"NO FASHION PLATES."

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 283, 28 November 1921, Page 9

"NO FASHION PLATES."

Till-: OFFICE CURL AND II BR CLOTHES. An article entitled "No Fashion Plates." originally published in tho "Auckland Star," has been reproduced ill Southern papers, and has given rise to some controversy, as witness tlio two following letters in the "Lyttelton Time*": — Sir, —We wish to strongly protest against the. article reprinted in this morning's "Times" from the "Auckland .Star," entitled "Xo Fashion Plates." No one, we think, is Attacked so frequently or so unjustly as the modern typiste or oiliee girl. The average girl in an ollice to-day is smart and up-to-date in her manner anil in her dress, and in very few cases does she exceed what abe knows to be the standard for a business girl as regard;, the silk stockings and crepe de chine. so slightingly j referred to by our extremely Early Victorian friend. He should remember that girls, whether in business or at home, must, move with' the times. Xow. Mr. Editor, we put it to you — how many business men of your acquaintance, when requiring a new girl for his office, would hesitate between a girl with splendid references, even if she were the wearer of the hated silk stockings— which, by the way, her employer is not supposed to notice —and one of the K.V. type, whose method* of oilice work would probably be as old-fashioned as her dress? The employer probably has sufficient sense to know that he ennnot set an old-fashioned oflice sirl, such as our Auckland friend so ardently desires, with modern business methods. Let Uβ tell you that modern typistee, taking them as a •whole, are smart and up-to-thominute, and while some of them arc not particularly brainy, may we assure you that they certainly have sufficient intelligence to know that there is a medium in nil things, and are fully aware of what would be regarded as •"the limit" in connection with showy clothes in the office.

We hope that someone with a more j fluent pen than ours will take up this defence of a class of business srirl which is attacked so often and so undeserved!}', namelj 7 , the office girl of to-day. Let the employers, just for the sake of variety, write about the misdemeanours of ofjftco boys and callow junior clerks who periodically burst upon the office staff in all the glory of brilliantlvcolourod socks and fearful ties —not to mention perfumed hair-oil, which, in our opinion, is infinitely worse than powder—and give the poor typiste a rest. —Wo are, etc.. TWO MODERN' TVPISTES. Sir, —The article in your esteemed journal entitled "No Fashion Plates" has met with considerable approval amonc employers. An applicant for a position in my office recently lost any chance she might have had through the cheap scent with which she reeked and the abbreviated ekirte in which she wae partly clothed. Whether I be called Early Victorian or up-to-date, I maintain that business girls should be clad for business and not for Bhow. A greater display of brains would ofton compensate for a smaller display of calves. —I am. etc.. EMPLOYER.