Concerning CLARA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 157, 26 June 1942, Page 12

Concerning CLARA

Who Was Not Clothes-Conscious

LARA was an only child, which most psychologists agree is rather dangerous, and certainly when Clara grew up she completely disregarded both Environment and Heredity and showed evidences of Individuality instead. For though both Clara’s parents were extremely clothes-conscious themselves and had done their best to foster a similar attitude in their offspring, Clara remained obstinately unseduced by sartorial lurés, and if Clara’s mother ever suggested wistfully that Clara might like a fur coat for her birthday, Clara would always demand the money instead and spend it on something completely unsuitable like a new motor-bike. And it was all very difficult to understand because from her earliest years Clara had had the best of everything as far as clothes were concerned. The good fairies at her birth had given her nine aunts on her mother’s side and sixteen

female relations on her father’s, and these had been supplemented by two godmothers at her christening. And every birthday and Christmas and on odd _ occasions throughout the year, the postman would arrive heaped high with little boxes, tissue paper lined, containing wonderfully embroidered gar-

ments for the infant Clara. A special expanding wardrobe had to be bought to house Clara’s clothes, and soon a special room had to be set aside to house Clara’s continually expanding wardrobe. And meanwhile Clara herself was expanding rapidly, which was just as well because it gave Clara’s mother an opportunity of buying little garments for her herself. And what with little smocks with matching bloomers and pixie hoods and velvet capes, Clara’s mother enjoyed herself very much, and Clara didn’t really mind because she lived in a little world of her own anyway. T was a sad blow to Clara’s mother when the time arrived to send Clara off to boarding-school. There really wasn’t a great deal of scope in the buying of gym. tunics and white blouses and regulation felts and Panamas, but as Clara’s mother sewed the name-tab on each garment she thought longingly of the day when Clara would emerge butterfly-fashion from the drabness of navy serge into the dazzling radiance of a white tulle coming-out gown. But to her mother’s horror when Clara left school she refused to come out at all, except to go for long hikes through the wide open spaces with the local Tramping Club, wearing three pairs o woollen socks, hobnailed boots, khaki shorts, and a selection of miscellaneous woollen garments. And though in the end Clara’s mother persuaded her to take up golf, which meant that she could wear a skirt which at least covered her iknees, Clara soon discovered that on second-rate courses you could get away with wearing slacks. And this worried Clara’s mother a lot because frankly she doubted whether Clara who was inclined to be plump could get away with it. EANWHILE Clara, who didn’t really want to be a playgirl, had got herself a job in the city. And Clara’s mother thought that perhaps Clara would profit by the example of the other girls in the office and start taking a little interest in her personal appearance. So she went into town one day and bought Clara a selection of clothes suitable for office wear-several dark frocks with white collars and cuffs and class in every line, a well-cut costume or two, and some simple tailored blouses. But Clara refused to wear any of them. She had cut down her Old School Gym. Frock into a pleated skirt and she insisted on wearing

this with a jersey in winter and one of her Old School Blouses and an Old School Tie in summer. She used to say that it saved her having to think what to put on when she got up in the morning. And as she insisted on going to and from work every day on her motor-bike perhaps it was just as well that she never wore silk stockings. It was in vain that the girls at work gave her little pep talks on the necessity for cultivating oomph, and the advantages of a good permanent wave. Clara squashed them effectively by remarking that she was thinking of getting her hair cut Eton as it would be so much less troublesome that way. O what with one thing and another the announcement of clothes-rationing came as a delightful surprise to Clara. In spite of her harsh exterior she was a sensitive child, and the constant pleading of her mother and the criticisms of her friends at work had not been without their effect upon her. Now she would have a fool-proof answer to all their suggestions for sartorial improvements, for by, refusing to spend money on clothes (indeed by being unable to spend money on clothes thanks to the introductfon of the coupon system) she was assisting the country’s War Effort and helping to keep at bay the twin demons. of Inflation and Panic Buying. And, what was even better, neither her mother nor her friends would be in a position to criticise, for they, thanks to the coupon system, would speedily be reduced to her own sartorial level. | Of course Clara realised that at first they would have enough garments to carry on, but six months after rationing had been introduced she noticed with glee that her mother and friends were being forced to invest in a stout tweed skirt, and that the wearing of seasonold jerseys was becoming more frequent. Another year and everyone would be forced to adopt a uniform similar to hers. ONE day, in honour of Clara’s twentyfirst birthday, Clara’s mother gave a little dinner party and asked all Clara’s friends from the office as well as one or two members of Clara’s tramping club. Clara put on her Old School Skirt and a clean blouse, confident that her well-worn ex-gyin. tunic would compare favourably with anything her mother or (Continued on next page)

CONCERNING CLARA (Continued from previous page) her friends might have been able to scare up for the occasion. She slid briskly down the bannisters to the drawing room, then paused in amazement on the threshold. Her guests rose to greet her. Like brightly coloured birds they crowded round her with their congratulations. Clara stood stupefied. These gorgeous dinner gowns! On fifty-two coupons a year! During dinner Clara could eat nothing. She studied each of her guests in turn. Her studies were not unrewarded. Her friend Helen’s frock, she realised now, was made entirely of Valenciennes lace neatly sewn together. And Marianne’s frock consisted of three-inch ribbon arranged in longitudinal stripes. On close inspection Ruth’s glamorous sheer evening gown cut on classic lines proved to be made of unrationed cheese-cloth, dyed. Patricia’s was less easy to identify. She was wearing a simple dinner frock of terry-towelling, cut on monkish lines with a rope girdle and a cowl. Then Clara noticed something about the size of the pieces of material. Could it be made of unrationed nursery squares? Doreen’s was, of course, composed of a number of men’s ties of startling and usually conflicting design and pattern, and Mary’s was easily recognisable as mattress ticking. But what of her mother? ' Seldom had she seen her look so smart. Her frock fitted like a glove. "Slinky" was inadequate to describe it. Those horizontal stripes! Those leather trimmings! Then suddenly Clara realised the

Awful Truth. It was made entirely of men’s braces and sock suspenders! HE dinner was a nightmare to Clara. She realised that her days of peace were at an end. From now on her mother and friends would be always worrying her. They would force her not only to wear what they considered suitable clothes, but to scheme and plan and resort to base subterfuges to acquire such clothes. And would this be helping to save money for the War Effort? No! After dinner Clara’s mother took her aside. "Your father-and I have such a lovely birthday present for you," she sighed. With heavy heart Clara followed her into the bedroom. Her worst suspicions were realised. There on the bed lay a shimmering white ball dress, and beside it a dark cloak lined with crimson velvet, garments which would have gladdened the heart of any normal girl. But as we have pointed out Clara was not a normal girl. Coldly she analysed the garments. The cloak had obviously been converted from an unrationed academic gown and lined with unrationed furnishing velvet. And the frock? Yes, it was as she thought. That white lawn frock and the richly embroidered scarf had first seen the light as Ecclesiastical Vestments. HE next morning Clara went straight down to Headquarters and enrolled in the Red Cross Transport Corps. She was issued with a suit of blue dungarees and a beret, and spent her. days looking at the underneath of motor-cars. And for the first time since she left school she was completely happy because she found overalls very comfortable and never had to worry about not being clothes-con-

scious. And if just at first her mother was inclined to protest when she never changed out of them for dinner or the pictures, Clara could always retort that after all it was her uniform and she didn’t want to be shot as a deserter. And by this time all Clara’s friends were getting a little tired of coping with coupons and so it was quite easy for Clara to persuade them to join up with the Red Cross or the W.W.S.A. or the W.A.A.F. And the recruiting figures for all the women’s organisations showed a surprising and gratifying increase. And Clara received a personal letter of thanks from the authorities. But it was all rather unfortunate for Clara’s mother, because the rationing and so on did nothing to make her less clothes-conscious, but rather the reverse. And of course Clara was a great disappointment to her. And so in the end she sought the consolation of religion. And she decided to found an entirely new sect to be known as Joseph’s Brethren. And she appointed herself head of the sect, which carried the title of Chief Angel and the right to wear a silver lamé robe similar to that worn by Aimée Semple Macpherson. And of course it came in very useful for Saturday nights as well as Sundays. And she was able to enroll all her clothes-conscious friends as Joseph’s Brethren and trick them out in coats of many colours (unrationed) which also came in useful for other occasions. And so Clara’s mother too in her own small way proved a_ public benefactor, although she didn’t receive an illuminated address from the authorities for it, and she was very happy in her new life and never lost hope that one day she would be able to convert her daughter Clara to the eames of Clothes Consciousness.