Woman as Decoration | Page 3

woman is the one who understands the art of elimination in
costumes. Wear your costumes with conviction--by which we mean
decide what picture you will make of yourself, make it and then enjoy
it! It is only by letting your personality animate your costume that you

make yourself superior to the lay figure or the sawdust doll.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
FOREWORD xi
I A FEW HINTS FOR THE NOVICE WHO WOULD PLAN HER
COSTUMES 1
Rules having economic value while aiming at decorativeness.--Lines
and colouring emphasised or modified by costuming.--Temperaments
affect carriage of the body.--Line of body affects costume.--Technique
of controlling the physique.--The highly sensitised woman.--Costuming
an art.--Studying types.--Starring one's own good points.--Beauty not
so fleeting as is supposed if costume is adapted to its changing
aspects.--Masters in art of costuming often discover and star previously
unrecognised beauty.--Establishing the habit of those lines and colours
in gowns, hats, gloves, parasols, sticks, fans and jewels which are your
own.--The intelligent purchaser.--The best dressed women.--Value of
understanding one's background.--Learning the art of understanding
one's background.--Learning the art of costuming from masters of the
art.--How to proceed with this study.--Successful costuming not
dependent upon amount of money spent upon it.--An example
II THE LAWS UNDERLYING ALL COSTUMING OF WOMAN 23
Appropriateness keynote of costuming to-day.--Five salient points to be
borne in mind when planning a costume.--Where English, French, and
American women excel in art of costuming.--Feeling for line.--To
make our points clear constant reference to the stage is
necessary.--Bakst and Poiret.--Turning to the Orient for line and
colour.--Keeping costume in same key as its settings.--How to know
your period; its line, colours and characteristic details.--Studying
costumes in Gothic illuminations

III HOW TO DRESS YOUR TYPE 46
A FEW POINTS APPLYING TO ALL
COSTUMES.--Background.--Line and colour of costumes to bring out
the individuality of wearer.--The chic woman defined.--Intelligent
expressing of self in mise-en-scène.--Selecting one's colour scheme
IV THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CLOTHES 54
Effect of clothes upon manners.--The natural instinct for costuming,
"clothes sense."--Costuming affecting psychology of wearer.--Clothes
may liberate or shackle the spirit of women, be a tyrant or magician's
wand.--Follow colour instinct in clothes as well as housefurnishings
V ESTABLISH HABITS OF CARRIAGE WHICH CREATE GOOD
LINE 66
Woman's line result of habits of a mind controlled by observations,
conventions, experiences and attitudes which make her
personality.--Training lines of physique from childhood; an
example.--A knowledge of how to dress appropriately leads to
efficiency
VI COLOUR IN WOMAN'S COSTUME 74
Colour hall-mark of to-day.--Bakst, Rheinhardt and Granville Barker,
teachers of the new colour vocabulary.--PORTABLE
BACKGROUNDS
VII FOOTWEAR 85
Importance of carefully considering extremities.--What constitutes a
costume.--Importance of learning how to buy, put on and wear each
detail of costume if one would be a decorative
picture.--Spats.--Stockings.--Slippers.--Buckles
VIII JEWELRY AS DECORATION 94
Considered as colour and line not with regard to intrinsic worth.--To

complete a costume or furnish keynote upon which to build a
costume.--Distinguished jewels with historic associations worn
artistically; examples.--Know what jewels are your affair as to colour,
size, and shape.--To know what one can and cannot wear in all
departments of costuming prepares one to grasp and make use of expert
suggestions. How fashions come into being.--One of the rules as to
how jewels should be worn.--Gems and paste
IX WOMAN DECORATIVE IN HER BOUDOIR 111
Negligée or tea-gown belongs to this intimate setting.--Fortuny the
artist designer of tea-gowns.--Sibyl Sanderson.--The decorative value
of a long string of beads.--Beauty which is the result of conscious
effort.--Bien soiné a hall-mark of our period
X WOMAN DECORATIVE IN HER SUN-ROOM 116
Since a winter sun-room is planned to give the illusion of summer,
one's costuming for it should carry out the same idea.--The sun-room
provides a means for using up last summer's costumes.--The hat, if
worn, should suggest repose, not action.--The age and habits of those
occupying a sun-room dictate the exact type of costume to be
worn.--Colour scheme
XI I. WOMAN DECORATIVE IN HER GARDEN 124
In the garden the costume should have a decorative outline but simple
colour scheme which harmonises with background of flowers.--White,
grey, or one note of colour preferable.--The flowers furnish variety and
colour.--Lady de Bathe (Mrs. Langtry) in her garden at Newmarket,
England
II. WOMAN DECORATIVE ON THE LAWN
One may be a flower or a bunch of flowers for colour against the
unbroken sweep of green underfoot and background of shrubs and
trees.--Chic outline and interesting detail, as well as colour, of distinct
value in a costume for lawn.--How to cultivate an unerring instinct for

what is a successful costume for any given occasion
III. WOMAN DECORATIVE ON THE BEACH
If one would be a contribution to the picture, figure as white or vivid
colour on beach, deck of steamer or yacht
XII WOMAN AS DECORATION WHEN SKATING 134
Line of the body all important.--The necessity of mastering form to
gain