CHAPTER XV
THE MATTER OF DRESS
TO be comfortably and becomingly clothed is an acknowledged aspiration of most women and many men. The time to be ashamed of such an aspiration is now happily gone by with some other detrimental puritanical notions, and we cheerfully give ourselves to the love of pretty things for personal adornment as we do to beauty in other directions. That too much time may be spent in the thought about, and selection of, clothes is true, also that extravagance of expenditure and other vices are the price of such vanity. On the other hand, it is as true, though not so directly and obviously so, that a lack of attention to dress leads equally to disaster. The badly-gowned woman is apt to be self-conscious, not in possession of her best self; and too often she carries the thought of dress exactly to the place where her mind should be free of such reflections. One should not wear more than one can successfully “carry off.” Care about the details of dress should be left behind when one goes visiting or appears anywhere in public. If one’s toilet has been thought out and attended to properly before leaving home, one’s mind is then free for the entertainment of other subjects. If this important matter is suggested to one only by the unhappy contrast between one’s appearance and that of the people about one, then unless one is possessed of a particularly strong mind, the pleasure of the occasion in question is nullified, the possible profit to be derived from it is cut off.
THE GOSPEL OF GOOD GOWNS
Self-consciousness does away with the easy use of one’s faculties and renders them stiff and unpliable. Trim appropriate clothing has a tendency to make the wearer happy and is an encouragement to a comfortable and lively temper of mind. I remember hearing a humorous old clergyman say that he was frequently called upon to endure the recital of her miseries from a very untidy woman of his congregation and to prescribe advice therefor. At last with him truth came to the surface, and a thought that had long lain dormant in his mind found expression on the final occasion of her request for counsel from him. “Madam,” he said, “I believe you would be a much happier woman if you combed your hair becomingly and put on a fresh gown oftener.” The matter of dress is at once a serious and, to a beauty-loving temperament, a charming consideration. To some extent it has to do with character and much to do with happiness. Some moralists to the contrary notwithstanding, the becomingness or the unbecomingness of what one wears reacts upon the wearer and makes her distrustful or confident, timid or courageous, and this in a not unworthy sense.
If the subject of dress is important, the consideration we give to it should be of a correspondingly dignified and orderly character. There is a happy medium between spending too much and too little time on the thought of what we wear. At regular periods, say at least twice a year, the matter should be taken up with some care, the needs of one’s wardrobe investigated, the amount of money at one’s disposal for such purposes be determined upon.
IF THE PURSE IS SMALL
If one’s purse is so large that the question is only one of purchase, of consulting good outfitters and dressmakers, there is still room for neat and methodical management. If one’s purse is small, orderly and businesslike management is a necessity. One should study one’s appearance and find out for one’s self what colors, what tendencies in fashion are becoming to one, and resolutely strike others off the list. Reason, not fancy, nor altogether fashion, should guide one in the choice of fabrics and tints. One’s manner of life should be considered in the selection of gowns, and the appropriate thing picked out for the anticipated occasion. A train on the street, velvet in the morning, no matter what may seem to be worn by extremists, could never be in taste. Veils that are so heavy as to seem disguises or so ornamented that they give the wearer, at a little distance, the appearance of having a skin disease, should be left to the women who wish to startle.