From Eight to Eighteen

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 586, 12 February 1929, Page 5

From Eight to Eighteen

Frocks for the Schoolgirl and People of the Nursery

Two factors have worked together to cause the disappearance of the Awkward Age about which so much was heard a decade or so ago. One is that the greater attention to the physical development, of the young girl has improved her grace of movement, and the other that her clothes are now so comfortable and so charming that no girl need have that consciousness of being ill-dressed which is an infallible cause of gawkiness. This reaction between the clothes and the mind of the young girl is only now' being generally understood. Where once a conscientious mother would strive to bring up her little girls in entire unconsciousness of clothes regarded as ornament, or a still more severely repressive parent would actually refuse to allow frocks which had any pretensions to prettiuess lest her child should become vain and frivolous, the modern mother chooses pretty and becoming clothes for her little girls and early in their lives lets them exercise their own taste in choosing them. Vanity does not come from the possession of pretty frocks, but from the wrong attitude of mind, and it is just as likely —perhaps more so—to occur in a child who has worn holland overalls all through her nursery days as in one who has been provided with an entertaining succession of the smartest frocks London and Paris can offer. The well-chosen garment protects its wearer from vanity by helping her to he unselfconscious about her clothes. Still more does it prevent gaucheness. Many a girl has developed an uncouth manner and gawky movements through the mental discomfort caused by the secret knowledge that her clothes were “not right”; it is possible for the whole life to be marred by the effect of this childish uneasiness, which, like jealousy, feeds on Itself. Then, again, as much of a woman’s success and happiness in life depends on her mastery of the art of dress, it is important that she should from childhood be helped to acquire it bybeing given pretty and becoming clothes to wear and by being allowed to exercise to some degree her own taste in choosing them. One notable bride of a few days ago was given a dress allowance and a cheque book when she was no more than ten years old, so convinced was her mother that it was only by- actual experience that she would learn to dress well and spend money wisely. Pew mothers can follow this plan, for few can afford to allow a child to make extravagant mistakes, but the scheme has its advantages and might be adopted in part. The good sense of the average young mother in the matter of dress for children is shown in any assembly of little people. At parties It is rare to see an overdressed child or one in inconvenient or inappropriate clothes. Each little one is satisfied with his appearance, each is able to enjoy himself, and each—thanks to his mother’s good taste! —looks as well as possible. The squat, stolid looking little girl is no longer displayed In a gossamer frilled frock which only the most falry-like

could wear successfully, instead she has a simply-cut slip of velvet or washing satin, or perhaps a smock of flow’ered silk, and so is allowed to shine and look picturesque by reason of her very sturdiness and personality.

The young girl is equally well served. For her is a wide choice of simple frocks for day and of more decorative ones for evening, both gay and becoming in their different ways. Modern knowledge of line and drapery enables the good dressmaker to design frocks which will help to correct any divergence from the normal figure. An important point this, since a young girl may be made very selfconscious and awkward by the realisation that she may be plumper or thinner than her notion of elegance demands. And though this unsatisfactory physical state is likely to be only temporary', the ill effects of the mental condition it engenders may persist for years.

Fortunately, the remedy is as pleasant as we declare the jam hiding the dose of pow'der to . be—it is to provide for our young folks clothes which are comfortable, becoming, and as smart and pretty as we can manage to make them.