HOW TO DRESS IN ORDER TO LOOK SLIM.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 927, 19 March 1881, Page 2

HOW TO DRESS IN ORDER TO LOOK SLIM.

There are none of the minor vexations of life with which we can more thoroughly sympathise, than with the feeling of distress that comes over ladies when they perceive that they are growing stout. Fresh complexions and unwrinkled brows are the attributes of youth, which middle age must be prepared to resign; but a good figure, involving, as it does, grace dignity, and ease, is not in any way incompatible with advancing years, and should not, therefore, be given up without a struggle. How, though, is figure to be retained ? By recourse to quack remedies and semi starvation? Assuredly not. There is nothing we could more earnestly warn our readers against than this. We know too many cases of continued depression and total break-down of general health following upon the adoption of such soi-disant remedies for stoutness. What w'e would advocate is careful attention to certain obvious principles in the management and clothing of one’s body. It cannot be too emphatically stated that a good figure does not necessarily mean a slim figure. A good figure is just a symmetrical figure. A stout lady then should not so much aim at absolute thinnesss as at symmetry. Thus, strange as it may appear, if it be impossible to obtain this symmetry by taking away, it may yet be insured by actual adding. For instance, a lady with a bustthat is disproportioned to the size of her hips, may restore the proper balance to her figure by padding. This, however, is a digression. As a rule, the increase in bulk is not confined to any one part of the body, but is general. In the majority of cases then, a symmetrical and, comparatively speaking, an elegant figure, is obtained by following out certain rules with regard to (1) undergarments ; )2) the texture, colors, trimming, and make of one’s dress. As regards the undergarments, we need hardly say that combination garments made of merino or spun silk should be substituted for the old-fashioned linen chemise and drawers. Then the petticoats should be so arranged that all the thickness of folds and gathers should begin about the middle of the thighs. This is accomplished in the following way : Make a band of black silk or alpaca, lined with wash leather, and 12 inches deep. This band must be hollowed out to fit the figure, and should be fastened down the back by tailors' buttons. At regular intervals, all round, more tailors’ buttons should be sewn, on which to hang the petticoats, and even, when it can be managed, the skirt of the dress too. In

this way you get rid of all gathers round the waist, and all fulness of material over the stomach. The difference produced in one’s size by this simple arrangement is considerable. While wm are upon the question of undergarments, we must say a few words about stays. These should be procured from a first-class corsetiere. Economise in what you will, but never be mean over stays, for a well cut stay is just the salvation of a figure. If your size be at all abnormal, you should be careful to seek out some corsefterc who has made jt a vpeciabtv

to suit stout figures. Combination garments, stays,, and a proper disposition of one’s petticoats will not alone insure a good figure. True, these means are really effectual in reducing one’s actual bulk ; but then apparent as well as actual bulk must be considered. For with women’s figures, as with women’s age, seeming is everything. It matters not the exact number of years a woman has lived, provided she does not look that age. It matters not the exact number of inches she measures round the waist, provided she does not look that size To know, then, the rules one should follow in order to seem fairly proportioned is a great desideratum for ladies inclining to embonpoint. What are these rules ? Common sense supplies them the moment we set ourselves to think out the subject. Fatness we declared to be a want of symmetry, due in the majority of cases to the breadth of the body getting disproportioned to its height. Fatness, then, is just breadth without length. We all can see for ourselves that if a foot or so were added to the height of certain of our “ podgy ” looking friends, they would at once be changed into what men are fond of calling “ fine women.” It being then, the undue breadth which constitutes the badness of this kind of figure, our aim should be to suggest by every detail of our dress, length and not breadth. Stripes should be preferred to checks, while scarves and other trimming should cross slanting longitudinally instead of being brought straight round. But it is not sufficient to suggest length. You should also be careful to avoid by every possible expedient any deficiency of the absolute breadth of the figure. The outline of the figure should be made vague. That ,is why silk and satin should be eschewed, and why dark colors should be adopted in preference to light. If you are dressed in a pearl-grey satin, your outline gets sharply defined by the dark background of every-day objects. If, on the other hand, you are clad in sober brown or sombre black your outline blends with the'dull tones of your usual background, and attracts no notice.

Having made your real outline unobtrusive by the dark hue and rough texture of your dress, your next step is to sharply define some inner outline, which shall still further take observation from the absolute size. For it stands to reason that if the eye be induced to follow some outline on the dress, it will be less tempted to measure the extent of the figure. A piece of bright-colored fabric let in down the front of the dress, from the collar of the body to the hem of the skirt, will always suit stout ladies. If it be properly narrowed at the waist, you then create the appearence of a waist, even though, through increasing stoutness, you may not happen to possess one. Assuredly, when this appearance can be got by mere attention to dress, no one ought to indulge in the pernicious practice of tightlacing in order, as it is said, to make a waist.

To disguise the size round the hips, the following precautions must be taken. If it be the fashion to wear all round jacket-bodies, you must so modify the fashion as to introduce some break in the line formed by the bottom of the jacket. For instance, cut up the back of the jacket some three or four inches, and place along each side of the opening some steel buttons ; or, if you prefer it, leave the body untouched, and sew on, instead of buttons, a handsome bow with drooping ends. So much for the back, As to the front, when the fashion permits, as it dees now, a waistcoat should be let in. When this is not permissible, a series of horizontal silk straps and bows should be arranged down the front of the body. The ends of the lowest bow form the necessary break. The draping of the polonaise or tunic most vitally affects one’s apparent size. Some people like to begin the draping very low down, but this is a mistake. The draping should begin where the body of the dress ends. A plain piece of stuff taken right round reveals the size, whereas folds slanting upwards conceal it.

Suppose it should be the fashion to trim the body down the back ; then, if it be trimmed .with passementerie, this should be fairly wide, while, if it be trimmed with buttons, these should be fairly big. To conclude with a few directions as to cut. The greater the number of pieces of which the bock of the body is formed, the better it suits stout figures. Again, the higher you place your sleeve seams, the narrower you make the back. Lastly, never carry up the breast plaits too high, as this is particularly unbecoming.— Queen.