"Happiness in wearing clothes is dependent, however, on some homely and revealing facts. You must know what you are really like. No one else, however, need know the whole truth about you." (emphasis mine.)
"Be yourself as you are and as you want to be. The frocks you wear will achieve this ambition for you. You can create a charmed circle of admiration wherever you go simply by the way you dress. Cultivate your gift for clothes. The puritan virtues concerning dress, while still virtues, are no longer in fashion. Enjoy your clothes."
"But what of the woman who is really matronly in build? No puffy bouffants for her. She would become terrifyingly enormous." (All right, so I threw this last quote in for fun!)
The wording in these quotes may clue in to their age. They come from a book published by the Butterick company in the 1930's, called Paris Frocks at Home. (I found it on a website devoted to vintage sewing). Even though these are from what we would consider an old book, they are true today. In fact, these ideas are repeated often today, just in more modern language. Of course, we no longer think that the average woman is going to sew her own clothes, let alone tailor them!
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3 comments:
How does this post compare to "Why Those Clothes?" on Isle Kerguelen?
also,
Re: "The puritan virtues concerning dress, while still virtues, are no longer in fashion."
Puritan virtues are always in fashion! ...well, at least among school board members, and while swimming at PBC camp.
This phrase really intrigues me. It really says a lot. It expresses the unspoken life philosophy of many people: You know what's good, but do what you like.
This post was obviously much different than the one on Isle Kerguelen...
There is something overwhelming in trying to set rules for dress. Perhaps, like music, it is too intwined with aesthetics to set hard and fast rules. What works for one person could be horrible for another. Is that why God gave us guidelines rather than rules? Jim thinks that most of us would prefer the rules - we don't have to think if someone else does it for us. (In fact, that is one of the "strongest" arguments for uniforms; "I don't have to think about what my child will wear in the morning.")
I have always wondered why the knee was such a "bone of contention" in fundamentalist circles. Is it the ankle of our times? (Are knees and ankles really that good looking? I think of them as rather bony and bumpy parts. And, why don't we stop our sleeves at the elbow?)
Rule makers don't want to discuss these questions. That's because Everyone Knows
that knees drive men wild, but ankles do not. If you ever get elected to the Rule committee remember to use the Everyone Knows defense. I mean, you don't want to be Worldly, DO YOU?
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