The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-04-07
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director,
washington, D. c.
IN DEFENSE OF FLAPPERs.
J J. HASKIN, Director,

/
beauty?
The question seems to be up for de-
bate. The papers are full of scandal
! lied protests against the way the
flappers dress. and there are move
ments on foot for making high school
girls. office girls, shop girls. and girls
in general, dress more modestly. The
Ireformers, who are back of this move
ment, proclaim that the morals OF the
American male are menaced, that he IS
upset and led astray by the spectacle
of feminine beauty at it's most strik-
ing. Counsel for the defense asserts
that it is the inalienable right Of
woman to make herself just as attrac-
| tive as she can, that the man who is
morally ruined by lipstick and silk
stockings has no soul worth saving
anyway, and that most of the reform
ers who attack feminine dress are old
ladies. in spirit if not in fact, who ere
envious of blooming youth.
| They assert that the modern flapper
has done nothing less than to add to
the joy and the beauty of the world
by learning how to make herself at
tractive. You have only to look at
some old pictures, they say, to realize
what an enormous transformation has
been worked in 20 years, and even in
10 Who, they ask, really wants to go
back to the days of cotton stockings,
skirts dragging in the dust. hair pulled
tight and shiny nose?
Down With Paint-and Skirts.
| For some reason, the cosmetics and
clothes seem to have attracted more
| scandafized attention than any of the
other flapperisms. Perhaps her crit
| les feel that if she could be fully
metics, reform would follow as mat
ter of course. At any rate, many high
schools are now trying it. School au-
thorities in various cities have re-
Gently come to the aid of distressed
parents by insisting that 'fmmo dest"
clothing, rouge, powder, and ipsticks
| be barred from the schools. In the
fashionable seminafies the same sort
of embargo has been hastily reared.
Yet the flapper is not without her
defenders. even among her own sex.
| "Au this hue and cry about cos
metics and clothes is outrageously
silly in my opinion" declares a New
Y ork society natron, whose sub-deb
years occurred about the time of the
Spanish-American War. ITS worse
than that; it's base ingratitude. Why,
the new flapper has performed
great service for her country by rais-
| ing the standard of feminine beauty.
| You should have seen us back in 1890
| plain and prim and proper 1t was
| all right if you happened to be born
| beautiful. of course. but if you didn't
| happen to be. there was not a thing
you could do about it. Rouge and
| lipsticks We're out of the question.
while hair-dye was uncomfortable
even in, the family circle.
Here, look at these" she said.
handing us an old-fashioned album
containing laughable portraits of the
pompadour period.
There am 1 at eighteen" said the
hostess, pointing to the photograph of
a sad4eyed damsel, bearing with a
patient smile the weight of tremen-
| dous. straight pompador. ct hate to
confess it. but that is who 1t is. That
depression of patient sweetness must
have belonged to that period. I am
sure it couldn't be reproduced now.
Well, there is some consolation in
growing old these days-the older We
grow the better1looking we become.
Guess who that is" continued the
hostess, pointing to another photo
with large eyes, straight, finely
chiseled nose and rather heavy chin.
Rather pretty, but insipid,'' said
someone.
A Famous Beauty of Long Ago.
That's Lillian Langtry," explained
the hostess, laughing, They did not
think she was insipid then. The
greatest beauty of all ages. they called
her. The Jersey Lily The woman
who was one of the first to have per-
| fumes and boots named after her,
songs dedicated to her, and the Men
! of two continents at her feet. And
now, today. you say, "A trifle pretty
but you would not have given her
photograph second glance
AS far as can be ascertained from a
study of the files of old periodicals,
the new type of ffapper first began to
appear about 1910. At that time
face powder was placed openly upon
! the feminine dressing table, often
brazenly accompanied by a tin box of
l hn0 IY-fa aI II
| also, silk stockings became popular for
everyday wear among the women of
the middle class. Before that they
mad not been considered altogether re-
spectacle. With them came the
Merry Widow hat, the slit skirt, bright
colors and curly hair. In the old days,
If wonnans hair was straight. If was
considered an affeetation to curl IT.
Many things were responsible for
the birth of the new era of handmade
aids to beauty. The ready-made
women's wear industry had lust
started on its spectacular. course of
expansion, so that for the first time
me sreat mass OF women stepped
from homemade, frumpy clothes into
those of smarter lines. Hats could he
procured much cheaper in the retail
stores than they could be mada nv
unframed mtlliners. But perhaps the
most important factor of all was the
Dtr.n OF the moving picture industry
with its curiy-haired, starry-eyed
herolnes, which brought the art af
makeup directly before the gaze Of
thousands of admiring flappers
IN the old days of the nineteenth
century, there were beauties. but thew
were extremely rare. That is WIZ
tney created such a furore. Today.
charm is SO usual among the Feminine
population that it is the homely girl
| who >startles. The flappers can pro-
duee a certain amount of good looks
las easily as we produce watches and
breakfast food It is no trouble at all
to be attractive, if you know The = RI
of Improvement
In the old days, If a fiapper had
dull nlouse-colored hair or a sailow
complexion, she was saddled with
those handicaps for life Today. a girl
can choose her own complexion and
coioring, and buy them at the nearett
heauty parIor. The new fIanners rn11