DRESS AND HEALTH.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 95, 4 May 1880, Page 3

DRESS AND HEALTH.

Dr. Richardson lately delivered a lecture at the London Institution on “ Dress n Relation to Health.” It was, he said, altogether apart from his purpose to deprecate good fashion in dress. Good health and good fashion would always go well together. Errors of fashion were due, as a rule, to the fact that fashions were dictated and carried out by vain and ignorant persons, who were skilled neither in art nor in the rules of health. Considering dress first of all in relation to its mechanical adaptation to the body, the lecturer objected to everything that led to unequal pressure and to tight binding about the body, neck, feet, and limbs. The dress should be loose, and its weight borne by the shoulders. In the dress of men this was fairly accomplished, but the dress of women dragged from the waist, and occasioned physical bondage, which placed them at a great disadvantage as active workers. He condemned the corset and waist belt worn by women, and the strap and belt used by boys when performing gymnastic feats. The belt interfered with free breathing, and tended to produce hernia. Ho suggested, as a reform in the dress of women, that it should be made similar in most respects to that of men. He would have mothers clothe their girls precisely as they clothed their boys, with the one distinguishing mark of a light, loose flowing gown. The lecturer next discussed the quality of clothing, and the amount required at various seasons. Heavy underclothing should be avoided. There was no necessary connection between warmth and weight.