MORE ABOUT THE BELL. SKIRT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3201, 31 December 1892, Page 6 (Supplement)

MORE ABOUT THE BELL. SKIRT.

* It is to bo res?rctted (says a writer in ' Petersen's Magazine') that American women have been silly onouirh to a'lopt tlm fashion of trained skirl* for strivt. wear. It is incomprehensible, ton, nfter several years of experience hail accustomed t,liem to the convenience and eleanlineksof dresses of a reasonable length, that 'they should consent, to become garbage collectors and public nuisances. The ' Ladies Home Journal,' too, has this word : Recently wo have been undergoing a siege of the "bell skirt.'' I concede tlmfc the bell skirt, is one of the most graceful garments ever designed for women But, like everything else that is good, it seemed destined to be overdone. When this particular skirt was first biought, out it was inado just to cscape the ground. Then a train was added, and it was dragged out into the street. .Vow, while the bell skirt, with a train is a beautiful garment for the drawing room, it was never intended for street wonr. And when its mission was distorted it ceased to be a garment of grace, and became an accumulator of tilth, so that a woman of cleanly tendencies and a bell skirt became impossible unless she chose to encourage backache or spinal trouble in carrying her train. Now we are through with the boll skirt since the fashioners in Paris have decreed that skirts shall bo short, and barely touch the ground.