The Washington herald., 1921-01-03
Dorothy's Dix's Advice
rHE BUSINESS GIRLS CLOTHES.
Copyright, 1921. by the Wheeler
Syndicate, Inc .. q.

dress. ....
To this question I can only reply.
in a general way, that the business
girls should be so perfectly dressed
/ that all you remember about her
clothes is that she had on exactly
the thing that she should have had
on. Something that suited the time,
the place and the girl as nothing
else would.
The first essential of the business
girls clothes should be COMFORT.
No girl can do good work unless her
body is at ease. No girl can keep
her mind on her work If her corset
Is so tight that she is suffocatInG
for air. or her shoes hurt her so
| badly that she feels that she is AN
feet instead of brain.
When a salesgirl clings desper-
ately with one hand to her counter
and refuses to even turn her head
to see If she has the thing i want.
or when the naughty goddess who
takes my order at a restaurant
snaps my head off when l have the
temerity to remind her that l or
dered lamb chops and peas instead
of the corn beef and cabbage that
she brought me, l do not get angrs
with them and report them. l take
one look at the shoes, two sizes too
small for them and propped up on
stills that they are wearing, and
know that for hours they have been
undergoing the suffering of the
damned, and realize that no hu-
man creature could be expected 10
look pleasant or be agreeable while
enduring such agony.
That women are able to accom-
plish as much as they do while they
are enduring such physical discom-
fort, is one of the marvels of ma
ture If you would dress a man up
in a straight-front as unyielding as
a coat of mail; If you put on him
skirt so tight that he had to plat
his legs around each other as he
walked; if you would strap on his
feet instruments of torture left over
from the Iuquisition; IL you would
put a hair mattress over each ear;
if you would smear his face with
kalsOmine and cover his lips with
goo of a nauseous Iasl- md odor,
and send him forth to do a days
work, he would collapse on the Of
flee floor before noon. Yet millions
of girls try to do a mans work with
this sort of handicap. and then won
der why they don't get along as
fast as men do.
Women will neer, never be able. to
hold their own with men in business
until they learn to dress as COM
fortably as men do. No woman can
climb the ladder of success in a
Georgette blouse and spool heel
shoes.
The business girl must learn to
: dress sensibly because her health
largely depends upon her clothes,
!, and her ability to hold down a big
: job depends on her health. No sick
ly, neurotic semi-invalid is of any
} value in an office, no matter how
much ability she has. The daily
grind of the business mill must go
, on, and employers must have sub
ordinates who can be counted on
to be at their posts.
Therefore, the girl who is always
! tclephoning down to the office or
store that she is sick with a heavy
cold, or laid up with a headache, or
can't walk for the rheumatism, need
never expect to get a bigger pay
envelope than she is getting, or to
rise to any position of trust She
is her own undoing because she is
not dependable.
Now, girls like to speak Of i'll
health as if it were some mystic
rious affliction of Providence for
which they are not responsible, but
in their secret souls they know that
they bring nine-tenths of their sick
ness upon themselves by the way
they dress. They spend the money
on silly finery that should go into
good, warm f1annels. They buy
party dress when they need a good
cloak for everyday wear They
mince through sloppy, snowy, mud
|, dy streets in silk stockings and
paper-soled slippers, and wonder
how they caught cold. They sit up
and shtver, 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, dull
and heavy.
, If women didn't have as many
lives as cat, not one of them would
survive 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
|; she will lose SO much less time on
account of being sick.
| The business girl should dress ap-
propriately. An office is not a draw
, ing room or a dance hall. 1t is
place in which to work, and a girl
/ should dress accordingly. Fluffy
ruffles, and gew gaws, decollete
and elaborate coiffures 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 mat
ter 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 buyer, and from
stenographer to private secretary.
The business girl should remember
that cleanliness is next to godliness
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 a
man will forgive woman anything