
have tried to study out the signif-
canoe OF womsn's muffled ears. IT
beats the puzzle department in the
papers. II cannot be complimentary
to men who are accustomed to talk
to these women, or to those with
whom they expect to talk. The wo-
men incessantfy say to men: Listen"
which Is as II they said. "You are
no gentleman" for gentleman will
listen" to a lady whether she says
anything worth hearing or not. But
muffled ears say: Il won't listen"
as IL to ward or fattery. or break
the force OF an expected sudden"
proposal. Or are the ears covered as
a compensatinE sacrifice for uncov-
ering elsewhere?
WEAR FURs IN JULY.
And is that the significance OF
summer furs? In July. when men
wish they could take of their nesh
and sit on their bones" many an
American woman goes about--postcr-
ity will not believe it-with the skin
OF wildcat or tame one. or
fox. on her bare neck, surmounting
bodice which Is apparently a re-
vival of the Egyptian lost art OF
dressing in woven air" Women OF
a former generation made the sex
appeal" in decollete at select indoor
gatherings. but many of our modern
women make the sex appeal" OF
low necks to Tom. Dick and Harry
on the street. AS Shakespeare saws:
"oh, nesh. flesh. flesh, how art thou
fishhed."
EVEN SHOW THEIR BONES.
And the exposure must be made.
fashion decrees. even when it will
win compassion rather than admira-
tion. In Boston when there is COM
pany In tho home mothers require
their children to Say their bones"
In New York cruel fashion requires
even the old dowagers to show their
bones.
I sympathize with single women
who will soon be mo longer young"
that crave husband and q home at
this time. when so many men seem
indisposed to marriage. 1t was q
very bad omen that seventeen mil
lions OF American men and women
from twenty-five to forty years OF
age were unmarried in the normal
days before the World War. There 10
nothing like II in all Gods creation.
From insects to mammals. most
creatures are mated at maturity
Under such circumstances IL might
seem young women would be justified
in making a loud "sex appeal" But
the loud appeal apparently defeats
itself. 1t wins the worthless and dis
gusts the worthy. Sensible men are
reluctant to tie UP to those who have
given attention only to the outside
OF the head and can't even stop their
man-fshing in places and hours of
business. The hirt may attract a
whole group OF men for an evening,
but seldom one real man for life.
GO AROUND IN HOBBIES.
"In 1917" when a world peril lifted
whole nations. especially ours. to the
heights OF service and sacrince and
world patriotism. many said con-
fidently that women. after such broad.
ening war work as they had done at
home and behind the lines in France,
would never shrink back into their
former narrow life" Many Of us,
therefore. laughed inwardly when
they accepted meekly from despotic
foreign tailors, at the very close Of
the world war, the closest hobble over
put on any creature save a wild cow
hobble neither comfortable nor
beautiful nor modest.
Why shouldn't American women,
now that they are citizens. make a
declaration OF Independence against
the man bosses OF fashion in Paris
who oppressed women far more than
King George III ever oppressed our
Revolutionary fathers? The club
women of America are abundantly
able 70 design American costumes for
women-for school, for business, for
society--that will be healthy. COM
Portable. and comely, with abundant [
liberty for personality and emancips-
ton from the bondage Of frequent and
freakish change. whose only raison
d'etre is to enrich designing trades
men and please those women who
even now fnd little else to do except
to put on new bait to catch masculine
admiration and female envy.