TRIMMINGS TO AVOID
In choosing the trimmings for your garments, remember that buttons or trimmings placed in flat patch effect, as in squares, triangles, or diamonds, will tend to add thickness and destroy dignity, while if they are arranged in single rows or broken lines they will add dignity and at the same time give the appearance of length. Harmonizing, rather than contrasting colors should be selected for trimmings, so that they will not stand out boldly from the garment. Never should the collar, the belt, or the finish at the bottom of the skirt be permitted to attract the eye before the garment itself does, but they should be arranged so as to be as inconspicuous as possible. Tucks, plaits, and seams should be made to extend up and down the garment instead of around it. Nowhere else can the laws of optical illusion be so effectively applied, with such noticeable results, as in the matter of trimmings. A single ornament, wrongly placed, can mar an entire costume for the woman who wants to achieve slenderness.