The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1927-03-05

Blue; wide SKUNK Collar.
ernistic orgy. You may remember
the formerly current sentiment that
one day the puissant male would rise
Indignantly and demand that these
encroachments on his domain must
forthwith cease and that woman be
wOmanlike again.
That long expected uprising has
never taken place-either because
the masculine of the species has be-
come extraordinarily docile, or be-
cause his influence on feminine fash
gerated. In the early and hectic days
of the period from which we are just
emerging, one of the moot questions
Of the moment was whether milady
dressed primarily to attract her own
or the opposite sex. The oyerwhelm-
ing consensus Of opinion favored the
opposite sex, and tearfully protesting
Grundys of immediate postwar vim
tage would always call upon man to
arrest the decadent surgings Of femi-
nine fashions.
Reaction Is Setting In.
Spring openings and fall openings
came and went and each succeeding
season saw >he new order more firmly
entrenched. Che obvious sacrifice Of
charm in the modern styles was heed
turiere-by neither beau nor belle
Jeanne Lanvin, Paul Poiret and 9TH
ers battled strongly to maintain the
graceful tradition of the old regime
now and then a prominent member of
society would attempt to stem the
tides by wearing a gown which incor-
porated something of Victorian ele-
gance. But these were the merest
drops Of water in an ocean Of man.
nish modernism-the sweeping modal
tides were not even momentarily dis
turbed by such occasional dissenters.
Lately the momentum Of these
tides has perceptibly lessened-in fact
at this moment they are completely
arrested, and an inevitable and happy
reaction Is setting in. This secession
order has not been accomplished by
masculine opinion or masculine de-
signer-neither il it the result Of any
sudden awakening Of the feminine
style conscience II any of these
causes had inaugurated this new feel
ing In fashions You would be justified
in considering the changed order as
merely transitory and subject to re-
lapse momentarily into accustomed
channels.
Cause for Decline.
The actual cause for the decline Of
those themes which are considered
modernistic is. as Nicole Groult sage
Nv points out. because their force, Is
spent. 1t Is scarcely possible to con-
ceive of feminine couture which is
any straighter or shorter than the
current bob-the present conforming
hipline has been emphasized to an ex-
aggerated degree and the skirt win
only become new again when it drops
lower. ri Is merely a question OF
fashion cycles-when once a cycle Is
started II is bound to continue until
its span is over. Protestations, cru
sades. indignation-al of this is so
much baying at the moon; each mode
viii continue until its cycle is finished,
and the normal life Of fashion cycle
varies between FIVE and ten years.
The new cycle will be distinctly
feminine, of course. nor viii 1t make
such a fetish of youth as has been
done these recent years. And in so
far as that Is a guide, Ii would be
advisable Immediately to adapt your
wardrobe OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES your
skirt hem a little. paying less atten-
ton to the snug hipIine. and letting
your locks grow a little longer and a
little waiver. Later you viii do more,
but for the moment these faint but
significant changes win suffice.