WALKING CORRECTLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 May 1938, Page 4

WALKING CORRECTLY

IMPORTANCE OF POISE. EXERCISES FOR MANNEQUINS. There arc women who look dowdy in 50gn. models. Others can look Parisian in a little something they have run up themselves. Fashion models, designers, Edwardian mamas, smart socialites all say the same thing—asset number one is good deportment. Have you given a minute’s thought to how you stand, how you walk, how you sit down? Nevertheless, it matters. Standing up straight makes the best of your clothes and of you. The minute you begin to slouch qr to stand with your weight on one leg you get a slack appearance. The thing to do is to stand straightly, but not stiffly. It is harder than it Ipoks. Standing properly is easier if you walk properly. Of those who have been walking all their lives very few walk well. Some rules of balance apply as in standing. The weight should be carried on the hip bones and the back of the spine. Legs must be moved in walking from the hips, not the knees. Above the waist, the body must be still, though not rigid. Weight must be firmly planted on to the flat part of the foot, not toe .or heel.

Two mannequin exercises for standing and walking are (a) stand with heels an inch or two away from wall, shoulders touching, waist touching. Then move heels back till they touch wall, too.

(b) The old way of walking with a large book on your head. There is nothing better for cultivating poise. Try it with the telephone book. An American mannequin school says when a girl can do 10 lengths of a long hall with a book on her head, she is beginning to grasp the idea of how to walk.

The head, you see, must be up, chin in, shoulders straight; walk freely from hips down, but control above. Shoulders are often a bit down? A well-known London mannequin school attributes this to bag carrying. Women who carry their handbags under their arm are apt to hitch up the left or right shoulder. To avoid this and to attain a smarter appearance, carry your bag in your hand. Gloves should never be carried in the hand. If they are they give a laden, untidy, fidgety look. The old saying speaks for itself, that the French woman puts her gloves on in her bedroom, the American woman in the hall, and the Englishwoman in the street.

Two other things that need attention in walking are going up and down stairs and bowing to friends. Most people going up and down unfamiliar stairs tread gingerly on the edge of the treads. This will not do. The feet must be planted firmly in the middle of the treads, nor must they be straddly, but in straight line with each other. Coming down, do not look at the steps, but straight ahead. There must be no sign of nervousness. Bowing to friends when walking is easier said than done—that is, gracefully. For you must not pause in your walking or give a curt nod. Either spoils the natural grace of the well-turned-out figure.