We have only to look at fashion plates to see that no dress is suggested for ladies who are inclined to be stout, for in them, only slim figures appear to receive consideration. I would recommend the loose-fitting coat as the most becoming for portly persons, because with a loose garment there is no abrupt accentuation of bulk, a fact which many stout ladies who adopt the Eton jacket style of dress, fail to recognise. On the stage, a slim actress may look well in tights, but this skin-like covering on a bulky figure would be ridiculously ugly. As the same lady draped in loose flowing robes may present a graceful and dignified appearance; those who are inclined to be portly would do well to wear loose-fitting riding coats, being careful to see that they are made to just reach the saddle and not flop on the back of the horse, or they will not be smart or comfortable to ride in. In [Fig. 58] I have shown how unnecessarily bulky a woman with a 25-inch waist may be made to look in a loose coat which is too long. Tailors do not like making these articles of dress, especially when they are of Melton cloth, because they are extremely difficult to manipulate, and the “hang” of such a garment will be hideous if its cutter be not a true artist at his business, for a loose coat is nothing if not graceful in outline. It is impossible to tell, when seated on a wooden horse, how a loose coat will hang when ridden in, so the finishing touches, such as pockets, &c., should never be made until the wearer has tried the coat on her own horse, with a critical friend to ride with her and tell her if anything is amiss with it. The little extra trouble this precaution may involve, is nothing as compared with the disappointment of having to “put up” with an ill-fitting garment. Some tailors have a Mayhew saddle on their block horse for fitting skirts; because in that kind of saddle, the crutches give them no trouble as regards “poking up”; but if a lady uses a saddle with ordinary crutches, she should be wary and take her own saddle for the fitting of her skirt. There are habit makers who recommend tight-fitting coats for stout figures, because, they argue, the bulk is there and must go somewhere; but a deaf ear should be turned to such arguments, as an ample figure should be concealed; not accentuated. Naturally these gentlemen are prejudiced against loose coats, for apart from the difficulty in making them, they cut into a much larger amount of valuable cloth than tight-fitting ones. Tailors will readily admit that this shaped coat is the best for young girls, because tight-fitting ones would give them too much of a “grown-up appearance,” but not for the stout girl, who has far more need to conceal her “grown-up appearance”!
Twenty years ago tailors were much more particular over their work than they appear to be at the present time. Creed always insisted on a lady bringing her own saddle, before he would fit a habit, and, if the garment did not please him, it would be discarded and another cut out ready for her when she next came to be fitted. This generous method of dealing was amply repaid; because it soon became known that the old man would not allow an imperfect garment to leave his shop.
For hunting, it is best to have a coat which will afford us protection from cold and wet, and therefore its fronts should be made to cover the right knee, the buttons being concealed under the “skirt” of the coat. This shape is in every way good, because there are no floppy fronts to trouble us by blowing back on windy days, and when the rain drips from the hat, the coat-covering helps to keep our right knee dry. In the old-fashioned habits, great care was taken that nothing could become displaced, to spoil the effect, as an old lady friend puts it, of “the beautiful gliding motion of a ship in full sail.” I fear now-a-days we allow our sails to flop about far too much, and destroy that “beautiful gliding motion.” What could be more ugly than a coat with tails which reach nearly to a horse’s hocks, and no front covering whatever to protect the knee in bad weather? Wind, which is no respecter of persons, seizes these long tails and hurls them over the back of the rider’s head, as she stands in a wild blast at the covert side looking very “tailly” and cold. Besides covering the right knee, the coat should have a collar that will turn up and fasten at the throat with a button and strap, to keep out wet, and cuffs that will turn down over the hands.
