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OUR SPRING FASHION SHEET 1 History of Gowns From the Fig Leaf To the Transparency of Today Sketched By Our Famous /. Authority on Style, , Mile. Marie (Proper Gander) Before discussing this subject, we must first know of its beginning. Eve, who was the first woman God put into the world, was the first wom an to be clothed. The occasion for this was her eating thi forbidden" fruit, and bringing sir into the world. After this sin she and her husban l, Adam clothed themselves: Eve's first garment being made of fig leaves. The first garments after those of Adam and Eve were very loose ones which seemed merely to be thrown around the body rather than styled. But, as the world began to advance in civilization, its styles of dress also advanced in material and adornment The majority of people were neatly dressed yet not extravagantly for a while. Let us look back at Our pilgrim ihothers who came to America, and see the sipleness of their dress. These ladies wore black dresses with large white collars and cuffs modestly de signed. They also wore very plain white caps. Let us now look back into the age of our grandmothers when we con* sider the styles of dress at that time, we would think them very queer as compared with our modern styles. The women in this age wore very long dresses with full skirts. Many dresses of which there ' were long trains. Our grandmothers also wore their dresses very high at the neek Their evenings gowns were peatly de singed with many ruffles and frills, ribbons and laces. Since this time the dress of woman has greatly changed and in this pres ent, year nineteen twenty-one, there are such styles before us which were never dreamed of a half century ago. Women have begun to think that dress is the very purpose of their ex istence; and that they must be ex travagantly clothed. I do not criticise the desire of a woman to look well and be becomingly dressed, for such things she owes to herself, her fami ly, and her friends. But to be becom ingly dressed does not mean that one must be continually buying and spend ing beyond her means. Since we have said that style of dress has greatly changed, let us cbmpare a few fashions of nineteen twenty-one .with those of fifteen six ty. Instead of skirts sweeping the ground and gathering up countless germs, we must now regard the pres ent day skirts, exposing the knee even; for the stockings are being rolled below the knee, and with the dress above, it is quite a picture to behold. There is a change from those dresses with high collars choking^the >vearer most uncomfortably to those of the present day, so?low that they . carcely merit the naipe of a waist. From the neat and modest evening gowns, we must note the change to those with no backs at all and noth ing to support the fronts, so that the ; mystery is how they remain in posi tion. Oftimes we see ladies hobbling around as though they might be phy sically affected. There are those who wou d not be able to run in case of life for death. When investigating what do we find to be the cause of all this? Simply the change of fashion For those very wide skirts of our grandmothers have changed to those so narrow that one has to walke as a Chinese. Last but hot least of these changes that I shall mention is the change from those manifold petticoats of. o r grandmothers to the present fashion of none at all and gar ments so sheer that everybody's eyes are X-Rays. Wiiat is the meaning of all these , imrnn ;est garbs with which the ladies of r ieteen twenty-one are adorning > themselves? It is simply that after a long age of improvement and better ing of the fashions, they are' begin ning to decrease arid become inferior to those which have been., If the wo men continue to indulge in such styles as are now before them; the! beauty of dress will be gone and the styles will gradually grow worse, so that the coming generations will not know what styles are considered (by wise persons) modest and what im modest; what decent and what inde cent; what styles become a woman and what do not. If the women do not act for themselves to try to throw \ off these evil fashions, I fear it will be left to the control of the men and laws w'll soon be passed by congress and the legislatures forbidding such things. ?Maria Neuffer. When your a little m * ' When the s don't thri % more wal i 1 - i Advert] The When your you desir advertisin Call phone over witr i % An adverl t . .I!.'.. 1, .. ./ .. motor car ore gas ;weet corn and 'taters ive you give them a ] ter-more fertilizer..... ^ 1 , ising is the I Boiler of B volume of business h e stimulate your sales g : 10 for a represent 1 him ;isement in This pc he business Your ? &V > in your / little more care usiness ills short of what thru newspaper 11 ative anci taiK it iper will bring