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What Dress Makes of Us

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<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3> LINES THAT SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED AND CONSIDERED IN MAKING COSTUMES. Mme. La Mode, much misrepresented as are all who are embarrassed with world-wide popularity always considers when designing fashions that women vary in form, as in mood. She suits all needs, although this fact has never been cast to her credit. With a beautiful sense of adjustment—as obvious as that in Nature, that projects the huge watermelon to ripen on a slender vine on the ground and swings a greengage plum on the stout stem of a tree to mature in storm or shine—Mme. La Mode, arbiter of styles, balances her fashions. Never came the big hat without the small bonnet. Accompanying the long cloak is the never-failing short cape. Side by side may be found the long coat and the short, natty jacket. This equilibrium in wearing apparel may be traced through all the vagaries of fashion. Everybody's need has been considered, but everybody has not considered her need. The short, stout woman passes by the long coat better adapted to her and seizes a short jacket—a homeopathic tendency of like suiting like, sometimes efficacious in medicine, but fatal in style. Style for Tall Slender Woman. <ANTIMG src="images/no36.jpg" align="left" alt= "[Illustration: NO. 36]"> <ANTIMG src="images/no37.jpg" align="right" alt="[Illustration: NO. 37]"> The very tall, slender woman frequently ignores a jaunty jacket and takes a long coat like that shown in No. 36. To even the sluggish fancy of an unimaginative observer she suggests a champagne bottle, and to the ready wit she hints of no end of amusing possibilities for caricature. The very tall woman should know that long lines from shoulder to foot give height, and she must discerningly strive to avoid length of line in her garments until she dons the raiment of the angels. Horizontal lines crossing the figure seem to decrease height, and should be used as much as possible in the arranging and trimming of the tall woman's garments. By selecting a shorter coat equally modish, as shown by No. 37, the too tall woman shortens her figure perceptibly. The belt cuts off from her height in a felicitous way, and the collar, also horizontal, materially improves the size of her throat. The high collar, such as finishes the coat, in No. 36, adds to the length. Those who have too long arms can use horizontal bands on sleeves most advantageously. The Coat the Short Stout Woman should Wear. <ANTIMG src="images/no38-39.jpg" align="left" alt= "[Illustration: NOS. 38 AND 39]"> The short jacket that so graciously improved the appearance of the slender specimen of femininity is sinister in its effect on the short, stout woman, in sketch No. 38. It should be the study of her life to avoid horizontal lines. Length of limb is to be desired because it adds distinction. Her belt, the horizontal effect of the skirt of the jacket, the horizontal trimming of the bottom of the skirt, all apparently shortening her height, tend to make her ordinary and commonplace in appearance. If her hips are not too pronounced she can wear the long coat, shown in picture No. 39. The V-shaped vesture gives her a longer waist, and the long lines of the revers add to the length of her skirt. If her hips are too prominent, she should avoid having any tight-fitting garments that bring the fact into relief. She should not wear the long coat, but she can effectively modify it to suit her needs, by only having a skirt, or tabs, or finishing straps in the back. If her jacket or basque is finished off with a skirt effect, it is best to have the little skirt swerve away just at the hip-line, half revealing and half concealing it. The front should be made in a jacket effect, finishing just at the waist-line and opening over a blouse front that will conceal the waist-line. It is best for the too short, stout woman to obscure her waist-line as much as possible, to apparently give her increase of height. To put the waist-line high up adds to length of limb, and, of course, is to be desired, but the fact that what is added below is taken from above the waist, should impel careful discrimination in the arrangement of this equatorial band. The Cloak or Cape for a Tall Woman. <ANTIMG src="images/no40.jpg" align="left" alt= "[Illustration: NO. 40]"> The long circular cloak is another graceful garment that can be worn with charming effect by the woman of classic height, but should never be in the wardrobe of a very tall woman except for use at the opera, when its service is chiefly required in the carriage, or when its wearer is sitting. It is so obvious, in sketch No. 40, that the vertical lines the folds of the cloak naturally fall into give a steeple-like appearance to the tall woman it enfolds, that it is scarcely necessary to comment upon it. <ANTIMG src="images/no41.jpg" align="right" alt= "[Illustration: NO. 41]"> That her judicious selection should have been the short cape, which comes, as all capes should, to be artistic, well below the elbows, is clearly illustrated in picture No. 41. The horizontal trimming very becomingly plays its part in the generally improving effect. The one who can wear the long cloak in an unchallengeable manner is the short, stout woman, shown in sketch No. 42. By wearing the short cape with circular, fluffy collarette, sketched in No. 43, she gives herself the look of a smothered, affrighted Cochin China chicken; or, as an imaginative school-girl remarked of her mother who wore a cape of similar style, "she looks as if her neck were encircled by bunches of asparagus." <ANTIMG src="images/no42-43.jpg" align="left" alt= "[Illustration: NOS. 42-43]"> The military dignity she acquires by wearing the long cape is becoming to a degree, and gives her distinction in form. By remembering that horizontal trimmings apparently decrease the height, and that vertical lines add to it, those who desire to appear at their best will use discernment in dividing their basques with yokes, or corsage mountings at the bust-line or frills at the hip-line. <ANTIMG src="images/no44.jpg" align="right" alt= "[Illustration: NO. 44]"> A flounce on the corsage at the bust-line, another at the hip-line, and yet another at the bottom of the shirt, increases the impression of bulkiness most aggressively and gives a barrel-like appearance to the form of a stout woman that is decidedly funny, as may be seen in sketch No. 44. A study of the lines of the form will not only aid one in adopting a more becoming style of dress, but will sharpen the artistic perceptions, thus adding to the joy of life. "A beautiful form is better than a beautiful face" and should be clothed so that its lines may appear at their best, and not be exaggerated and caricatured. The figure is seen many more times than the face, and the defects of the former are more conspicuous than those of the latter. Do not be unjust to your beautiful body, the temple of your soul; above all, do not caricature it by selecting your clothes with indiscriminating taste. NO MATTER WHAT THE PREVAILING MODE THESE RULES MAY BE PRACTICALLY APPLIED. <hr style="width: 65%;"> <h4><ANTIMG src="images/chap4.jpg" alt="chapter 4"></h4> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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