CULT OF BEAUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 17, 20 January 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

CULT OF BEAUTY.

SHAPELY CURVES

WALKING AND EXERCISES.

(By A BEAUTY SPECIALIST.)

Well turned ankles and legs are just as much a part of physical comeliness as beautiful arms and hands, Eoses and

ears. Exercise brings proper size, or as near as it may be. The ankle and leg that are burdened with fat must be exercised and they will actually become smaller; on much the same work they will build up the too-thin leg. Walking, when properly done, with vigour, is one of the best exercises for the ankles and calves. If you are developing, a mile or two will be sufficient, but make every step count —lifting the heel well up and literally pushing the weight off the toes. Take rather short steps, and walk fast enough to bring

an ache into the legs. If your aim is to reduce the logs, walk a bit more slowly, but cover from three to five miles. If, for any reason, you cannot take walking exercise, there arc a few highly helpful walking exercises that you can use before retiring. The most commonly advised movement is rising on the toes, but it is too easy to bring much result, and after a week or so, it will bo better to hold one foot off the floor, working one at the time. Rest your hand lightly on the cliair-back, to maintain your balance. Rise well up on the toes twelve to fourteen times, then give the other foot the same number, and alternate thus, three or four times — more, after you get somewhat hardened. This exercise, by the way, is one specially beloved of ballet dancers. They do it every morning and every night; and before going on to the stage to dance, a ballet dancer will do these exercises for two or three minutes or more, in order that her feet and ankles may be very flexible.

The more common fault in the calves of women is the deficient development of that long, slender muscle running alongside the outside of the shin-bone. Place your-finger-tips on the outer edge of the shin, about half-way between foot and knee, then bring the toes up sharply towards the hand, as far as you can, and note the muscle's expansion under your fingers. Unless you walk very, very fast or practise running, this muscle, which gives shape to the front of the lower leg, remains practically undeveloped.

Stand sis in the other exercises, on hotli feet, and lift the toes - as high from the floor as you can, repeating until the legs feel it decidedly. Rest, then take another little turn or two at it. Do not let your leg exercists become monotonous. About every ten days, or two weeks, substitute stair-

climbing for the other movements and stick to it for a week or two. Place only the ball of the foot on the step, and raise your heel high each time. Late Hours Take Their Toll. You can't have a• 10 o'clock complexion if you go to bed at three. Late hours are very jolly, but tliey do take their toll. The next morning brings a frown, perhaps, but certainly wrinkles, and tired little lines under the eyes. Don't worry, try to go to bed a little earlier, sleep a little later in the morning, keep your windows wide open, and be discreet in your diet. «i

Although I consider dieting as important to health as I do exercise, probably those women who go in for the latter to any great extent don't have to worry much about the food they eat. Constant exercise, and good exercise, makes you digest almost anything. Personally, I never over-eat. And in France one's breakfast consists of a "croissant," a cup of coffee or tea, and sometimes a little fruit is added to it. Lunch is also not a heavy meal, and a salad always forms a part of it. The less meat you eat the better you will cer-

tainly be, although it la permissible to liave it twice a day on your menu. Be pretty careful about balancing the amount of sweets and starches.

I am a great believer in cold water. I believe in a warm bath every morning aiul a shower afterwards, first lukewarm, then ice-cold. A cold water facc.wash every morning is miles better than any of the inferior beauty creams and lotions which many women are lured into buying by quacks. When I find a good cream, I stick to it, and it would take a mightly strong argument to make me give it up for some other "perfectly marvellous" brand which my friends are always telling me about. The Cult of Slimness. For women, at all events, it seems to me, embonpoint is the arch enemy today, especially when couturieres and painters combine to insist on the fleshless figure. Caught between her vanity and "gourmandise," the modern woman is threading a thorny path, and many are martyrs to the new beauty cult. Alone they never could achieve their object, so they besiege the doctor who is said to work wonders, and they obey his orders implicitly. His consulting room is filled with society beauties, actresses, film stars, dancers—all waging war on the "too, too solid flesh." Pitilessly Doctor X. cuts off cocktails in the morning, cakes for afternoon tea, and the .sacrifices imposed at lunch are beyond belief. Sipping their mineral water, and scowling at the sandwiches, women exchange weights and prospects. "I nhall soon be a skeleton," says Antionette," I have lost eight pounds in a fortnight, and by the end of the month, it will be eight kilogs, I expect." If the craze continues, the drawings of the future will be peopled by shadows in flimsy dresses, like the phantom women in cardboard used by the drapers to-day to display their latest models.