Woman as Decoration | Page 6

long way on the road toward that desirable
goal--decorativeness, and have economic value as well. They are
simple rules deduced by those who have made a study of woman's lines

and colouring, and how to emphasise or modify them by dress.
Temperaments are seriously considered by experts in this art, for the
carriage of a woman and her manner of wearing her clothes depends in
part upon her temperament. Some women instinctively feel line and are
graceful in consequence, as we have said, but where one is not born
with this instinct, it is possible to become so thoroughly schooled in the
technique of controlling the physique--poise of the body, carriage of the
head, movement of the limbs, use of feet and hands, that a sense of line
is acquired. Study portraits by great masters, the movements of those
on the stage, the carriage and positions natural to graceful women. A
graceful woman is invariably a woman highly sensitised, but remember
that "alive to the finger tips"--or toe tips, may be true of the woman
with few gestures, a quiet voice and measured words, as well as the
intensely active type.
The highly sensitised woman is the one who will wear her clothes with
individuality, whether she be rounded or slender. To dress well is an art,
and requires concentration as any other art does. You know the old
story of the boy, who when asked why his necktie was always more
neatly tied than those of his companions, answered: "I put my whole
mind on it." There you have it! The woman who puts her whole mind
on the costuming of herself is naturally going to look better than the
woman who does not, and having carefully studied her type, she will
know her strong points and her weak ones, and by accentuating the
former, draw attention from the latter. There is a great difference,
however, between concentrating on dress until an effect is achieved,
and then turning the mind to other subjects, and that tiresome dawdling,
indefinite, fruitless way, to arrive at no convictions. This variety of
woman never gets dress off her chest.
The catechism of good dressing might be given in some such form as
this: Are you fat? If so, never try to look thin by compressing your
figure or confining your clothes in such a way as to clearly outline the
figure. Take a chance from your size. Aim at long lines, and what
dressmakers call an "easy fit," and the use of solid colours. Stripes,
checks, plaids, spots and figures of any kind draw attention to

dimensions; a very fat woman looks larger if her surface is marked off
into many spaces. Likewise a very thin woman looks thinner if her
body on the imagination of the public subtracting is marked off into
spaces absurdly few in number. A beautifully proportioned and
rounded figure is the one to indulge in striped, checked, spotted or
flowered materials or any parti-coloured costumes.
* * * * *
Never try to make a thin woman look anything but thin. Often by
accentuating her thinness, a woman can make an effect as type, which
gives her distinction. If she were foolish enough to try to look fatter,
her lines would be lost without attaining the contour of the rounded
type. There are of course fashions in types; pale ash blonds, red-haired
types (auburn or golden red with shell pink complexions), dark haired
types with pale white skin, etc., and fashions in figures are as many and
as fleeting.
Artists are sometimes responsible for these vogues. One hears of the
Rubens type, or the Sir Joshua Reynolds, Hauptner, Burne-Jones,
Greuse, Henner, Zuloaga, and others. The artist selects the type and
paints it, the attention of the public is attracted to it and thereafter
singles it out. We may prefer soft, round blonds with dimpled smiles,
but that does not mean that such indisputable loveliness can challenge
the attractions of a slender serpentine tragedy-queen, if the latter has
established the vogue of her type through the medium of the stage or
painter's brush.
A woman well known in the world of fashion both sides of the Atlantic,
slender and very tall, has at times deliberately increased that height
with a small high-crowned hat, surmounted by a still higher feather.
She attained distinction without becoming a caricature, by reason of her
obvious breeding and reserve. Here is an important point. A woman of
quiet and what we call conservative type, can afford to wear
conspicuous clothes if she wishes, whereas a conspicuous type must be
reserved in her dress. By following this rule the overblown rose often
makes herself beautiful. Study all types of woman. Beauty is a
wonderful and precious thing, and not so fleeting either as one is told.

The point