Evening star., 1937-03-20

international program of extreme in
dress. The men dyed their boards,
affected fringed garters below the
knee, and their long-pointed shoes
were finished off with ribbon roses.
FOR the next century and more
Fashion was destined to hold in
creasing sway at the brilliant courts
of the French Louis as in those of
the royal Stuarts across the Channel.
Powdered and panniered ladies, lacing
themselves to a greater degree of slen-
derness, took up the pretty conceit OF
wearing patches. These appeared In
England in the time of Charles I, the
Stuart who was beheaded in 1649.
And although his iron successor,
Cromwell, banned all frivolities. he
does not seem to have been able to
do anything about small waists.
The quarter century OF Charles It's
reign Q660-1685) saw Fashion as
sumo her own place again Theaters,
closed for decade, reopened to pre-
sent the now celebrated Restoration
drama, and pleasure starved people
made up for lost time. The Merry
Monarch's circle set the standard for
wit, beauty and dainty figures.
Throughout the 1700s swift and
almost terrifying changes took place
everywhere. England and Scotland
became jointly the United Kingdom
of Great Britain. A new line of SOW
ereigns took over the throne. The
American Colonies declared themselves
a separate Nation. The ancient French
monarchy was replaced by republic.
In the midst of these cataclysms
the corset stood firm. 1t sacrificed
neither shape nor prestige. The only
slight concession it made to change
was in answering to the new name of
stays.
An effort, introduced around 1850,
to displace the wasp waist by the So
called classic contour, proved Short
lived and resulted in tighter lacing
than ever. The figures of growing
girls, or young ladies'" as they were
stiff1y styled, were the special concern
of boarding school principals. A maid
accompanied the mistress in her
rounds every morning to see that the
pupils were properly laced and the ex-
clusiveness OF an educational institu-
ton for females seems to have been
determined by the small waists 1t
turned out!
1T WAS not unknown either for
women and girls at this time to
sleep in their corsets as more strenu-
GUS reducing measure, and as late as
George lis time many men wore cor
sets, too.
A Chinese visitor to England in
1874 wrote, Nothing can possibly be
SO enchanting as to see ladies that
compress themselves into taper forms
of the most exquisite shape, the like
Of which have never seen before"
Some twenty years later, with the
women's magazines supplying a public
forum, the corset question was flung
into the lists Of open controversy. To
lace or not to lace-that was the ques-
ton, echoed and re-echoed in con-
verSatZioneS" conducted by the
Queen and the English Women's Do
mestic Magazine.
Woman correspondents did yeoman
service for the cause with requests
such as this, II trust you will allow me
to make known that have never
suffered any pain or illness from
eight lacing)." ITO be tightly laced
in pair of tight-fitting stays is
most superb sensation" wrote another
campaigner. Interestingly enough, the
doctors Of the day were divided on the
issue. Advanced" members Of the
profession did not hold that all wom-
ans ills resulted from COMPRISING her
waist,