INDECOROUS DRESS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 265, 5 August 1919, Page 3

INDECOROUS DRESS

COMMENT IN ENGLAND. (Melbourne "Argus" Correspondent.) London, May 31. In the course of a trial at the Old Bailey Court this week, Mr. Justico D » llin ° made the remark that tho ivomen of today "differed by the width of heaven from what their mothers were. Allowin K for tho Judge's emcious exaggeration there is much trufli in Ins compan60n. There arc plenty of women who smoko and swagger, and live in _ ™ stl Y»ranta. It is their great pleasure to Dn in tlin limelight, "t'heir mothers used to dress 'to go out; some of the women of to-day are tho wast pleasct) with their dress when thero is least of it. tlare arms hare backs, bare hosoms, slarts hut little lovrer than tho knee, and perforated stockings—such an of clothce would navo shocked out (,rand mothers Some men arc pi city naruj, and can stand a good deal; but iNromon could hear what is saul of their immodesty by many of their male friends, and tho epithets applied to them in tho club smoke-rooms, the most brazen o thorn would wince under such critlcism. Several .leading women have jwlised something oE the discredit whiel- tho modern "outrageous dress is .bringing upon their sex, and aro not ™. ncm ß words of disapproval in the public Pr The'Duehesa of Somerset remarks that while the nude is often beautiful m sculpture no one wants to seo undressed women without make or shape in our streets luid theatres. B n^ e it Ls only tho minority who seek to at tact attention. "These poor women must put on odd clothes, and dress themselves like Bed IndittM. m penc°cks on tho principle that fine feathers make fine b The Marchioness of TAwnshend writes that "women's dress to-day is almost immoral in its inadequacy.' Tho outlandisli clothes of some women do not He the beholder; they provoke ridicule. "What," she asks, is tlio present fashion teying to express, when it builds drosses from nea:r ap .to the knee, almost transparent, and with no smart se'ts who frequent our big restaurants como uuder the lash of May Hastings. She says they mil) be often seen, almost naked women, sitting at tables, "with ogling, coarse-nundcd men. Skirts aro short, tight, and transparent, and apparently no underclothes are worn. Tho spectacle is suggestive <>f prurient tlhoughts. In tho daytime it is almost as bad for some of tho women wear evenin;; dress, and in the evening they virtually wear nothing at all. W.V tings suggests that such creatures should be handed over to the last find "donahs" to bo tarred and leathered. Another writor proposes Uiat ttie weuicmindod votaries or indecent fashions should bo given to understand that so far from making themselves attractive to men, womon who appear to bo trying to reach tho limit of denudition succewt only in disgusting those whom they would please and in repelling those whom they wouldattrnct. But I .road in the newspapers tlliat tho women of Paris "go 0110 bettor" —or wotso —than the fast set in London. Now 1 thalAthV) warm.weajther has tho split skirt has como more than over into use, oven to the height of t'.lio thigh, and tho limb has 110 better coricealmcni than can bo provided by a very tight ileshing. This fashion has not yet reached London. Ono need not bo a Jeremiah to disapprove of much that is nowadays to be seen in women's dresses; but some of them n.re certainly very disgusting. 1 notice tlmt ono woman writer upon fosihiuns, discussing tho coming meeting at Ascot, says:—"London is going to mako a stand against tho audacities of dress which have of lato shocked many seri-ously-minded persons." Sho adds:—"Ascot will maintain tho pre-war traditions which gavo that raco meeting line name of tho really test-dressed assemblage in tho world." This same writer excuses tho introduction of riotous dress by pointing out that live fnshionless years have absorbed the old regime. . Everything is and everything is very costly. 9