“Women Afraid To Be Themselves”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 798, 19 October 1929, Page 18

“Women Afraid To Be Themselves”

Russian Artist Says That Beauty and Manners Today are Stereotyped ... A omen Should Develop Personality Rather Than Prettiness . - ■

HEY' all look so fearfully healthy, so terribly much alike and so beautiful in a- standardised way that even a wart on a nose, a lovely,

languishing case of anaemia or a plump waistline would be a relief from the monotony.

Leon Gordon, Russian artist, " as speaking. He was talking about women. He did it reluctantly, and only because he was being prodded into it, for he is fed up on the whole subject of the übiquitous sex. “Women have been given too much publicity,” he said, when interviewed in his New Y'ork studio just before sailing for Europe, .where, on shipboard, he hoped temporarily to forget the "entire flamboyant feminine contingent of the universe.”

“Women, women, women. We ve heard little else for the last few’ years. What about it?” be says. “We’ve always had women in the world, and always will have them, and they will be constructed along the same biological lines. Why all this fuss about their superiority, their marvellous ability, their thunderous beauty, their freedom, their equality? Women are women, *and that’s all there is to it. If they think they’ve achieved marked advancement, they’re mistaken. “Let us analyse the situation. jEsthetically they have retrograded. Women today look as much alike as sardines in a can. With their chop-ped-off skirts, clipped-off hair, their inverted basket-hats, their same makeup and manners, their identical masks, they appear to have come from the same mould.

“ When, in rare cases, a woman has enough personal distinction and individuality to deviate from the herd, wear her hair and her skirts gracefully long, she is called ‘the horse-and-buggy girl.’ In a measure, that’s true of a man, also. “In these days of standardisation the woman who is brave enough to indulge in her personal taste in clothes is called ‘old-fashioned.’ What does it mean to be old-fashioned? If it means to be a lady, a charming and distinctive creature, attired in gowns with

soft, flowing lines, a crown of lovely hair and the ability to sit down at the piano and soothe the tired senses w ith an old ballad, then give me the oldfashioned woman. “Unfortunately, few women are courageous enough to be old-fashioned today. They are afraid to waltz instead of doing the wild, modern dances: afraid to sing sweet old melodies instead of the modern jazz airs that go with the jungle dances: afraid to lengthen their skirts when other women are wearing theirs up to their knees; afraid to refuse a whisky and soda and take lemonade instead. I am not advocating this ladylike role for women generally. I merely mean that it would be a relief to see one or two step out from the maze of monotonous sameness and stand revealed as a woman a bit different than the rest. I am tired of the eternal similarity of their general make-up. They even use the same cosmetics and apply them with the same touch, so that all lips curve in the same way. Eyebrows arch in the selfsame fashion and the peachblow of cheeks has the same tinge. “When women ceased to be the grande dame and stepped into the standardised role which called for short skirts, bobbed hair, cigarettes, “flip” conversation and high-powered freedom, she kicked over the pedestal and forfeited man’s adoration. “Woman must cease being so ex-

cruciatingly modern, fiapperish, gregarious and unindividualistic. she must use other means to impress men with her personality. What does it merit a woman to be fine, wholesome and of enviable character if B h e dresses, talks and acts like the other kind of woman?

“Further, she must stop her futile and everlasting quest of beauty. She is beautiful only in the measure that she is a person. Even the beautiful mask, the perfect features, do not necessarily make a woman a beauty. Distinctive dress, thought and man. ner will, however. Instead of spending so much time in beauty parlours, the modern woman should spend her time accumulating something of more enduring quality, something which will stand her in better stead when the grey years are upon her. Youth dies and. beauty fades. Artificial beauty is grotesque in the old. But if a woman stores up mental endowments, spends her time improving her mind, she will have reserve funds in tlie bank for her old age.

“Further, it will not harm women a bit to learn to cook good meals, to learn to govern children, to make attractive homes, to play the piano, sew unusual frocks and grow roses. This may sound mid-Victorian, but, nevertheless, the average man likes this type of woman. He would infinitely prefer her to the short-skirted, shorthaired, self-sufficient, parrot-like modern woman.”