Play Up Your Best Feature

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20050, 23 September 1939, Page 13

Play Up Your Best Feature

“Is there anything distinctive about my looks?" the Woman Who Cares asks herself. If the answer is no, she decides to find out why not.

First, she analyses herself from head to foot, trying to decide which features are worth trying to dramatise, which have no possibilities at ail and therefore should be played down.

Perhaps her hair is thick and golden. With nightly brusliings and regular use of a rinse to bring out its highlights, that hair might very likely become a shimmering crown instead of simply another head of light hair

Or it may be that her eyes, although large, do not seem particularly luminous or distinctive because they are framed with brows and lashes in light, mousey brown. Intelligent use of mascara and now and then a touch of eye shadow may lift her eyes out of ihe so-so into the dramatic class. It might be that in her complexion lies great possibilities for development of an individual, a different look. Maybe she is in a rut as far as makeup is concerned and needs to switch lo a rosier powder, a more dramatic and more flattering shade of lipstick and rouge, a foundation which gives her skin a dull, rich, mat-finish. Maybe she has been buying clothes which, although not exactly unbecoming, are just plain indifferent.

flie Corset and a Woman’s Health

How do doctors regard corsets? Very rarely will a member 'of the medical profession discuss the subject, and rarer still will he allow his comments to be published. It is particularly interesting, therefore, to have the views of a leading American doctor (who for reasons of profesjional etiquette wishes his name not to be disclosed).

To the first question, “Do you think corse's a necessity?”, came the answer, ‘Yes.” He then proceeded to qualify his statement: —

“If women, would exercise properly they could dispense with the corset altogether, from the health viewpoint. But there is the difficulty. In the whirl of modern life it is impossible except in the case of the leisured few to do consistent and scientifically

planned exercises. Occupied as is every active woman to-day in a multitude of duties, business or social, it has become increasingly inconvenient to reserve the necessary amount of time and concentration for exercising.” Five Specific: Instances He then instanced cases where the corset was obviously essential:- — 1. The brassiere is a necessity for nearly everybody. 2. In surgical cases a figure support of medical prescription must be worn. 3. Except in rare instances, age inevitably produces flabby muscles and disinclination for exercise. This age barrier, of course, can be delayed. If the body, however, has been allowed over a long period to go its own way, and no steps have been taken to keep the muscles toned up, it ’is more difficult to restore a pendulous abdomen or bust to its original and natural state by mere exercising. Here the corset is necessary for the maintenance of health and as an aid to posture. 4. People who, despite exercise, are glandularly constructed to put on fat, find the corset a valuable aid in distributing the flesh and rendering it less obvious, if not entirely disposing of it. 5. From the aesthetic point of view, the line of the figure can be improved and enhanced by the gentle moulding which scientific corsetry affords, and ‘.‘Dr. X” temporised that, the corset may be more effective than exercising in moulding the figure into graceful lines. A Tribute to Modern Design Every now and again we hear murmurs against the foundation which persists from the bad old days of corsetry. In other words, the objections do not apply to modern corsetry at all, but are a relic of the long-past iron(c)age of corsetry, when corseting meant tight-lacing, wasp waists and compressed busts. Modern corsetry is an entirely different thing. It is based on health. And ‘‘Dr. X,” appreciating this, summarises as follows: That provided it is fitted by an expert who has some knowledge of anatomy—and most corset-fitters have—'he modern foundation, with its skilful planning and scientific design, is as much an aid to health, through support and good posture, as it is to beauty.