I just get a kick out of some of these articles in the Woman’s Exponent. These women writers (Emmeline B. Wells, primarily) had a sense of humor, a sense of honor, a sense of duty, a sense of spirituality. I just want to tap into it all. After deciphering the language barrier, it’s really good reading. Enjoy!
“Human clothing has three “raisons d’etre”, which, in order of precedence, are these:
- Health
- Decency
- Beauty
Health demands—
- Maintenance of proper temperature of the body by exclusion of excessive heat and cold.
- Protection from injury by rain, snow, dust, dirt, stones to the feet, insects, etc.
- Preservation of liberty of action to all the organs of the body and freedom from pressure. (I think we’re talking about corsets here)
Decency demands—
- Concealment of some portions of the human frame.
- Distinction between the habiliments of men and women, sufficient to avert mistake. (distinction in gender identifying dress has changed over the years)
- Fitness for the age and character of the wearer. (Dressing your age?)
- Concealment, when possible, of any disgusting personal defect.
Beauty demands—
- Truthfulness. The dress must be genuine throughout, without any false pads, false hair, or false anything.
- Graceful forms of drapery.
- Harmonious colors.
- Such moderate consistency with prevailing modes of dress as shall produce the impression of sociability and suavity, and avoid that of self-assertion. (Dressing for others opposed to dressing for your own pleasure—I’m thinking both have become bad)
- Individuality. The dress suiting the wearer as if it were an outer body belonging to the same soul.
Glancing back over the above table, we find this curious fact: The dress of men in all Western nations meets fairly all the conditions of health and decency, and fails only on the side of beauty. The dress of women, on the contrary, ever variable as it is, persistently misses the conditions of health; frequently violates the rules of decency; instead of securing beauty, at which it aims first instead of last, achieves, usually ugliness.”
What goes around comes around. Old styles come back new again. But unhealthy, lewd, ugly clothing remain the same in all ages. And the problems of society persist because of it.
As usual, such an entertaining post. I loved the categories and observations about forms of dress for women. I loved the suggestion about “truthfulness” in dress. I am not sure there are many “truthful” women left with all the plastic surgery available today. lol Thanks for the great read.
I loved that observation that men’s dress mostly conforms to the requirements (except for the fashion of droopy drawers) while women’s dress consistently breaks it. I quite agree! I also agree that women’s fashions usually achieve ugliness. So many times when a new fashion comes out I think to myself, “That is the stupidest thing I’ve seen in a while.” And I don’t understand why it catches on.