THE LADIES' WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2601, 8 September 1909, Page 3

THE LA DIES' WORLD.

ASCOT FROCKS. GROWING COMPETITION IN EXTRAVAGANCE. (By L. G. Chiozza Money, M.P.) This year's Ascot frocks are leaving the descriptive reporters gravelled for adjectives. It is believed that they are also hardening the heart of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. - The differentiation through, bedizeenmont between the sexes of humankind has reached a ludicrous stage, at which it amounts to a complete reversal of the normal sexual differentiation in. nature. Indeed, this is rather an under-statement of the case. We have to go to the most extreme cases of superior male ornament in nature to find a parallel to the fashionable woman in her Ascot gown and the dull, shorn, ''tubular creature who accompanies her and who pays her bills. There are some cases' in the lepidoptera in which the male has pretty wings,' while, the 'female is a wingless bug. The modern wdman in her acquired feathers reproduces the idea with the sexes reversed. NOT ATTRACTION ALONE, Few men and few women are indifferent to the attractions of dress. The amazing ugliness of modern male attire—never before equalled in the history of the world—-is deplorable, but it serves one important social function. It makes it quite impossible for an inferior man to gain consideration through drnament. There are no male fine feathers to make fine birds out of over-developed millionaires. (In passing, note, too, that the almost universal* shaving of the chin has stopped fhe supply of sham patriarchs.) Trie modern, man thus presents himself to the modern woman belittled father than magnified by his clothes. The desire of woman to look attractive no man would discourage. In so far as the Ascot frock fulfils that function, it is not for man to deplore it. Unfortunately, however, the fiftyguinea gown is not even to 'be excused as an ornament. Few women are foolish enough to believe that a single ounce of additional attraction is achieved by any quantity of additional upholstery more than may be purchased for quite a moderate figure. To the male observer, and this is a thing which every woman ought to know, the marvellous dress only serves to accentuate every physical fault of the woman inside it. To the female observer, who makes a valuation of the cost, the expensive “creation” is a clear evidence of enviable spending power. Display is the ruling motive at' Ascot. THE PERMEATION OF EXTRAVAGANCE. Apart from the deplorable ill-distri-bution of the products of -labor of which the Ascot frock is evidence, it would matter little to the nation how these women amuse themselves if the habit of extravagance did not permeate Society. . Unfortunately, there is little doubt that middle and lower middle class women are spending on dress a very much larger proportion of the family income than used to be the case. Tlie artists who design the fashions of the extravagant upper classes, so far from having regard to economy of material or labor, deliberately create expensive modes. Cheap women’s papers, which are now sold by trie hundred thousand, spread the same expensive ideas simultaneously through all ranks of society. The wife of the poor clerk feels it absolutely necessary to buy unnecessary yards of material, braid, embroidery, silk, lace, and so forth, in order to achieve a result which at a distance of half a mile or so might easily be mistaken for the real thing. The domestic servant emerges on Sunday complete to the last fashionable button, reproducing in detail the extravagant elaborations originally devised for the gratification of those who need not count the cost. A young woman who might be saving against the time when she will be a wife and mother wastes her hard-earned money on a vast number of imitation accessories, without which she would feel unhappy, through the false ideas of beauty , and necessity which are bred in her by example. THE TRADES OF EXTRAVAGANCE There has been a great consequent growth in the trades of luxury, the various classes of society* through ieir women-kind, demanding an enormous supply, of ornamental gear, real and imitation. The spender of money is the director of labor, and the work of hundreds of thousands of men and women is diverted from useful trades to luxury trades to supply the evergrowing stream of high-priced and lowpriced unneccs&aries which go to furnish forth the complete woman. The cheap drapers display the rubbish sunshade, handle, stick, flame, ferrule, spring, cover, fastening, and tassel, all complete, at one shilling and elevenpence three farthings.. The purchaser has not) a decent! umbrella,; but what would life be without the sunshade ? Similarly, imitation furs, which do not even give warmth, are bought by millions, who, for themselves or for their children, ought to be spending the money at the boot shop. The tiny little income, which would be sufficient if properly expended, to command the necessaries of life, is divided up and in large part frittered away to satisfy the fashionable gods erected for worship by the handful of people who forget that they are the leaders and exemplars of society. . BEAUTY, UTILITY. AND SIMPLICITY. The responsibility of those who are wealthy is great on account of their own expenditure. The nature of'their spending directs the employment of a, large proportion of their fellow-citi-zens. Their responsibility as investors is even greater. Of almost equal importance is the example set by the manner of their spending. But on this head it is impossible to acquit, the fe- . male sex from the chief burden of responsibility. If the women of the upper classes would but return to a simpler, and not necessarily less beautiful, manner of dress, they would relieve not their own husbands alone, but the majority of the. households of the country, from a considerable burden. I have said not necessarily less beautiful, and I desire to accentuate that. Beauty, utility, and simplicity are one. No beautiful woman need lose by the adoption of garments of simple natural line, and 'no woman who is not beautiful should believe that complexity can do more than, heighten her failings. As things are, we have complexity deliberately aimed at. Only recently the dressmakers of Paris suppressed a certain type of gown because it demanded little material and was easily made. bat. is the spirit against which, if the women of society have, the sense and the courage to, revolt, they will be national benefactors. —“Daily News.”