FINDING THE WAISTLINE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 September 1938, Page 8

FINDING THE WAISTLINE

GAME OF HUNT THE SLIPPER. Finding the waistline in the newest fashions is like- a game of hunt-the-slipper. There isn’t such a thing as a definite, fixed waistline any more. Sometimes it’s down around your'hips; sometimes it’s up around your bust; and sometimes it’s an honest-to-good-ness corset —bones and laces and all. For corsets are appearing now on the outside or dresses —frankly, openly, and decoratively. For instance, Lelong makes a white lace dress with a pink satin corset, boned and laced, extending from just below the bust to the hips. But these attractive trifles worn outside-glamorous gowns have only one thing in common with their hardworking counterparts worn beneath — and that’s their good looks. Every season foundation garments are made more and more- attractive. The sturdy bones and. coutil. of a few years ago have given place to the daintiest of batistes and brocades, many of them incorporating the miraculous lastretch yarn. For hot weather there are mesh materials and various bpen-work fabrics, and these, too, have one-way or two-way stretch properties. Even the bones are disappearing. There is a new way of weaving thin, narrow, controlling bands right into the materials from which corsets are made. And these “boneless bones” control the curves every bit as efficiently and with a great deal more comfort than metal bones. Even very heavy women find them thoroughly satisfactory.

Corsets are now treated not as something apart to be kept away from the tub, but as lingerie—and washed and rested accordingly. More and more women are adopting the sensible plan of having a “corset wardrobe,” which allows them to keep their foundation garments as dainty and well cared for as they do their lingerie.