LADIES' COLUMN.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 114, 10 November 1900, Page 2 (Supplement)

LADIES' COLUMN.

THE PETTICOAT WRIST. ' i r A ttEW DISEASE AND HOW, IT IS ENGENDERED. Mainy are the ways in which women contrive to vaiy the simple .action of raising their dresses from contact with the ground, says a writer in the Daily Mail. It is scarcely too much to my that by hen manner of so doing you may know whether a girl is naturally tidy, naturally a lover of the beautiful, or naturally extravagant in her habits." There is a clue to character in the action, one that should be reckoned every bit as potent as the way a man, wears his boot heels down> or frays his trousers at the edge. The new mode in Paris of holding up the skirt, which is adopted also by all the' smart women in England, is to gather k the superfluous length, of the flowing folds up in the left hand, and then jaise, the hand on to the left /hip and there rest it. The effect is to neaton the skirt on the right hip, to lift it sufficiently at the sides and back, and to just raise it well enough in front to ! prevent its flapping against the boots»>,and picking up, dirt from them. A. generous display,, of underskirt is also secured, and that is what the well-dressed woman likes, for having' spent , from one to ten guineas upon her "tempestuous petticoat" it is unfair that it should always waste its silken beauty beneath the skirt of her frock. ' Genuinely American is the way of raising the skirt by lifting it up with both hands at the sides, This process was also t started in Paris, but became naturalised American very quickly, and now retain 9 1 the Yankee trade mark. It can be a very piquant and pretty action when 'gracefully achieved, but like the last way described, should be carefully practised ift" front of a long glass before it is finally displayed in the street. It is not a useful vogue for the woman to adopt who ha& many parcels to carry, nor • should she who from her gamp is never separated attempt to make it her method, since the gamp becoming unruly may easily turn' and rend a passer-by, by giving him "a ,dab in. the eye. But for occasional use, such* as crossing a muddy street, or stepping gingerly from a doorway to a carriage, izis really a pretty and becoming skirt clutch to practise. Bunching the train up in the left hand right in the centre of the waisb at the *back is a customary way of disposing of 'it when the skirt is prettily trimmed •*or tucked at the sides, and its, 1 wearer does not desire.' to destroy its symmetry. A graceful action is this for slender girls to try, but a much more wearying one to the wrist than is the left hip - clutch, for that provides a rest for the hand upon the hip itself. Oh, would some fay the giftie'jgive hundreds of girls who raise tfikir skirts awkwardly and unbecomingly fEo see themselves as others see them ! | A grab anywhere is good enough for many, with the result that their pretty frocks assume a muddled mass of meaningless folds. As a rule English Women raise their skirts awk- • wardly, Hrench women . gracefully, and American's "daintily. But there are specimens of all three modes in each nation, so one need not pride itself more than another upoh its innate sense of what the action demands. Those who wear sensibly short dresses that do not require lifting, except on occasion, at least save themselves the pain of suffering what counts as a new disease among society women. It is cynically 'termed the silk petticoat wrist by the doctors, and afflicts smart' girls mostly who squander their allowances on dainty silk underskirts, and its symptom . is stiffening or cramp in the affected ,•• part.