WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 307, 22 May 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen.")

THE "HAREM" SKIRT

(By Cicely Hamilton, author of Diana of DotosonV)

A few daring women in Paris, it appears, have burst on the sight of an excited world in trousers; modified trousers, no dou'bt, hut trousers, none the less. And it is safe to say that there is a goodly number of women on'this side of the Channel who wish them luck in their venture, and would gladly follow their example. Not because the socalled "harem" skirt is a thing essentially beautiful, or unusually convenient in itself; but because even the most voluminous of bifurcated garments is a tacit admission of the truth—so carefully denied for centuries—that woman is the possessor of legs, two in number. So far as we know, she has always had them; nor in the earlier stages of her development does she appear to have been in any way ashamed of the fact. T am not antiquarian enough to hazard so much as a guess at the precise period in the history of the Western world when woman decided to pretend that she was not ft two-legged animal; but I am none the less convinced that, whenever and however the decision was made, it was disastrous for herself and for her daughters. It is one thing to resign possession of your birthright; it is quite another to get your birthright restored to you.' Woman born of woman still plods through the mire with wet clqth slapping at her ankles; she rides bicycles in a head-wind with a skirt that swells out like a sail. And the extra muscular energy the weaker vessel has to put into that plodding and that wheeling! . . . If the chivalrous male did but realise it would he not fall on his knees and implore her to go knickerbocksred ? But the chivalrous male docs nothing of the kind; and, at the risk of being uncharitable, I cannot help having a suspicion that it was he who was the real mover and instigator of the change oi woman's anatomy. She, by herself,, would never liave been such a fool as to! dispense with the proper use of her lower limbs; it was her husband who wanted the skirt and made up his mind she should wear it. He probably found it convenient—for himself. A garment .that tied itself into knots and made it difficult to walk with any freedom, would; prevent his wife from running round) after him when he had. much rather, be without her; further, it would assist to keep her in her proper sphere, .the home, by making rather a nuisance of the process of stepping outside it. When i she put her objections before him, I have not a doubt that he kissed her diplomatically and told her how much he liked watching her feet, like little mice at play, run.in and out beneath her gown, whereat she. trood-natured, if weakminded, decided to, indulge his simple pleasures. After this manner the skirt I became an institution; and in time therel was produced i Qnenn of Spain whom] he'r loyal subjects were bound to consider legless.

Here and there, of course, and now| and again, women of exceptional eharac- ' ter or intellect si'"""S"f""- - sorted their riprht to the 1»-' n<"'rl>»r<. Among others, Joan "f s ••" ("Vor»e Hr>=in t>„„i,„,„. ~„.] r -;ll | v Hester Slanhrm« insisted on classing tliemselves as bipods. The reproach of aping man was doubtless thing at them, Imt seems to have been borne with an equanimity founded on logic. To ape a sensible custom, so far , from being a reproach, implies sound sense on the part of the apers; nor should woman be above taking a hinteven from man. As for man. 1f he really dislikes being imitated, let him cease to appropriate the most comfortable and practical fashions for his own use.' I do not imagine that there will ever be a real run on his four-inch collars or h,is j hats that .fly off in a gale. From time to time women not cast in the heroic mould—women of just the ordinary type—have made a more or less | courageous effort to free themselves, for out-of-door purposes, from the tyrannous embrace of the skirt; but, so far, alas! they have succeeded in creating only a short-lived sensation. Will the present attempt be more fortunate and lasting? One hopes—in the interests of health and freedom, one hopes! But, remembering that the fashion has originated exactly where such , a fashion should not —in

Paris—one also fears! For if there isi one person who does not know what divided garments should be like, if there is one person who ought never to he seen in divided garments, it is the average Frenchwoman. Unfortunately, no one will start to wear divided garments until the Frenchwoman has led the way, I and, equally unfortunately, her appearance in the new departure is usually so distressing as to send the self-respecting, females of other nationalities shudder-1 ing back to their skirts. It is her ideal of feminine beauty that is the stunvbling-'block where legs arc concerned. A straight-shouldered, straight-hipped woman of the type that is common in England could wear even ordinary masculine get-up without a suggestion of nlTence; but the outline of the average Frenchwoman is an impossibility in anvthing hut garments especially designed for its encouragement and obvious femininity. It was because the costume which, some years ago, the French woman adopted for bicycling was built on these lines—and, therefore, hideous —that it went the way of other fashions in n remarkably short space of, time. There are places where it is still to be seen as a horrible example of all that a knickerbocker suit should not be;l for thouiih it has vanished from the back' of the bicvclist it lingers on at some seaside resorts, where it is considered a suitI able garment to shrimp in. So, though T have hopes for the harem skirt, they are hopes less confident than fervent and sincere. Mv heart misgives me thnt it has got into the wrong hands: or, rather, on to the wroim legs. As Paris, in (lie interests of the Parisian 1 fisnive, distorted the defunct knickerbocker, so Paris, in all pnVbabilitv, will distort the new-born trou'er—with the same fatal result. A new costume in order to "catch on" must be worn by j women who look well in it; and those > whose working idea and aim of feminine I beauty are a succession of curves and circles can by no manner of moans be

induced to look well in trousers. So, until we cease to take our fashions from Paris—or until Paris can lie brought to see that there is beauty in straightness and spareness, as well as in circles and curves, I fear me, I very much fear me, that we shall continue to cling to the skirt and the skirt to cling to us.