Evening star., 1925-07-26
BY MARY MARSHALL.

IN MARI MAftSftALL.
IT is a curious thing-this ever
recurring desire on the part OF
women TO adopt the fashions of
IL men and to make themselves look
in this way or that just trif1e
like the sterner sex. No presentation
of the psychology of women's dress
would ever be complete without a
study of this peculiar tendency!
Just what does the word man
nish" as applied to women's dress
really mean? 1t would certainly be
a mistake to take all "mannish
manifestations at their face value and
conclude that they were diametrically
opposed to all that was feminine, or
that women affected the mannish pose
only when they had given up or lack
ed the desire to be really feminine.
Sometimes it seems as if nothing were
more absurdly feminine than the
mannish fads of women. 1t is as II
a woman had her hair cut exactly
like a mans so that one might see
more clearly how insistently feminine
the contour of her face and head ana
neck and shoulders really was.
If there were not some truth IN
this it would be very, very difficult to
understand the present vogue for
'mannish" fashions at a time when
sex interest-in art, literature, drama
is said to be so much overempha-
sized. But. of course. there is world
of difference in the intentions OF the
woman of today who wears her hair
close cut, wears short, straight frock
and a mannish tailored coat and an
untrimmed felt hat, and DIR. Mary
Walker who was once a familiar fig.
ure in Washington wearing dignif1ed
black trousers and frock coat. looking
for all the world like a quiet little
country parson. She wore men
clothes, but as the term is used now
there was nothing whatever man
nish" about her.
lust at present we hear on every
hand the prediction that ultra
feminine fashions are coming back
ruff1es, frills, ringlets, laces, ruchings.
poke bonnets, ribbon bows, true love
knots, parasols, all that sort OF thing
And at the same time we hear per-
sistently the statement that the man.
nish affectations of fashionable wom-
en- are becoming more and more pro
nounced. You may wonder what TO
believe. The best thing is to believe
both sides of -the story and accept
the situation as presenting two quite
different trends in women's fashions
not rival trends, because there is no
animus between the two. The same
woman who appears in such many
attire this morning, with hat as Sc
verely untrimmed as her brother $
and coat as straight and as Wen tai
lored, you may encounter TINS eve
ming looking as distractingly FEMININE
as a lovely lady from one of Frago-
nard's canVases.
The boyish haircut seems to have
become more boyish than ever. In
Paris ii is clipped very, very short
and is worn brushed off the face, the
onlv suggestion of wave being
across the front. Undoubtedly this
will not be a long-lived fad, for Wom-
en- nowadays in league with their bar
bers and with their assistance devise
new ways Of presenting what snort
locks they have left. Relatively speak
ing, of course, even among fashionable
continental women those with close
cropped hair are in the minority.
There are French folk who share in
a mea sure the sentiment of most con-
servative German people that really
nice women don't wear shingled hair. =
They might have difficulty in proving
their contention unless, of course, they
mean by really nice women" simply
women who do not wear shingled hair.
French husbands and parents, like
some American husbands and parents,
occa sionally object to the bob or the
shingle. So it is that the hairdressers
in Paris are making little transfer
nations" and postiches that can be
added to the short head to give the
effect of long hair. On the other
hand, they have taught themselves
how to arrange long hair so that 1t
almost looks bobbed.
\
UNDOUBTEDLY the present vogue
- for rich and ornate and heavy
jewelry is direct outcome of the fad
for short hair. No matter how man.