Twentieth Century Culture and Deportment / Or the Lady and Gentleman at Home and Abroad; Containing Rules of Etiquette for All Occasions, Including Calls; Invitations; Parties; Weddings; Receptions; Dinners and Teas; Etiquette of the Street; Public Places, Etc., Etc. Forming a Complete Guide to Self-Culture; the Art of Dressing Well; Conversation; Courtship; Etiquette for Children; Letter-Writing; Artistic Home and Interior Decorations, Etc.

by Maud C. Cooke

Beautiful Arms.

Beautiful arms are a powerful weapon in the armory of beauty; but though most women appreciate to the full the charm of this possession, the fact remains that in America undeveloped arms are the rule, and rounded, dimpled symmetry the exception. Lately, however, the gymnasium is producing charming arms.

Exercise is essential to the development of the arms: exercise, that is, of the arms themselves. Gymnastic exercises that bring the muscles of these into play should be, as far as possible, encouraged in girls, as tending not only to their improvement in this particular, but as being beneficial to the general health.

Arms disproportionately large as compared to the rest of the frame are, on the other hand, at least equally disagreeable with those we have been discussing. Very large arms carry with them a suggestion of coarseness that is unpleasant as associated with a woman. It is, as we have said before, impossible to give the exact proportions which one portion of the human frame should bear to the rest. The ideal arm, however, should gradually decrease in size from the shoulder to the wrist, the outlines being marked by those inward curves which are also noticeable in well-formed shoulders. The wrist should be slender without being thin, the bone at the outer side being well covered and indicated rather by dimples than otherwise.

There is an old rule for measurement that approaches accuracy in some degree. We give it for what it may be worth, advising our readers not to pin their faith to it too implicitly. Twice round the thumb, once round the wrist; twice round the wrist, once round the neck; twice round the neck, once round the waist.

The roundest arms in the world fail to be beautiful if they are red. There are beautiful white arms, brown arms, copper-colored arms, and even black arms, but beautiful red arms are not. This fault is seldom to be found with the arms of ladies, which are so constantly kept covered as to be protected from the influences of weather. It is characteristic of a cook, a dairymaid, a housemaid, a field-hand, to have red arms, and it is probably from this association that they have fallen into such extreme disrepute.

The use of violet-powder may be condoned when it modifies the contrast between red arms and white evening dresses. The application being only temporary, it can only very slightly affect the well-being of the pores, but it should be very carefully used, or it will come off on the coat sleeves of the partners of the red-armed one.

When the arms are very thin the sleeves should not be too tight, though, as a rule, thin arms do not look at all badly in tight sleeves. When the arms are too long, their apparent length may be diminished by crossway trimmings on the sleeve. When, on the contrary, the arms are disproportionately short, a lengthwise trimming will remedy the defect. The sleeve of to-day is a blessing in disguise for ladies with thin arms.

The leg-of-mutton (gigot) sleeve was invented to conceal defects in the arm, and to make the waist appear small by contrast with the size of the sleeves. Puffs at the shoulder give grace and delicacy to the neck and head. The pagoda sleeves, copied from the Chinese, being wide and open, cause the hands to appear smaller by contrast with the aperture from which they emerge; but when the sleeve is exaggeratedly large and wide, the effect of the contrast is lost, the sleeve losing itself in, and mingling with, the rest of the draperies. The epaulette worn some years ago is useful as giving width to narrow shoulders. The Louis XV., or sabot sleeve, tight to the elbow, and ending in a frill of lace, is perhaps the most becoming of all sleeves to a really pretty arm, while the sleeve open to the shoulder is the most trying to a defective outline.