RULES FOR WEARING HOUSECOATS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 63, 6 August 1947, Page 2

RULES FOR WEARING HOUSECOATS

REFLECTION OF GOOD TASTE Perhaps at no time is good taste more important than when a woman is wearing a negligee or whatever type of costume she chooses for her leisure hours. Styles and social customs vary so in this matter that good judgment is more necessary than knowledge of rules. A college hostess was amazed when the girls who were her house guests greeted their student hosts in lounging pyjamas. But an Indian girl in America left the room to change to her native “sari” when a man caller found her in a trim slack suit.

The girls showed poor taste. The Indian girl’s judgment was a result of national training. In former years a woman did not appear in any but a family group in a dressing-gown, but now fussy kimonos have been replaced by tailored dresing-gowns which a woman can wear in almost any company if necessity demands. A housecoat is correct for an informal breakfast or morning hours. A tea gown or hostess gown is an elaborate form of housecoat suitable for tea time or dinner at home. The most popular style of home costume today for young girls (or older women if it is becoming) is a pair of slacks worn with a blouse or sweater. Such a costume needs no apology; it says for itself, “I am loafing (or working) today.”