It is pitiable to see a big man humiliated and equally so to see a large woman in cheap flimsy fabric. Save up your pennies and look out for remnants if you must, but don’t buy cheap materials. The better materials, too, are an incentive for more careful planning, and as a result you have a more likeable, wearable dress.
CHOOSE THESE SLENDERIZING FABRICS
What can you wear to create the illusion of slenderness? In woolens, everything except firm hard finished weaves, or those in big or definite designs or colors. If silk is to be purchased, consider the closely woven heavy ones. They may cost a little more, yes, but they wear longer, and when you give thought and time to making a perfect dress you are happy to have it last as long as it will. Some big women delight in chiffon and Georgette and lace dresses, but these fabrics must not be used unless a substantial foundation dress is worn under them.
No one needs to use so much care about the foundation of her dress as a stout woman. It must be wholly non-transparent. It must fit perfectly, and any dress of lace or sheer material fitted over it must follow the slip silhouette easily but perfectly. Some designers use two and three thicknesses as though they were one. They say this softens the line, weights the fabric, and proves altogether advantageous where grace and line are desired.
Materials like faille or bengaline, with a definite crosswise grain, are smart and becoming and are best when cut and made crosswise. They hang more limply and, therefore, are more graceful and entirely desirable for slenderizing.
Often the mistake is made of choosing a material with wide stripes, due to the prevalent belief that stripes tend to make a person look slender. This is generally untrue. The stout woman can wear striped material, but the stripes, as a rule, must be fine and without definite color or line when viewed from a short distance. In other words, stripes should be felt, not seen, except at very close range. Stout women, and, in fact, most women look better in materials of plain or indistinct design in harmonizing colors than in those of bold design and of decided color combinations.
The heavy silks, striped by means of the weave, and in self color, are the best for tailored dresses. The heavy crêpe weaves are more appropriate for draped dresses planned for occasional wear. And the best quality means the best wear, appearance and general satisfaction. It is better to have one very good, smart dress and take care of it than two cheap dresses that you are never quite satisfied with.
In selecting material for skirts, stout women should choose either plain fabric or fabric with a narrow or indistinct stripe or small figure and of a texture that is as soft and pliable as Dame Fashion permits.
For summer wear, good quality voiles are better than linens, and the crêpe de Chines are better than the tub silks, because they cling, and that, after all is a vital consideration. Swiss, organdie, and ratiné, like taffeta, are too stiff or bulgy to give slenderness, so these fabrics must be admired always from a safe distance. Allover lace is permissible if of small design and heavy enough to hang rather than bulge.
For quick and easy reference I have made a complete list of fabrics that are certain to create a line of slenderness—materials that you can safely wear with the assurance that if properly used they will do much toward giving you the slender, fashionable lines for which you are striving. When all is said and done there is really quite a varied range of fabrics for you after all.