The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-12-03
Frederick Haskin's Letter
especial Correspondents Of ne Argwl
The Freedom of the Knees.
Especial Correspondents Of

Washington, Dec. Am inter
esting struggle between the Amer
lean woman and the dictators of
fashion is in full swing. New York
oFacles proclaim that the leg is no
longer fashionable. Generally, the
fainteSt whisper from the sanctums
Of fashion is heard from Maine to
New Mexico, and the response is
instantaneous.
But this time there is a well de-
fined revolt against the edict. Much
of feminine New York, lamb-like,
has taken to ankle length skirts.
But in cities and way stations
across the country the knee is still
proudly shown by fappers, debu-
tantes and others who make up the
fashion parade.
1t seems apparent that the fem
mime leg, released after centuries
of bondage, is loath to retire.
why should it," asks a fapper
of our acquaintance. "A knee
length skirt attracts no attention
at a bathing beach. No n looks
more than twice at a girl in golf
Knockers. Why should a knee be
seen on the beach but hidden on
the street,"
The answer seems to be that
fashion has always been the worlds
favorite topic for gossip. Court
beaux and beauties would have
been bored to revolution had they
not had the latest styles to defend
and denounce. The farthingale
kept Eiizabeth's court amused and
shocked. The shoes worn by the
medieval courtier-which ended in
points a foot or two beyond his
natural feet and had spurs at the
back like bird claWs-were good
for hours of absorbing c%onversa-
ton. Sir Gawain Of GaEkshire had
just had a pair made. No one sup
posed he would adopt the fashion.
The duke of Duckton had written
a furious denunciation of the fash
ion in shoes. That would mean a
new lease on life for the pointed
toe.
So, throughout European history,
kings, queens and courts amused
themselves by inveGtiEg new modes
and then ex~aggerating them until,
like over-blown balloons, they ex-
ploded. A style that was regarded
as shocking was regarded as tame
by the next generation, which hon
estly saw nothing terrible in it, but
vas all excited over the newest
e-xtravagant mode.
All this time court ladies wore
long dresses, sometimes with trains
so cumbersome that moralists raw
ed bitterly against the friEOlities of
womanhoOd. Women of rank kept
the knee and even the ankle care
fully concealed beneath skirtS.> The
neck and arm appeared and dis
appeared, but the leg remained a
mysterious appendage.
Court Tradition Dominates.
It is all these centuries of court
tradition that make the feminine
leg so unconventional a display. 1t
is only in the past few centuries
that the people as a mass have
been following the fashions. And
now that we do, we take our prece-
dents from court styles, not from
peasant clothing. If we look to
peasant garb, we find that a wom-
ans ankle, and yer the calf and
knee, wer in many countries
shown as a matter of course in the
very days when the court damsel
pretended that she moved on
wheels.
According to books on costume,
the peasant women of some parts
CT Holland wore AN exceedingly
short skirt" A picture shows the
skirt as being about the length of
the modern skirt that shocks the
passing generation. A Swiss peas
ant girl of Lucerne a few decades
back is shown wearing a skirt that
the book frankly says revealed the
knee and sometimes the garter.
But there is no background in these
pictures showing a row of lifted
eyebrows.
These women dressed in short
skirts for farm work. And when
they made holiday clothes they
used the same pattern and made
the costume beautiful by embroid-
cry and better material.
The court lady's hardest work
was crossing the ballroom without
tangling her train. She could af-
ford to be a cripple for the sake of
fashion. The busy peasant could
not.
Today the modern woman is more
akin to the peasant woman in the