NEATNESS AND CLEANLINESS ARE ESSENTIAL
Once when I was writing a book on dress, a fashion authority and personal friend insisted that I should not put in a chapter on cleanliness, which I wanted very much to use, saying that it “put an ugly frame on an otherwise beautiful picture.” But personal cleanliness and careful grooming to my mind are so necessary that no book on dress would be complete without them.
We may not have beautiful clothes, and may grieve that we are not willowy enough to wear the smart extremes in dress, but our grieving is totally unnecessary. We can learn truly to be as attractive, as admirable as our slender sisters if we set out with the will and determination to express perfection so far as our ability and intelligence will allow. A fresh bath, some bath talcum, clean, well-fitting underthings, neat, good-looking shoes, and modest stockings can give an enhancing foundation for the dress we have so carefully planned. And when we are spic and span from the inside out we are sure to dress with more dignity, more poise, than we possibly could otherwise.