CULT OF BEAUTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 267, 10 November 1934, Page 3 (Supplement)

CULT OF BEAUTY.

WEARING YOUR CLOTHES. TRY NOT TO WORRY. (By A BEAUTY SPECIALIST.) Every dressmaker will tell you that she frequently conies across women of 45 or 50 who can gracefully carry off a wrap intended for a flapper. This same woman may wear a youthful iiat with impunity. She may even start a fad among her acquaintances for "jabots" or artificial flowers, or anything, else she happens to fancy. It isn't that this particular woman has a more slender figure, a more velvety complexion, or lovelier hair than the average woman. But she knows how to wear her clothes. She weare her clothes with an air. -A short time ago a French

prinia donna who has been on a tour in Great Britain came home so much improved that her most intimate friends were astonished. They begged her to reveal the name of the cold cream or tonic she had used, and they even hinted at more strenuous forms of rejuvenation. But the prima donna explained that this new' blooming was due to forces within herself. Doctors say that beauty is ■stomach-deep. But the prinia donna explained that hers was brain-deep—that her beauty came from a stimulation of her mind.

In this scientific age, we arc beginning to realise that we are capable of doing much for ourselves. Mr. Edison says that most inventors stay young, while most clay labourers grow old quickly. If mental stimulus keeps the inventors young, why should not women, to whom beauty is a. great asset, indulge in definite thinking? It's just a« easy to think happiness and food fortune and beauty as it is to thfnk misery, bad luck and ugliness. Happiness lifts the muscles of the face. Smiling lips curve upwards. The woman who can smile lias already achieved a big step towards beauty. She feels as though her clothes look well enough so that she may ceaec to worry about them. And so she succeeds in wearing them with an air. The woman who envies the woman with art air, often wonders why certain others grow old and unattractive. What Causes Old Age. In trying to decide what causes operate io make a woman old, we must rake away the rubbish before the hidden plant" of truth. Paradoxical as it seem*, the very forces that are blamed for old age should receive credit us "beauti tiers" and "youthiliiTS." They fire hard work, responsibility, and the rearing of children. The magazines arc full of accounts of women who are doing men's work and remaining fit. From the prim a donna to the woman who does the work of a, "third man" on a farm, there is a long list of workers that is

nothing short of astounding. What, then, causes old age? Surely not the factors usually blamed.

Youth is resilient, age is not. Youth rises up again, as fast as it falls, for all tho world like a bouncing rubber ball. Tho baby ie hurt either physically or mentally. He yelle loudly and proceeds to forget all about it. The young child proceeds in much the same way. He may quarrel or fight, but when the quarrel or fight is over, it is forgotten, and the children play together again as usual. Then somewnero along the road of life there comes a time when the rubber ball does not spring back into place. It verges a bit. That's the time when we begin to whine or complain, or nag or indulge in self-pity. We have ceased to be good forgctters. And that is the precise moment when we begin to get old. Worrying is remembering something disagreeable. So is resentment and hatred, and all the host of miserable cares. If we could forget them as the

child does we could stay young. Supple muscles belong to youth, so do supple minds. We have not considered sickness as a contingency. There was once a big doctor, tho victim of a painful and incurable disease. When he died everyone was astonished at his mature age. Everyone had always thought of him as a rather young doctor. But lie possessed that wonderful resiliency of spirit that enabled him to forget as much of his misery as was humanly possible and to sec always the bright side of life. He never reached the point where old age starts. So it is all a matter of spirit this staying young. Any woman of any number of years, whose mind and soul possess the resiliency of youth, is young. And she is a delight to everyone who knows her, to everyone who serves her. She is nlso the one who wears her clothes with au air. The Girls That Men Forget.

Wo all have met the girl that men forget. She has about as much "pep" as an old book-marker, and about as much individuality as a brown paper parcel. And she wonders with mingled contempt and despair why the young fellows don't carry her off on their shoulders. She doesn't approve of the modern girl's method of making herself interesting by being interested in something, if that something be merely more man. She prefers the sour "grapes pose, and makes a very sour business of getting away with it. One glance in the mirror ought to tell her the story, but she and mirrors arc not,, on speaking terms. She thinks a complexion is not worth a shot of powder and her dresses always bring out her worst points. She is really a back number, though *n<. , can amuse herself in her own tittle way. She certainly has a uood opinion of herself. A little exercise would do her a world of good, if she would only step on it. She is always taking the joy out of her own life, and of others if she , can.