What Dress Makes of Us Part 5

It is plain to be seen that the unattractive specimen of femininity, No. 65., with the long, wrinkled neck and sharply lined face is unbecomingly costumed in the V-shaped basque and corsage which apparently elongate her natural lankness. A charming and always fas.h.i.+onable yoke-effect that she can wear to advantage is shown by No.

66. This style of corsage is equally effective for a too thin or a too muscular neck. The filling is of tulle.

A square-cut corsage is most becoming to the woman whose narrow shoulders have a consumptive droop. The angular cut apparently heightens the shoulders and decreases their too steeple-like inclination. The round cut, if it frames a full throat, is also an effective style for sloping shoulders. The V-shaped cut is most becoming to the short-necked woman, whose aim should be to increase the length of her throat.

It is not only the too thin neck that needs to be clothed with discrimination. Throats and shoulders that are too robust are improved by being covered. The arms and shoulders, however, are often the chief beauty of a fleshy woman, and it is to her advantage to give them as effective a setting as possible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 68]

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 67]

As is obvious in No. 67, the stout woman apparently increases her breadth by wearing a flamboyant corsage, and she hides the most exquisite lines of her arm with her sleeves.

The princesse style of gown, in No. 68, gives her apparent length of waist. The modest lace flounce that falls in vertical folds decreases her formidable corsage. The knotted twist of silk reveals the full beauty of her arm.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 69]

In dressing the throat there are a few rules to be remembered. A too long, stem-like neck may be apparently shortened by a standing ruff or a full, soft band of velvet. The tight, plain band of velvet should never be worn by a woman with a very slim neck, as is plainly discernible in sketch No. 69.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 70]

The plain, military collar emphasizes the thinness of the slender woman's throat; but the soft crushed fold of velvet apparently enlarges the pipe-like proportions of the thin woman's neck, as may be seen in sketch No. 70. The tight-fitting collar should not be worn by the corpulent woman with a thick neck, as is shown by sketch No. 71.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 71]

The thickness of the throat of the woman pictured in No. 72 may seem due to the folds of the velvet, which give a pleasing hint of a slender throat, a delusion not to be despised by the woman burdened with flesh.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 72]

All the sisterhood,--stout, thin, long-throated, or short,--should know the hour when the withering touch of age begins to shrink the soft, round curves distinctive of the full, sweet throat of healthful youth.

No regretful vanity should be allowed to glamour their eyes to the fact that Time has them by the throat, to put it melodramatically. The wise woman will not please herself with a fatal delusion. She will realize it is illusion she needs-yards of it--lace or velvet, or any beautifying texture that will conceal the deadly lines of age.

CHAPTER VI.

HINTS ON DRESS FOR ELDERLY WOMEN.

Dress has much to do with a youthful or aged appearance. Shawls and long mantles that fall from the shoulders give even youthful figures a look of age, because the lines are long and dignified and without especial grace. Beautiful wraps, or coats that do not come very far below the hip-line, can be worn becomingly by elderly ladies, neither emphasizing their years nor making them appear too frivolously attired. There is a smack of truth in the maxim, _As a woman grows old the dress material should increase in richness and decrease in brightness_. Handsome brocades, soft, elegant silks, woollen textures, and velvets are eminently suitable and becoming to women who are growing old.

Black, and black-and-white, soft white chiffon veiled in lace, cashmeres, and such refined tissues should be selected by those in "the first wrinkles of youth." Grays combined with filmy white material, dull bronzes lightened with cream-tinted lace, are also charmingly appropriate. Pale blue veiled in chiffon is another grateful combination.

White should be worn more than it is by old ladies. It is so suggestive of all that is clean, bright, and dainty; and if there is anything an old lady should strive to be in her personal appearance it is dainty.

Exquisite cleanliness is one of the most necessary attributes of attractive old age, and any texture that in its quality and color emphasizes the idea of cleanliness should commend itself to those in their "advanced youth."

Little old thin women, large ones too, for that matter, who are wrinkled and colorless, should not wear diamonds. The dazzling white gems with pitiless brilliancy bring out the pasty look of the skin. The soft glow of pearls, the cloudlike effects of the opal, the un.o.btrusive lights of the moonstone harmonize with the tints of hair and skin of the aged.

Elderly women should not wear bright flowers on their bonnets or hats.

Fresh-looking roses above a face that has lost its first youthfulness only make that fact more obvious. Forget-me-nots, mignonettes, certain pretty white flowers, the palest of pink roses, or the most delicate tint of yellow veiled with lace are not inappropriate for those who do not enjoy wearing sombre bonnets and hats which are composed only of rich, black textures. Lace cleverly intermingled with velvet and jewelled ornaments of dull, rich shades are exceedingly effective on the head-gear of the old.

Those who are gray-haired--and indeed all women as they grow old--should wear red above their brows instead of under their chins. A glint of rich cardinal velvet, or a rosette of the same against gray hair is beautiful.

Lace! Lace! Lace! and still more Lace for the old. _Lace is an essential to the dress of a woman more than forty years of age_. Jabots, ruches, yokes, cascades, vests, and gowns of lace, black or white, are all for the old. Rich lace has an exquisitely softening effect on the complexion. Thin women with necks that look like the strings of a violin should swathe, smother, decorate, and adorn their throats with lace or gossamer fabrics that have the same quality as lace. These airy textures, in which light and shadow can so beautifully s.h.i.+ft, subdue roughnesses of the skin and harshness in lines. Old Dame Nature is the prime teacher of these bewitching artifices. Note her fine effects with mists and cobwebs, with lace-like moss on st.u.r.dy old oaks, the bloom on the peach and the grape. Nature produces her most enchanting colorings with dust and age. Laces, gauzes, mulls, chiffons, net, and gossamer throw the same beautiful glamour over the face and they are fit and charming accompaniments of gray hair, which is a wonderful softener of defective complexions and hard facial lines.

Too much cannot be written upon the proper arrangement in the neck-gear of the aged. The disfiguring wrinkles that make many necks unsightly may be kept in obeyance by ma.s.saging. No matter what the fas.h.i.+on in neck-gear, the aged must modify it to suit their needs. An old lady with a thin, pipe-stem neck should adopt a full ruche and fluffy, soft collar-bands. I cannot forbear repeating that tulle as light as thistle bubbles, either white or gray or black, is exquisitely effective for thin, scrawny necks. The fleshy, red neck should be softened with powder and discreetly veiled in chemisettes of chiffon and delicate net.

Old ladies may keep in the style, thus being in the picture of the hour; but it is one of the divine privileges of age that it can make its own modes. Absolute cleanliness, cleanliness as exacting as that proper nurses prescribe for babies, is the first and most important factor in making old age attractive. Rich dress, in artistic colors, soft, misty, esthetic, comes next; then the idealizing scarfs, collars, jabots, and fichus of lace and tulles. Old people becomingly and artistically attired have the charm of rare old pictures. If they have soul-illumined faces they are precious masterpieces.

CHAPTER VII.

HOW MEN CARICATURE THEMSELVES WITH THEIR CLOTHES.

Although in the dress of man there are fewer possibilities of caricature than in that of woman, yet, "the masterpieces of creation" frequently exaggerate in a laughable--and sometimes a pitiable--way, certain physical characteristics by an injudicious choice of clothes.

As the fas.h.i.+on in hair-dressing does not grant man the privilege of enhancing his facial attractions; nor of obscuring his defects by a becomingly arranged coiffure; and, as the modes in neck-gear are such that he cannot modify the blemishes of a defective complexion by encircling his athletic or scrawny throat with airy tulle, or dainty lace, that arch-idealizer of pasty-looking faces; and as he has forsworn soft, trailing garments that conceal uncla.s.sic curves and uninspiring lines of nether limbs, it behooves him to be more exactingly particular even than woman in the selection of his wearing apparel.

Far be it from me, however, to remind man of his many limitations--in dress. That he can never know the rapture of donning a becoming spring bonnet, nor the pleasure of possessing "real lace" things, nor the sensuous charm of being enwrapped in caressing furs, or sleazy, silken garments as exquisite in color and texture as beautiful, fresh flowers, only delicate consideration for his feelings constrains me from expatiating upon at length.

I would rather be able to remind him that he can make his limitations his advantages, than reveal to him what he misses in not being a woman.

To treat of this important subject adequately and convincingly, one would require the masterly discernment of a skillful and accomplished tailor, the experienced knowledge of a well-dressed man, and the alertly critical perception of a loving woman who, even in the matter of clothes, wishes the dearest of men to her, to do full justice to himself and her ideal of him on all occasions.

Although certain of the foregoing qualifications must needs be lacking, nevertheless this timorous pen, with more trepidation than courage it must be confessed, begs to call attention to a few obvious details in masculine attire that caricature, more or less, peculiarities in the forms and features of men.

To be sure, in the matter of head-gear man is not conspicuously at the mercy of burlesquing ribbons, flowers, and feathers, and he has fewer opportunities than women to make himself ridiculous, yet a few suggestions regarding certain shapes of head-gear for certain types of faces, applicable to women are equally applicable to him.

The same rule that applies to the women of the wedge-shaped type of face applies to the man of the wedge-shaped type, as may be seen in sketches Nos. 75 and 76. It is obvious that the youth depicted in No. 75 detracts from the manliness of his face and emphasizes the pointed appearance of his countenance by wearing a hat with a broad brim projecting over his ears. This style of hat appears more frequently in straw than in any other texture, but the effect of a wide, projecting rim is the same in any material. No. 76, it is plain, improves the appearance of the long, slim-faced man. An alpine hat would not be unbecoming to him, the high oval of the crown forming a balance for the lower part of the face.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 75]

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 76]

The man with a pugilistic chin should endeavor to select a hat that will not make his heavy jaw as prominent as does the stiff derby, in No. 77.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 77]

A soft alpine hat, or one somewhat of the style of No. 78, improves his appearance. The high crown and wide, gracefully rolling brim counter-balance the weight and prominence of the jaw.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NO. 78]

Apropos of the minor details of man's garments, the b.u.t.ton as a feature of clothes has never been fully done justice to. It is a sustaining thing we know, something we can hang to, fasten to, and even tie to.

That properly placed b.u.t.tons contribute to our mental poise and therefore to our physical repose, is hinted in that absurdly engaging story, anent the smart boy who was the envy of his spelling-cla.s.s, because he always stood first. You remember, no doubt, that an envious but keen-eyed cla.s.smate observed that the smart speller worked off his nervous apprehensiveness by twirling the top b.u.t.ton of his coat as he correctly spelled word after word, day in and day out; and how the keen-eyed one played the part of a stealthy villain and surrept.i.tiously cut the b.u.t.ton off the coat. And do you remember the dramatic ending?

How the smart one on the fatal day sought to "press the b.u.t.ton" and finding it gone, lost his wits completely and failed ignominiously? Many of us when we have lost a sustaining b.u.t.ton, have we not felt as ridiculously helpless and wit-benumbed as the smart speller?