The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-18
FUNNY UNDERWEAR. TROUBLES. LADIES.
Fair Sex Bothered by Lat est Make of British
 "UnmentionabIeS"
n, MARGARET WALTER

such phase as "a perfect thirty-six," such phrase as a perfect thirty-siX, or a perfect anything else for that matter on the English readymade clothes line. The whole system of women's wear is run on entirely diff ferent principles over here,
 How the mothers stand it., 1 don't know, now that the old household machinery. which made hours of pa tient shopping possible has broken down. You can't go into a store here as you do at home, buy your girl whole school outfit In the morning, have lunch, and find the boxes con taining dresses, coats, hats and un- derwear piled up in the hall when you get home. Here it is almost un- heard of to buy underwear rady made except standard garments like corset waists and wool com mbinations. Suck things can be bought. of course, at the very big shops; but they only come in two sizes. and the sizes run so large that they have to be altered for normal children and are really only intended for models because if you try to get sets you invariably find that there are not enough Of & kind
 old Way of Doing It
 The old way of doing was for the customer to select her model, or bring her own, during the dull sea- son, in July or February and order her own and her childrens under wear by the half dozen. The only other alternative was to buy mate rials and trimmings at the white sales and make the clothes at home. For this purpose the sewing woman, who came to the house for a month at a time spring and fall, was engaged weeks beforehand. and she cut out
 l.. t1,r lingerie.
 Now it costs the sewing woman as much to get to and from her custo- mers as she used to earn by morn ing's work her rent and food cost more than she used to earn alto gether. Moreover food Is so dear and servants so overworked that housewife would rather make any other arrangement than have an ex- tra person for meals. In the old days, the sewing woman. if she did not stay in the house, arrived at eight and left at seven. Now she ar rives at nine, takes a good hour for lunch. twenty minutes for tea and descends to the kitchen for a snack before she leaves at five.
 Dresses Even Worse
 When 1t comes to dresses it's even worse. There are only two sizes in Juvenile dresses and coats and one size in womens. If you or your daughter are rather small or stout you nave to be specially fitted This means making to order and takes anything from a fortnight to month. So the summer vacation has to be cut right in two mother and the girls have to come back to town fer a. week. and orders have to be given in August for the school outfit to be ready by the end of September.
 On tho plan that most garments will have to be altered, dresses and coats are made very large. Manni- kins in the London shops are verit- able Junos. But no ordinary woman ever dreams of trying on dress or coat herself. She inspects the mag nified mannilSin model and then, her own measurements being taken, the dress Is reproduced; or, if she insists upon it, the model itself is cut down to fit her at the sacrifice of great deal of material and work (most of it fine hand sewing, 1t must be re- membered) and the ruthless destruc- tion of embroidery and trimming.
 Alterations Cost Little
 Eut even such elaborate alterations cost comparatively little here---on an average at the rate of $2,50 for dress and f5 for tailored suit; chil- drens clothes a trifle less.
 Then, once an Englishwoman has got her outfit, once her children are supplied, she puts clothes out of .,er mind altogether and goes on wearing what she has until the next season comes around. The shops recognize this and, compared with America, the between season appeal is negli- gible. Young girls will be sent away to school in round straw hats, Trimmed with their school bands. and return home at Christmas in the same hats. though snow may be on the ground.
 There is nothing like the sharp distinction between the seasons here that we observe in America wom- en wear their straw hats right into November in London. and in the country they for>et to change into felt until late in. January But once donned, they don't mind sticking to felt or velour or velvet until it's so hot in June that the nap rises on the surface. And it's the same with un- derwear.