THE LINE OF YOUTH AND GRACE
There is a distinct difference between the appropriate clothes for the
young stout girl and those for the elderly stout woman. The first must
work to emphasize trim smartness; the second simplicity and
becomingness. Not so much difference in the two, you will say, but think
carefully about it and you will realize that there _is_ a difference.
The whole idea of dress is different at 20, let us say, than it is at
50. If you are 20, you may wear 20–year clothes, but if you are 50, you
may wear 40–year clothes. And you can truly look 40 if you learn to
blend the lines suited to youth and maturity and to do it skilfully.
WHEN TAILORED CLOTHES ARE SMART
Work to achieve one of two types—tailored smartness or supple dignity.
Neither need emphasize age and both can reduce the appearance of size.
If you are best as a tailored girl, be one morning and evening. Remember
that the soft wools, charmeen and poiret, are best, and often smart in
stripe effect. One-piece wool frocks are a boon to slenderness and every
season brings smart, simple straight lines especially adaptable to soft,
clinging materials. Watch the length of your suit coat if you are young.
Long Eton effects are often good, and don’t forget the beauty and long
line possibilities in the very long suit coat.
Tend a little to the vampish black in the evenings, if you wish, but
tailor the lines so that they are severely smart. Of course, if you are
18 you may not want to use black and look vampish, but you can, as far
as size goes, wear cream, sky or old blue, or watery green effectively.
In fact, any of these colors are wearable if you choose supple fabrics
and wear them unadorned. If you choose boat necks, be sure to wear a
scarf or necklace to break the line.
But here we are going to talk about the girl who is young, good-looking,
and stout. You needn’t say that you are not good-looking. It’s your own
fault if you aren’t, that’s certain. Read the women’s magazines. Every
month they carry excellent articles on the care of the face, hands, hair
and body, and if you are delightfully clean and follow even the simplest
rules, you can be good to look at even if you weigh more than you would
like to.
[Illustration:
Straight lines can be artistically used in lingerie or negligee, and
such garments need not be monotonous or unattractive. Beautiful
simplicity or distinctive smartness should be your aim with such
garments.
At the left is a night dress with pleasing length lines.
Ribbon trimmings or contrasting bands are desirable in finishing
dressing gowns, such as shown in the center above, especially if the
color harmonizes with the predominating color of the fabric.
Soft crêpe, as at the right, in subdued color, is becoming and
inexpensive. Effective length line trimmings can be added by
decorative stitches or bindings.
]
Fortunately, the flesh on a young stout girl is usually evenly
distributed, thus making the chief consideration in dress one of
choosing line and fabric that are becoming to youth. It is very easy for
a young stout to be well corseted and that is an important essential,
for correct corseting will go a long way toward avoiding additional fat.
YOUTHFUL STYLES YOU CAN WEAR
If you are young, don’t be indifferent about _any_ phase of your dress,
and don’t ever show any humiliation because of it. Women who are
continually conscious of their size seem to look fatter than those who
plan to make the least of it and to enjoy it. Emerson says, “Never go to
a man to tell him that you can’t pay a debt when you haven’t any money.
Your whole attitude will cause him to lose confidence in you.”
So it is with stout women. If you yourself tell about it, pity yourself,
evidence it by word as well as by your appearance, then you deserve to
be classed as “that fat Brown girl” instead of “the good-looking Brown
girl.”
If you prefer short dresses, and short skirts are the vogue, be
extremely careful about your feet. Have them perfectly shod. Wear hose
of a neutral or dress-matching shade so that the height will not be
broken. Severe lines for modish, clear-skinned girls with neat coiffures
are often very effective and they have the additional advantage of
youthfulness which older women must strive for.
Try to learn about your dress from study and observation rather than
from experience. The latter is discouraging and expensive. Visit shops
that specialize in tailored things. Study fashion pictures for line, not
color or trimming, for you know you can vary these to suit your special
slenderizing emphasis. Ice cream, like candy, is tempting to young
folks, as are bright colors and new fads. So eat sparingly, but of the
best, choose the choicest of the fads, the smartest of the new colors.
Invariably they will be in good taste and created of a color and
material or design that you can with discretion adopt.
[Illustration:
Youthfulness is entirely possible with slenderizing lines. These
illustrations, for instance, are simple to the extreme, yet allow of
individuality and becomingness. The plaited frill held in place by a
definite length band is allowable.
The Tuxedo panels of the black dress are designed as part of the
collar, in scarf effect, thus giving a youthful line rather than a
heavy, collar trim and one that can be worn by all but full bust
figures.
]
YOUTHFUL STYLES TO AVOID
Don’t be tempted to buy a bright colored cheviot suit when a navy
charmeen or a smart black and white stripe would be much more
distinctive and slenderizing.
Don’t let any one make you look old. Avoid bulk in your clothes, such as
heavy skirts, bulging ornaments, ruffles, frills and flounces. Learn to
delight in slenderizing. Enjoy it. It can become as much a hobby as can
art in pictures or music. Remember you have the responsibility of your
own loveliness. If you are not pleasing to see morning, noon and night,
you can blame nary a soul but yourself. Wholesomeness is beautiful
anywhere, any time, so work to achieve perfection by way of simplicity.
Your responsibility will be less and the result more sure.
Wear trim, one-piece dresses with narrow belts and long, smart collars.
Work yourself into the new fads _wisely_. Enjoy the new in dress but do
it discreetly so that it blends perfectly with size, type and
inclinations.
[Illustration:
Youthfulness demands simplicity. Short coats overcome the appearance
of heaviness over the hips and are at the same time youthful. In the
suit above the long revers, the vertical pockets, the broken cuff
line, and the lap-front skirt, all aid in the “magic” of
slenderness.
Simplicity and smartness in evening frocks is as essential as those
for day-time wear.
The first dress is Georgette with wee pin tucks, the bodice of
brocade, thus giving length in line and concealed brilliancy
desirable for evening wear.
At the right is metallic cloth in inconspicuous design, aided in line
by the long velvet ribbon trim. The long, link necklace also gives
length and serves to break the line of the square neck which might
otherwise be unbecoming.
]
Don’t wear feathers; they are old and “filling.” Don’t over dress.
Remember the fewer clothes the better—just enough to be respectable!
Never bundle yourself up in clothes—wear them for comfort, beauty, and
becomingness.
Put a double front in your slips and don’t wear petticoats. They pull
you in at the wrong place. Let your slip also suffice for a corset
cover. Use perspiration preventatives rather than dress shields, and
don’t put linings in your dresses. Eliminate even seams that are bulky.
Avoid buttons. They are allowable for little folks and older folks, but
are too matter of fact for smart simplicity. If you wear knickers be
sure that they fit correctly; don’t let them extend too high at the
waist or in wide-cuff effect below the knee. A band just below the knee
is less heavy looking.
TRIMNESS IS YOUR GOAL
Watch out if you wear sweaters. A football type, never! Get soft, trim
coat sweaters and button the last two buttons, or choose Tuxedos, which
are best of all. White heavy skirts and bright red heavy sports sweaters
can be your “Waterloo” if you are not careful. You can, however, wear a
neat, white skirt that is soft, not too full, and just right in length,
with a dull, soft blue-green or tan light-weight sweater and look very,
very smart, especially if your shoes and stockings are all white—not cut
up with black and white or sandal-like in shape. And then a perky felt
or milan hat, trimmed at one side, can look a lot better for sports wear
than a drooping wide brim which seems so “comfy” for big folk. Remember,
trimness is your goal—“perfection in simplicity”—so don’t stop short of
it in any detail.
[Illustration:
In choosing clothes for young girls who are large for their age, the
same rules of optical illusion apply as for adults. For instance, in
the above picture the length lines are deftly used to emphasize the
line of youth.
]
Even in negligee and in night clothes consider every article, because
habit is as big a factor as fat and quite as difficult to reckon with.
In making your night dresses, you can panel them by means of tucks and
make V yokes instead of round, or broad square ones. You may also have
them sleeveless and tailored, all of which will help in making for
slenderness. Soft crêpe night dresses with a woven stripe in self color
are attractive. Stiff materials will never do. Materials that are too
sheer show the body outline too much, and if your material is “bumpy” of
course it, too, is taboo.
Use short shoulders in your negligees and have definite length lines. If
you must have pockets, point them down so that they won’t square the
figure across the hips. And choose soft, easy colors that are becoming.
Changeable taffetas are to be shunned like the measles. Soft crêpes and
small figured silks and stripes are all suitable. In this campaign, even
the bedroom slippers should be of inconspicuous color so as not to take
from the height.
Work for trimness, neatness, preciseness at all times. They all go with
a tailored effect and must be observed to the letter if you wish to
achieve the illusion of slenderness in dress.