FASHIONS & THE VOTE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2175, 13 June 1914, Page 13

FASHIONS & THE VOTE

THE OPINIONS OF AN ARTIST. A short time ago the'"Times" published an article 011 "Fashions and tho Vote," in which tho writer claimed that the women's political movement was just as much hanijiered by an alleged present tendency toward freakishness in fashions as by such acts as tho assault 011 tho fiokeby Venus.

Stated briefly, said the article, tho fact is that 111011 cannot imagine a v.oman, dressed as women have seen fit to dress for the last few years, being competent to tako any serious or worthy part in the work of tho world. He cannot believe in a woman being cap-, ablo of efficient, vigorous, or independent action when hampered by the skirt of tho period. It is equally hard for him to suppose that a woman can get a clear view of public affairs or vote intelligently ' hen wearing her hat over one eyo.

Tho articlo provoked a pretty_ vigorous correspondence, wherein this attitude was both supported and severely attacked. Perhaps tho most important champion that was unoarthed 011 the side of tho existing fashions was Mr Arthur llackham, tho well-known artist, whose delicately fantastic drawings have created so many beautiful gift-books in recent years. In the course of a letter published in tho "Times," j\lr. Hackham wrote:

Tho correspondence that has reached you 011 this subject has only considered whether woman's habits in dross provide a reason against her having the vote. They seem to 1110 to provide tho very strongest reason for it. ... I am not going to claim thrtt fashion in woman's dress is without its follies. Good art will never exist without, bad. But it is to women we owo it, and ■not to men, that art is still areality of everyday existence, a necessity, a desirablo thing, THE desirable thing, to be purchased joyfully at great expense of time and pains. In every class tho art of dress is of all the arts the most closely bound up with existence. ' Nor is this tho only art that woman's nature demands. . House decoration, the garden, the flowers on the table, much of music and . literature—these aro hers. In everything where lier means and opportunities allow woman seeks persistently for beauty. Is not that enough to justify the claim that in keeping women out of public life we are narrowing down the possibilities of human development in the most foolish and short-sight-ed way? Some of your correspondents (the writer continues) praised the utility and convenience of recent fashions. Good. But several have labelled them ugly or ludicrous. I differ. 1 think them extremely beautiful and interesting, and if occasionally humorous, all tho better. They have even been called indecent. Now, if ever, lioni soit qui mal y pense. Dress does not exist for tho sake of decency. In climates where Utility makes no claim a string of beads is . superfluous save for adornment.