Avoid every tendency toward over dress. Don’t trim yourself too much. Modesty, simplicity—intricate simplicity perhaps, but a beautiful simplicity—is a definite part of our program and must be followed out religiously to conceal at all times an extra 30 or 40 pounds.
Be sure that the brassiere and corset overlap at their joining. The brassiere should come over the corset a good 2 inches to insure its holding. If the abdomen is full or stomach high, supporters fastened to the brassiere at the front are an advantage.
Never allow your shoes to squeak or your gloves to pinch in their tightness. Never allow a spot to show on any garment. Be immaculate, work at it, keep at it, for you, you know, have a definite purpose that must be achieved.
CHAPTER IV
FOUNDATIONS THAT SLENDERIZE
Although this is termed the corsetless era, the best dressed women are still wearing corsets and will continue to wear them because they realize the necessity of retaining lovely curves and lines. When the slender woman is careful about her corset, what must the responsibility be of the large woman? It is just this—that she must wear a corset—that she must select it with such care and have it fitted with such perfection that even she can forget it once it is on. No evidence of a corset is ever seen on a correctly dressed woman.
THE ART OF SELECTING YOUR CORSET
Wear corsets for comfort and perfection in dress, not with the thought that they will reduce. Remember that you always need your wits and all the alacrity of thought you can master and a too tight corset paralyzes both.
Read with me through this section because here you will get some real help and be able to apparently reduce your hip measure two inches and your bust possibly six.
Do you know that when your corset is a 28 waist or over you are counted by the corset manufacturers in the stout class? That seems absurd. One would think they would wait at least until the measurement was 30 or 32 before calling one stout, but since this is so, no one need be sensitive about ordering a size that is right. That means large enough usually, for you have a long range—26 to 46 waist measurement—so buy a corset that is big enough, that allows the flesh to rest comfortably yet be properly controlled. Tight corsets are a menace as are tight brassieres, and by packing the flesh in a fixed position, grace of movement is destroyed and you are made to appear actually larger than you are.