Woman as Decoration | Page 3

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-sc��ne.--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
Neglig��e 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 soin�� 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 efficiency in any line; examples.--The traditional skating costume has the lead
XIII WOMAN DECORATIVE IN HER MOTOR CAR 145
The colour of one's car inside and out important factor in effect produced by one's carefully chosen costume
XIV HOW TO GO ABOUT PLANNING A PERIOD COSTUME 154
Period.--Background.--Outline.--Materials.--Colour scheme.--Detail with meaning.--Authorities.--Consulting portraits by great masters.--Geraldine Farrar.--Distinguished collection of costume plates.--One result of planning period costumes is the opening up of vistas in history.--Every detail of a