A WOMAN DOES WELL WHEN SHE LOOKS WELL: "They Will Fight at the Barricades, But They'll Have A Comb in the Container of their Gas-masks, a Lipstick in the Pocket with their Bombs"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 168, 11 September 1942, Page 12

A WOMAN DOES WELL WHEN SHE LOOKS WELL:

"They Will Fight at the Barricades, But They'll Have A Comb in the Container of their Gas-masks, a Lipstick in the Pocket with their Bombs"

O, we don’t want chocolate soldiers, of either sex, in this war for survival, said Harry Waldo Yoxall, Managing Director of the British magazine "Vogue"; in a recent BBC talk. But Mr. Yoxall went on to say: "The right turn-out 1s immensely important. It’s one of the bases of esprit de corps, and esprit de corps is the basis of courage and efficiency. Even more so, I should say, with women than with men. A woman does well when she looks well. Particularly when she knows she looks well. "Please don’t think from what I’m saying that I want to glamourise total war or turn it into a fashion parade. Even worse than the dowdy uniform is the over-smart uniform. I'd far rather have one of the original chunky bulging service-women, with her complexion looking muddy against her drab-coloured collar and her hair straggling out from the old field service cap of the last war than a slick and soignée creature suggestive of the usherette or the drum majorette."

The A.T.S., the women’s army organisation in England, has a big recruiting problem because it needs so many girls, especially now that A.T.S. women are replacing men on anti-aircraft guns and searchlight sites. But, according to Mr. Yoxall, the authorities did not make the recruiting job easier for themselves by their original choice of uniform. "In my opinion-mind you, it’s only my opinion, but I know something about women and clothes — no woman would voluntarily choose khaki for a colour scheme," he said. "I think, too, that the original A.T.S. skirt was badly designed; the jacket was too closely modelled on the Tommy’s outfit. That’s my first point -there’s no reason to base a woman’s uniform on a man’s, "They have improved the A.T.S. uniform a great deal. They’ve given the girls a better-cut skirt, a smart walkingout cap, and generally made the Service more attractive. "There’s one outfit that everyone agrees is a success-it is that of the Woman’s Voluntary Service. It was designed by one of our best known tailors, who had to contend with the

fact that most of the wearers would be women of a certain age-pnot like the youngsters in the Forces. But he brought it off. That’s lesson number two, get a first-class designer to do your uniforms. Don’t tie him up with predetermined colours, with rigid specifications about belts and pockets. Tell him what the women are intended to do in the clothes and then give him his head. Waafs And Wrens "The dashing manner of our Royal Air Force women doesn’t come only from their being members of the newest, most picturesque arm. It is their delightful powder blue as well, and their jaunty caps, and the proud wings of their insignia. The quiet workmanliness of our naval women’s auxiliary isn’t because of the fact that so many of the girls come from naval families. Their dark blue coats and skirts, with shining brass buttons; their simple white shirts and black ties; above all, with the officers, those traditional tricorne hats ... a woman wearing these simply couldn’t be lubberly or unseamanlike. "Do you know that some of our A.T.S. girls are now in _ operational units? They not only man the barrage balloons, they work with predictors and range-finders on the actual battery sites ‘with the big anti-aircraft guns, and have already suffered casualties. One of our editors who went to the camp where these girls receive their final training told me that all of them, trousered and battle-dressed as they had to be, swung into action with their steel helmets at a snappy and becoming angle. ‘You can wear your ’aloes in ’eaven, ladies, at hany hangle you like,’ the male sergeant re- ‘| proved them, ‘but these ’ere ’elmets are to protect your ’eads.’ But the very next time there was a rakish slant to their tin hats. And why not? (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) "There’s another corps d’elite of the A.T.S. which one of my colleagues has visited, trained by the Coldstream Guards. Well, these A.T.S. girls with the Guards may seem to spend a lot of time on spit and polish. For instance, they all keep their hair exactly the same length. The white gavntlets of their bugle band are always spotlessly clean. But I’m told that by every competitive test of sheer military efficiency they come out top of their sisters every time. They have done a wonderful job at recruiting as a result. Short Hair in Factories "To turn to"another field of the war effort: we’ve had the pleasure of cooperating with the Ministry of Labour in devising an attractive cap for women in factories. If the girls don’t wear caps their hair catches in the belting. But they wouldn’t wear caps unless they thought they looked nice in them. "Here’s another example of the influence of fashion in war. As a matter of hygiene, not to mention saving of time and money, short hair is desirable among the girls living and working in the crowded conditions of the great munition centres. But appeals to the factory workers on grounds of hygiene had very little effect. So the fashion editors, ; the hairdressers, the movie and theatrical producers, were asked to start a campaign for short hair on the grounds of style. The result was the ‘ Liberty Cut,’ which has been adopted with enthusiasm by American as well as British women. "Keep Your Powder Dry!" "No, not for us in Britain, and still less (I’m sure) for you overseas, is a drab unshapely sexlessness the sign of fighting spirit in women. Our partisans will fight at the barricades, but they’ll have a shingle comb in the container of their gas-masks, a lipstick in the pocket with their bombs. For them, Cromwell’s stirring advice to his Ironsides ‘ Trust in God, and keep your powder dry,’ has a double meaning. Double, and doubly effective! For cosmetics play their part as well as costume. At the beginning make-up was frowned on in the Forces. To-day — though highly-coloured nails and obvious eye make-up are, rightly. banned — intelligent and sympathetic officers of the women’s forces, most of whom started in the ranks themselves, have realised that you can’t deprive a woman of charm without depriving her of confidence. So beauty and fashion experts to-day receive dozens of letters from Wrens who want to know a good cream to help them resist the ravages of the winds at bieak naval stations, from Waafs who want a hairdo suitable for wearing beneath their peaked caps, from factory girls who have to sit at a bench all day and want limbering-up exercises prescribed for their few hours off. And it’s a healthy sign. For there’s a reverse side to the old proverb ‘ Handsome is as handsome does,’ and our women in the factories and the forces are witnesses that no conflict need exist between the twin necessities of looking well and doing well."