Ladies.
RATIONAL DRESS REFORM. [Contributed.] . The importance of a rational dress reform is now universally acknowledged, although few realise that the ordinary dress of women is highly injurious, and tends to produce many diseases and deformities. A reform is not only desirable, but an absolute duty, if women would not knowingly sin against their own bodies. The many heavy skirts and Undergarments that they hang about their waists, with no support from above, causc'serious displacement of internal organs,, and are. a., constant source of backache, pain in jthe side, and other evils too numerous to mention.
The..,, use of the corset is alsa unsparingly condemned by reformers.. The evUs of tight lacing are well knowui—in a word, the corset compresses aiid weakens every vital organ in the body. The pressure of an illfitting corset is probably a fruitful source of cancer of the breast —a disease which is alarmingly on the increase, and which baffles the skill of the greatest physician. Cancer of the tongue among men is often caused : by the constant presence of the pipe in the mouth. Bunions and corns, caused by pressure of tight shoes, disfigure our feet. What woman has not laid a soft handkerchief under the head of a bard steel busk to relieve the irritating pressure caused by ill-fitting corsets?
Again, the heavy unyielding bustle, now a barbarous fashion of the past, dragged do ,vn by heavy skirts, and pressing against the delicate spine, has probably caused more spinal and kidney troubles than the world dreams of.
Apart from the question of health, women’s dress is burdensome in the extreme, making exercise a wearisome and too often neglected duty in this damp and boisterous climate. Is it fair that woman should be weighed down and impeded in every movement by heavy arid uncomfortable garments, which make life a continual burden to her ? '
Do.es-.sli.fi go into the garden to cut a, cabbage, her skirt must be tucked under . her arm to escape the dew. Does she go for a ride, she is in danger of being tripped by her skirts, unless she takes both, hands to hold them. up. She cannot go upstairs -without carrying her skirt in her hand.; she cannot even sweep her rooms without her dress being continually in her way. Every inch woman takes off her skirt adds power to nerve and muscle in every walk of life. It is estimated that on- the smoothest road a woman cannot walk a given distance without expending at least .four times the amount of strength, on account of her dress, that a; man w r ould expend in walking the same distance. A walk down Dee street, on a wet Saturday afternoon, ireally-instructive, and must convince the most sceptical that a reform needed* try cou^ip9..h3.v^ ing Ming 'TOUbh en-' ahd wraps,, parcelf not f . ,^hq r ,,(attention.,-!which every.grespbetajhlp ; skittj cdemands. Even indifferent observer; anything-kut cleanly, healthful pr { r, i v-b;^;^ ■■■• f J ., wpm^a.jp,,pferjbapa.w:heif, in.jfiddition to the.rainj'a gal?'lapwing,,^S%ugr r . gHng wgh^ ( kri“ umbrella, (and vainly’' en%^pt^]|ig r ;;td«j -Bib,# skirt afready,’ in mud, piti^Wp^s^ght. Her h^ f hpad by several deadly-looking pipsf,, „gaily prances and rears, with every gust. Frantically one poor sister seizes her JjSuff" threate^'-td round I feof&ihm voluminous StheV detainingrihaudt. ii drapei’ytflap <ihadljfi Ifht he btbeze*,, The.
umbrella, conscious that the vigilance, of his mistress has abated, seizes this inopportune moment to mischievously turn inside out. Breathless and aghast, our poor friend, whose cup of misery is now full, takes shelter in the nearest doorway, and bravely gathers herself together for another gallant attempt to turn the cornier. Why will the weaker sex persist in hampering themselves with yards of useless drapery ? The answer is eas} 7 -—they are the abject slaves of Fashion. As far back as my memory will carry me, our masculine friends have clad themselves in the same trim, neat-fitting style of dress —no leg of mutton sleeves one year or beflounced trousers the next! During the same space of time the changes in womens apparel baffle me to describe. The; startling ,array:of bustles, crinolihesV fiounceS, polbhaises, trains and umbrella-skirts with which, each in th eir turn, womefT'hav el oade dth eir long-suffering frames, is simply incredible. ; Consider the yards of ribbon, red, white'and blue, the haystack of flowers, the birds, the feathers, the lace that have decorated their unfortunate heads !
It is humiliating to think what gay butterflies women are. Season after {season, they fly to the shops and rig themselves out in the latest “novelty,” regardless of cost or reason. True, many sensible women rebel .at the. absurd fashions which, from time to time, frivolous France sends us 12,000 miles over the sea ; but all women are intensely sensitive to ‘ ridicule in the direction of dress, and let the terms “odd,” •‘eccentric,” “singular,” be whispered ever so softly, they hesitate no longer and slavishly bow to the decrees of Fashion.
"What woman dare pose as a lamppost when all her neighbours are gaily strutting in balloon-like robes ? What woman will endure social martyrdom by wearing conspicuously short skirts when her sisters, are energetically trailing theirs six inches in the dust ? It is true, Fashion graciously permits women this coming winter to ..Wear their skirts comparatively short, Wt, at the decree of Fashion, back they will go, and trail their skirts along the dusty side-walks, gathering up the refuse of the streets, acting as town scavengers, and carrying disease into their, own sweet homes. The resurrection of the crinoline looms in the distance, or perhaps some “novelty” equally hideous, will astonish the world when the summer sun once more shines upon us. Women of Hew Zealand rejoice in the Franchise, and are no longer classed with paupers, felons and lunatics. They are on the threshold of a new era ; the scales have fallen from their eyes. They begin to think and act for themselves —to grow restless under the insatiable demands of fickle Fashion, and to resent the wholesale subjection of their sex to the merciless Tyrant. Rachel.
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Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 3, 21 April 1894, Page 6
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1,003Ladies. Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 3, 21 April 1894, Page 6
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