Stretch and keep yourself limber. Bend so that you are continually used to it, then your face won’t get red every time you drop your handkerchief. And right here it may be well to say that most women use up more energy than they need to and look much more undignified than they need to when they stoop to pick things up. It is neither necessary nor graceful to bend so that your back almost breaks in the middle. It is a much easier and pleasanter gesture to bend at the knees and go straight down until you can reach the object you want to pick up. In doing this you can keep your head straight up all the while and need not get red in the face at all.
WHAT YOUR POSTURE CAN DO FOR YOU
Learn to stand up straight like a soldier. Most fat women seem to have the idea that they ought to “scrooch” down and disguise their size in that way. But in this campaign to dress and be thin the back-bone must be definitely straight. Don’t hunch yourself up and look like a pillow tied in the middle. Sit straight on your chair and stand straight when you are up. Hold your head high. A constant practice of chin up makes you appear taller and erases in the easiest possible way any tendency towards a double chin.
Dressing up to your weight is good psychology for it keeps you alert. You hold your head a little higher and grow naturally to observe that essential rule of standing always just as tall as you possibly can. Also, your mental alertness is a safeguard against additional fat. I never knew it to fail—a definite interest in clothes, in looking one’s best, keeps the fat away. It has a sort of a rabbit-foot charm about it that really does work.
Remember continually that it isn’t the dress alone that you need watch, but every detail, for the little things can destroy the big, you know, and the principles of optical illusion must be adhered to as strictly in the little things as in the big. For instance, eyeglasses can accentuate a round face or slenderize it, depending upon their prominence and shape. Buttons can stick out and look bulky; shirtwaists when worn with different color skirts can cut you in two; and belts of different color than skirt or blouse can prove even more treacherous. Gloves or shoes that are too small give your size away. Lacy stockings emphasize where they shouldn’t and are as faulty as they are expensive. Before we get through with this book I hope that I can restore your pride and self-assurance and that by making the most of these little pointers you will find your back-bone right where it ought to be. You will then be able to meet the world with a smile, knowing that at last you not only feel but look better than you ever have before.
SHOES AND STOCKINGS MUST BE SELECTED WITH CARE
What kind of shoes and stockings do you wear? Not pumps, I hope, because your
Above—Neatly shod feet.
Left—Low cut pumps and single strap emphasize fat. Heavy shoes have too much decoration.
Stockings must always be on straight and well held up, and shoes must fit. Straps that hold firmly are more effective than those that are narrow and less restraining. Heavy shoes should be plain in design. Skirts should always be long enough to cover the largest part of the leg below the knee.
weight is too great to be comfortable in them, and besides if you have studied the principles of optical illusion as carefully as you should have, you will realize that pumps will not give you the harmonious effect that you want to achieve in your costume. A bulge is sure to show at the top which is not only uncomfortable for you but shows in itself that you are fat. Wear a strap or laced slipper—any kind that is in good taste, big enough, and not too heavy. Heavy shoes on a stout woman interfere with lightness of movement which is something for which you must continually strive.