Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-23


ferring OUeT heGTteRiRg food.
StTNHE stage, poster girls and movies We'd
for leadership, with odds on the poster
girl because she had better distribution.
1.-THE Gibson Girl had vanished, but Harrison
Fisher and Howard Chandler ChriSty had pro-
vided q fair substitute in the popular feminine
mind. The stage had greater influence then,
and Maude Adams in Peter Pan" had put
the country into round, starched collars. Billie
Burke had not shaken her golden ringlets In
vain. Girls spoke In huShed whispers OF their
stage idols and followed them In their dress
and manneriSmS.
But new arbiteE of fashion and feminine
charm was arising; the movies were rising In
q slow but irresistible tide.
Even the movies, which were fast develop
ing from the Pickering Westerns to gorgeous
spectacleS, could only be OF influence where
there were enough people to make up paying
audience villages began building movie pail
aces even though they could only afford
single protector and the villain had to stop in
mid-murder while the lights went on and tina
reels were changed. Mary Pickfcrd with--her
golden curls inspired counterpart at every
small-town soda fountain. Lillian Ciish flooded
the country with still white faces that suffered
nobly. Theda Bara developed amateur vaznps
In Oshkosh and Sioux City.
IAN the while the so-called Age Of limo
cence was lettering But 1t took good while
before fashion. veering first this way and then
that, pointed q tentative finger toward the
natural figure.
ssCOME believe Isadora Duncan had more IN
huence on feminine types than did the
war. Anyway, it Is reasonable to credit her
with responsibility for the legged fashion.
Perhaps II she had not by nature dances and
other means shown feminine America its knees,
short skirts might never have become the vogue.
1.-THE influence Of the war was instantly OBJ
vious. For the first time since the reign OF the
Gibson Girl the country had . universal femi-
nine type. Almost for the first time in the his
tory Of fashions it was smart to be practical.
to wear simple clothes that demanded little
care or bother.
Then after the armistice the happer came
into her own. The little girl who had sudden
ly grown up modelled herself on b0yiSh ways.
She cropped her hair with boylsh cut, and the
few garments she wore were based on the 'boyO
ish FORM She was o complete t0mboy, the
furthest tip of the arc which the pendulum OF
fashion had begun to trace early in the cen.
tury.
"She strobe and swore and smoked anA
drank: she was labeled wild, and so great
was the pressure of public opinion that she
scarcely dared be otherwise.
Sc JUST as she had established herself firmly
in the public mind rs an enduring type
and had set her mother and grandmother To
reducing their matronly proportions to approxi-
mate her straight young figure, It was sud-
denly discovered that her type wasn't feminine
in the least and that it was all very much
against the laws of nature.
You see all Of these changes in feminine
types have been caused by one factor or an
other exerting an influence over the girls of the
country-the posters the stage, the movies and
the late war. Aside from war none of them
could possibly exert great an influence as the
movies do today. That Is why know that
am not making wild statement when say
that Hollywood is creating new feminine type
to serve rs standard for American women.
1.-THE return Of curves and the passing Of tho
half-starved figure dieted into unnatural SLIM
ness by the elimination OF energy foods Is this
greatest thing that has happened to American
women In generations" Fanchon believes.
Understand, few persons want TO see q return
to the Lillian Russell type, with the tightly
trussed waistline and fun hips. But they do
want TO see graceful feminine curves and .
hgure that Is compatible with good health"
fFS,~. -u-a-H- k.s<a OoAA.