The evening dress should be chosen with the greatest care. In most
cases it must be chosen with the view of lasting at least one season
and possibly two. It is understood, to be sure, that I am talking with
a young person of limited means. As I said, the evening dress should
be chosen with the utmost care. Your community, of course, and the
attitudes of your immediate contemporaries will gauge the cut of the
gown.
I should, if I were asked about my own taste, suggest a dress with a
very tight basque and a circular skirt. But that is all a matter of
your own taste. If you are just a little plump, a straight line dress,
depending from the shoulders and without sign of belt or division would
be very good. If you are quite plump I should suggest a course in
dynamic symmetry from some good commercial art school. My own knowledge
of the principles of that particular phase of the arts is not authentic.
But the most important feature of the whole dress is its color. I have
it from one of the most popular girls I have ever known that the color
of a dress does more to make a girl sought after than anything else
about her. Incidentally this same girl forgets that there is such a
thing as a darkened room. I must say for the young lady’s theory that
she has enjoyed an uninterrupted vogue at dances for the last seven
years.
The color then should be carefully chosen. It should be some hue which
while it attracts attention, should, at the same time, be eminently
suited to your complexion. Blondes with olive skins can wear any color
they may choose, and still look quite smart. Redheads with pale, clear
complexions are equally fortunate except that they should avoid certain
shades of brown and gray.
A brunette is most striking in a very warm color, something say in
crimson or one of the warmer blues; blues, that is to say, which verge
on purple. White on a brunette becomes striking. In the same manner,
blue near a freckled face becomes conspicuous, or rather the freckles
do.
Your coiffeur should not concern you if your hair is bobbed. You
should be sure to keep it clean and if you feel that the young man’s
nose may get among it in the course of the evening, put a subtle
perfume there to meet it halfway, as it were. Long hair produces still
other problems. You should know by this time that straggling wisps of
hair are quite unsightly and dress your hair accordingly.