Woman as Decoration

by Emily Burbank

It is shown that woman's decorative appearance affects her psychology, and that woman's psychology affects her decorative appearance.

Some chapters may, at first glance, seem irrelevant, but those who have seriously studied any art, and then undertaken to tell its story briefly in simple, direct language, with the hope of quickly putting audience or reader in touch with the vital links in the chain of evidence, will understand the author's claim that no detour which illustrates the subject can in justice be termed irrelevant. In the detours often lie invaluable data, for one with a mind for research—whether author or reader. This is especially true in connection with our present task, which involves unravelling some of the threads from the tangled skein of religion, dancing, music, sculpture and painting—that mass of bright and sombre colour, of gold and silver threads, strung with pearls and glittering gems strangely broken by age—which tells the epic-lyric tale of civilisation.

While we state that it is not our aim to make a point of fashion as such, some of our illustrations show contemporary woman as she appears in our homes, on our streets, at the play, in her garden, etc. We have taken examples of women's costumes which are pre-eminently characteristic of the moment in which we write, and as we believe, illustrate those laws upon which we base our deductions concerning woman as decoration. These laws are: appropriateness of her costume to the occasion; consideration of the type of wearer; background against which costume is to be worn; and all decoration (which includes jewels), as detail with raison d'être. The body should be carried with form (in the sporting sense), to assist in giving line to the costume.

The chic woman is the one who understands the art of elimination in costumes. Wear your costumes with conviction—by which we mean decide what picture you will make of yourself, make it and then enjoy it! It is only by letting your personality animate your costume that you make yourself superior to the lay figure or the sawdust doll.

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CONTENTS

[I]	A Few Hints for the Novice who Would Plan Her Costumes	[1]
	Rules having economic value while aiming at decorativeness.—Lines and colouring emphasised or modified by costuming.—Temperaments affect carriage of the body.—Line of body affects costume.—Technique of controlling the physique.—The highly sensitised woman.—Costuming an art.—Studying types.—Starring one's own good points.—Beauty not so fleeting as is supposed if costume is adapted to its changing aspects.—Masters in art of costuming often discover and star previously unrecognised beauty.—Establishing the habit of those lines and colours in gowns, hats, gloves, parasols, sticks, fans and jewels which are your own.—The intelligent purchaser.—The best dressed women.—Value of understanding one's background.—Learning the art of understanding one's background.—Learning the art of costuming from masters of the art.—How to proceed with this study.—Successful costuming not dependent upon amount of money spent upon it.—An example
[II]	The Laws Underlying All Costuming of Woman	[23]
	Appropriateness keynote of costuming to-day.—Five salient points to be borne in mind when planning a costume.—Where English, French, and American women excel in art of costuming.—Feeling for line.—To make our points clear constant reference to the stage is necessary.—Bakst and Poiret.—Turning to the Orient for line and colour.—Keeping costume in same key as its settings.—How to know your period; its line, colours and characteristic details.—Studying costumes in Gothic illuminations
[III]	How to Dress Your Type	[46]
	A Few Points Applying to all Costumes.—Background.—Line and colour of costumes to bring out the individuality of wearer.—The chic woman defined.—Intelligent expressing of self in mise-en-scène.—Selecting one's colour scheme
[IV]	The Psychology of Clothes	[54]
	Effect of clothes upon manners.—The natural instinct for costuming, "clothes sense."—Costuming affecting psychology of wearer.—Clothes may liberate or shackle the spirit of women, be a tyrant or magician's wand.—Follow colour instinct in clothes as well as housefurnishings
[V]	Establish Habits of Carriage Which Create Good Line	[66]
	Woman's line result of habits of a mind controlled by observations, conventions, experiences and attitudes which make her personality.—Training lines of physique from childhood; an example.—A knowledge of how to dress appropriately leads to efficiency
[VI]	Colour In Woman's Costume	[74]
	Colour hall-mark of to-day.—Bakst, Rheinhardt and Granville Barker, teachers of the new colour vocabulary.—PORTABLE BACKGROUNDS
[VII]	Footwear	[85]
	Importance of carefully considering extremities.—What constitutes a costume.—Importance of learning how to buy, put on and wear each detail of costume if one would be a decorative picture.—Spats.—Stockings.—Slippers.—Buckles
[VIII]	Jewelry as Decoration	[94]
	Considered as colour and line not with regard to intrinsic worth.—To complete a costume or furnish keynote upon which to build a costume.—Distinguished jewels with historic associations worn artistically; examples.—Know what jewels are your affair as to colour, size, and shape.—To know what one can and cannot wear in all departments of costuming prepares one to grasp and make use of expert suggestions. How fashions come into being.—One of the rules as to how jewels should be worn.—Gems and paste
[IX]	Woman Decorative in Her Boudoir	[111]
	Negligée or tea-gown belongs to this intimate setting.—Fortuny the artist designer of tea-gowns.—Sibyl Sanderson.—The decorative value of a long string of beads.—Beauty which is the result of conscious effort.—Bien soiné a hall-mark of our period
[X]	Woman Decorative in Her Sun-Room	[116]
	Since a winter sun-room is planned to give the illusion of summer, one's costuming for it should carry out the same idea.—The sun-room provides a means for using up last summer's costumes.—The hat, if worn, should suggest repose, not action.—The age and habits of those occupying a sun-room dictate the exact type of costume to be worn.—Colour scheme
[XI]	I. Woman Decorative in Her Garden	[124]
	In the garden the costume should have a decorative outline but simple colour scheme which harmonises with background of flowers.—White, grey, or one note of colour preferable.—The flowers furnish variety and colour.—Lady de Bathe (Mrs. Langtry) in her garden at Newmarket, England
	II. Woman Decorative on the Lawn
	One may be a flower or a bunch of flowers for colour against the unbroken sweep of green underfoot and background of shrubs and trees.—Chic outline and interesting detail, as well as colour, of distinct value in a costume for lawn.—How to cultivate an unerring instinct for what is a successful costume for any given occasion
	III. Woman Decorative on the Beach
	If one would be a contribution to the picture, figure as white or vivid colour on beach, deck of steamer or yacht
[XII]	Woman As Decoration When Skating	[134]
	Line of the body all important.—The necessity of mastering form to gain efficiency in any line; examples.—The traditional skating costume has the lead
[XIII]	Woman Decorative in Her Motor Car	[145]
	The colour of one's car inside and out important factor in effect produced by one's carefully chosen costume
[XIV]	How To Go About Planning A Period Costume	[154]
	Period.—Background.—Outline.—Materials.—Colour scheme.—Detail with meaning.—Authorities.—Consulting portraits by great masters.—Geraldine Farrar.—Distinguished collection of costume plates.—One result of planning period costumes is the opening up of vistas in history.—Every detail of a period costume has its fascinating story worth the knowing.—Brief historic outline to serve as key to the rich storehouse of important volumes on costumes and the distinguished textless books of costume plates.—Period of fashions in costumes developing without nationality.—Nationality declared in artistry of workmanship and the modification or exaggeration of an essential detail according to national or individual temperament.—Evolution of woman's costume.—Assyria.—Egypt.—Byzantium.—Greece.—Rome.—Gothic Europe.—Europe of the Renaissance,—seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century through Mid-Victorian period.—Cord tied about waist origin of costumes for women and men
[XV]	The Story Of Period Costumes A Résumé	[172]
	Woman as seen in Egyptian sculpture-relief; on Greek vase; in Gothic stained glass; carved stone; tapestry; stucco; and painting of the Renaissance; eighteenth and nineteenth century portraits.—Art throughout the ages reflects woman in every rôle; as companion, ruler, slave, saint, plaything, teacher, and voluntary worker.—Evolution of outline of woman's costume, including change in neck; shoulder; evolution of sleeve; girdle; hair; head-dress; waist line; petticoat.—Gradual disappearance of long, flowing lines characteristic of Greek and Gothic periods.—Demoralisation of Nature's shoulder and hip-line culminates in the Velasquez edition of Spanish fashion and the Marie Antoinette extravaganzas
[XVI]	Development Of Gothic Costume	[192]
	Gothic outline first seen as early as fourth century.—Costume of Roman-Christian women.—Ninth century.—The Gothic cape of twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries made familiar on the Virgin and saints in sacred art.—The tunic.—Restraint in line, colour, and detail gradually disappear with increased circulation of wealth until in fifteenth century we see humanity over-weighted with rich brocades, laces, massive jewels, etc. The Virgin in Art Late Middle Ages.—Sovereignty of the Virgin as explained in "The Cathedrals of Mont St. Michel and Chartres," by Henry Adams.—Woman as the Virgin dominates art of twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.—The girdle.—The round neck.—The necklace, etc.
[XVII]	The Renaissance Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries	[214]
	Pointed and other head-dresses with floating veils.—Neck low off shoulders.—Skirts part as waist-line over petticoat.—Wealth of Roman Empire through new trade channels had led to importation of richly coloured Oriental stuffs.—Same wealth led to establishing looms in Europe.—Clothes of man like his over-ornate furniture show debauched and vulgar taste.—The good Gothic lines live on in costumes of nuns and priests.—The Davanzati Palace collection, Florence, Italy.—Long pointed shoes of the Middle Ages give way to broad square ones.—Gorgeous materials.—Hats.—Hair.—Sleeves.—Skirts.—Crinolines.—Coats.—Overskirts draped to develop into panniers of Marie Antoinette's time.—Directoire reaction to simple lines and materials
[XVIII]	Eighteenth Century	[233]
	Political upheavals.—Scientific discoveries.—Mechanical inventions.—Chemical achievements.—Chintz or stamped linens of Jouy near Versailles.—Painted wall-papers after the Chinese.—Simplicity in costuming of woman and man
[XIX]	Woman In The Victorian Period	[241]
	First seventy years of nineteenth century.—"Historic Dress in America" by Elizabeth McClellan.—Hoops, wigs, absurdly furbished head-dresses, paper-soled shoes, bonnets enormous, laces of cobweb, shawls from India, rouge and hair-grease, patches and powder, laced waists, and "vapours."—Man still decorative
[XX]	Sex In Costuming	[244]
	"European dress."—Progenitor of costume worn by modern men.—The time when no distinction was made between materials used for man and woman.—Velvets, silks, satins, laces, elaborate cuffs and collars, embroidery, jewels and plumes as much his as hers
[XXI]	Line And Colour Of Costumes In Hungary	[252]
	In a sense colour a sign of virility.—Examples.—Studying line and colour in Magyar Land.—In Krakau, Poland,—A highly decorative Polish peasant and her setting
[XXII]	Studying Line and Colour in Russia	[265]
	Kiev our headquarters.—Slav temperament an integral part of Russian nature expressed in costuming as well as folk songs and dances of the people.—Russian woman of the fashionable world.—The Russian pilgrims as we saw them tramping over the frozen roads to the shrines of Kiev, the Holy City and ancient capital of Russia at the close of the Lenten season.—Their costumes and their psychology
[XXIII]	Mark Twain's Love of Colour in all Costuming	[276]
	Wrapped in a crimson silk dressing-gown on a balcony of his Italian villa in Connecticut, Mark Twain dilated on the value of brilliant colour in man's costuming.—His creative, picturing-making mind in action.—Other themes followed
[XXIV]	The Artist And His Costume	[283]
	A God-given sense of the beautiful.—The artist nature has always assumed poetic license in the matter of dress.—Many so-called affectations have raison d'être.—Responding to texture, colour and line as some do to music and scenery.—How Japanese actors train themselves to act women's parts by wearing woman's costumes off the stage.—This cultivates the required feeling for the costumes.—The woman devotee to sports when costumed.—Richard Wagner's responsiveness to colour and texture.—Clyde Fitch's sensitiveness to the same.—The wearing of jewels by men.—King Edward VII.—A remarkable topaz worn by a Spaniard.—Its undoing as a decorative object through its resetting
[XXV]	Idiosyncrasies in Costume	[292]
	Fashions in dress all powerful because they seize upon the public mind.—They become the symbol of manners and affect human psychology.—Affectations of the youth of Athens.—Les Merveilleux, Les Encroyables, the Illuminati.—Schiller during the Storm and Stress Period.—Venetian belles of the sixteenth century.—The Cavalier Servente of the seventeenth century.—Mme. Récamier scandalised London in eighteenth century by appearing costumed à la Greque.—Mme. Jerome Bonaparte, a Baltimore belle, followed suit in Philadelphia.—Hour-glass waist-line and attendant "vapours" were thought to be in the rôle of a high-born Victorian miss.—Appropriateness the contribution of our day to the story of woman's costuming
[XXVI]	Nationality In Costume	[296]
	When seen with perspective the costumes of various periods appear as distinct types though to the man or woman of any particular period the variations of the type are bewildering and misleading.—Having followed the evolution of the costume of woman of fashion which comes under the general head of European dress, before closing we turn to quite another field, that of national costumes.—Progress levels national differences, therefore the student must make the most of opportunities to observe.—Experiences in Hungary
[XXVII]	Models	[306]
	Historical interest attaches to fashions in woman's costuming.—One of the missions of art is to make subtle the obvious.—Examples as seen in 1917
[XXVIII]	Woman Costumed for Her War Job	[313]
	The Pageant of Life shows that woman has played opposite man with consistency and success throughout the ages.—Apropos of this, we quote from Philadelphia Public Ledger, for March 25, 1917, an impression of a woman of to-day costumed appropriately to get efficiency in her war work
	In Conclusion	[324]
	A brief review of the chief points to be kept in mind by those interested in the costuming of woman so that she figures as a decorative contribution to any setting

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ILLUSTRATIONS

I	Mme. Geraldine Farrar in Greek Costume as Thaïs Sketched by Thelma Cudlipp	([Frontispiece])
II	Woman in Ancient Egyptian Sculpture-Relief	[9]
III	Woman in Greek Art	[19]
IV	Woman on Greek Vase	[29]
V	Woman in Gothic Art Portrait Showing Pointed Head-dress	[39]
VI	Woman in Art of the Renaissance Sculpture-relief in Terra-cotta: The Virgin	[49]
VII	Woman in Art of the Renaissance Sculpture-relief in Terra-cotta: Holy Women	[59]
VIII	Tudor England Portrait of Queen Elizabeth	[69]
IX	Spain--Velasquez Portrait	[79]
X	Eighteenth Century England Portrait by Thomas Gainsborough	[89]
XI	Bourbon France Portrait of Marie Antoinette by Madame Vigée Le Brun	[99]
XII	Costume of Empire Period An English Portrait	[109]
XIII	Eighteenth Century Costume Portrait by Gilbert Stuart	[119]
XIV	Victorian Period (About 1840) Mme. Adeline Genée in Costume	[129]
XV	Late Nineteenth Century (About 1890) A Portrait by John S. Sargent	[139]
XVI	A Modern Portrait By John W. Alexander	[149]
XVII	A Portrait of Mrs. Philip M. Lydig By I. Zuloaga	[159]
XVIII	Mrs. Langtry (Lady de Bathe) in Evening Wrap	[169]
XIX	Mrs. Condé Nast in Street Dress Photograph by Baron de Meyer	[179]
XX	Mrs. Condé Nast in Evening Dress	[189]
XXI	Mrs. Condé Nast in Garden Costume	[199]
XXII	Mrs. Condé Nast in Fortuny Tea Gown	[209]
XXIII	Mrs. Vernon Castle in Ball Costume	[219]
XXIV	Mrs. Vernon Castle in Afternoon Costume--Winter	[229]
XXV	Mrs. Vernon Castle in Afternoon Costume--Summer	[239]
XXVI	Mrs. Vernon Castle Costumed À La Guerre for a Walk	[249]
XXVII	Mrs. Vernon Castle--A Fantasy	[259]
XXVIII	Modern Skating Costume--1917 Winner of Amateur Championship of Fancy Skating	[269]
XXIX A	Modern Silhouette--1917 Tailor-Made. Drawn from Life by Elisabeth Searcy	[279]
XXX	Tappé's Creations Sketched for Woman as Decoration by Thelma Cudlipp	[289]
XXXI	Miss Elsie De Wolfe in Costume of Red Cross Nurse	[299]
XXXII	Mme. Geraldine Farrar in Spanish Costume as Carmen From Photograph by Courtesy of Vanity Fair	[309]
XXXIII	Mme. Geraldine Farrar in Japanese Costume as Madame Butterfly Sketched by Thelma Cudlipp	[319]