What Dress Makes of Us | Page 6

obscures whatever delicacy may be in the
modelling of her features and brings into conspicuous relief the ugliest
lines of her face. Her chin is apparently increased in heaviness and the
broadness of her face is made prominent. She could easily have
restored the artistic balance to her facial lines by wearing a large hat,
rather heavily trimmed, as in No. 23, thus effectively modifying the
strong curves of the chin and signally improving her appearance. If a
woman's face is fairly proportioned, not too short for its breadth, and
she can not afford plumes, this type of woman can still give a becoming
balance to her face by adopting hats that are trimmed with flamboyant
bows that flare horizontally across the hat, diverging from a central
knot in the from.
[Illustration: NO. 23]
For the Woman with Tapering Chin.
[Illustration: NO. 24]
The woman who is the exact opposite of the type with the ample lower
jaw, but whose chief disadvantage lies in her broad, manly brow and
tiny tapering chin, should avoid all horizontal trimmings, bows or
broad hat-brims. It is clear, in No. 24, that such trimmings increase the
wedge-like appearance of the face and give it the grotesque suggestion
of an ordinary flower-pot in which grows a sickly plant. This type can
perceptibly improve upon nature by choosing the style of hat and
neck-gear shown by No. 25.
[Illustration: NO. 25]
The crinkly ovals that form the brim of the hat, and the soft, graceful

arrangement of the hair in front that decreases the too broad effect of
the brow, and the full fluffy ruff snuggled up closely to the chin,
produce a pleasing transformation of the meagre-looking original that
to the uninitiated seems little short of magical. The broad, cravat-like
bows, and the flaring ones known as "incroyables," were beneficently
wedge-like faces and throats that have lost the seductive curves of
youth.
Hat for the Chubby Woman.
[Illustration: NO. 26]
That amiable type of woman formed conspicuously upon the circular
plan often unconsciously impresses the fact of her fatal tendency to
rotundity by repeating the roundness of her globular eyes, the disk-like
appearance of her snub nose and the circle of her round mouth, and the
fulness of her face by wearing a little, round hat in the style portrayed
by No. 26.
[Illustration: NO. 27]
The curls of her bang, the feathers in her hat, the high collar of her
jacket make more significant the fact that her lines are not artistic and
that her face is unbeautifully round. She can enhance her charms and
apparently decrease the too spherical cut of her countenance by
adopting the mode illustrated in No. 27. The angular bows on the hat,
the geometric lines of the broad hat-brim, the precise cut of the lapels
on the corsage, the neat throat-band and V-shaped vesture--all insinuate
in a most engaging way a dignity and fine, high-bred poise totally
obliterated by the circular style of dress erroneously adopted by the
misguided woman in No. 26.
[Illustration: NO. 28]
For Women Who Have Sharp and Prominent Profiles.
In buying a hat many of the "unfair sex"--as the modern wag dubs the
progressive sisters who wish to have all man's rights and privileges and

keep their own besides--never seem to consider their heads but from a
front point of view. In consequence, as sketch No 28 hints, a head seen
from the side frequently appears, if not idiotically, very inartistically,
proportioned.
[Illustration: NO. 29]
Occasionally a hat presents as comical an effect in a from as in a side
view, as may be seen in No. 29. The wearer was an elderly woman with
gray hair which hung down in a half-curled bang on either side of her
thin face. Her hat which was simply "dripping" with feathers suggested
a fanciful letter "T" and exaggerated the thinness of her face in a
remarkably funny way. The feathers overhanging the brim increased
the broadness of the hat, and looked singularly waggish fluttering
against the spriggy-looking projections of gray hair. The rules for the
wedge-shaped face, as may readily be discerned, apply here.
[Illustration: NOS. 30 AND 31]
Women who have sharp and prominently outlined profiles have a
curious tendency to choose hats, the brims of which project too far
forward in front, and turn up too abruptly and ungracefully in the back.
As shown in No. 30 the protruding brim gives the head and face the
unattractive proportions of the capital letter "F." The length of the nose
is emphasized by the line of the hat-rim above it and it appears unduly
obtrusive. The flat arrangement of the hair and the curve of the
hat-brim in the back also exaggerate the obtrusive qualities of the
features. By choosing a hat somewhat similar to the one