ANCIENT AND MODERN

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 20

ANCIENT AND MODERN

• "An unmitigated evil," "ujihealthful," "deplorable," "unfortunate" are some of- the comments of physicians whe/HsHe(l by "Science Service" to giv/ their opinions of the newest styles of-VomenJ% dress. Tkese ofoctors, in considering the probable efffect on women's health of a

retuffl- £S dress styles of an earlier age, "■"""agree tha't.woinan to-day is healthier than she was when she wore tight-fit- . ting corsetfand Jong, sweeping dresses. ; Says the Service's '' Daily Science News 1 Bulletin" (Washington): ■ <"Kecalling the long full skirts worn •twenty years ago,'these physicians also recall tho germ-laden clouds of dust and '. dried dirt that these skirts raised when women. ; .wa!ked along;.the streets. The trailing'skirt was considered a menace to the woman's own health and to that of/others-about her. These physicians '."' remember,- .too, the tightly corseted figure of i'somo years, ago. They remember hoiv the liver' and spleen were pushed (tip out of their normal, proper place iii.,tho body, and the ; intestines crowded ;dpwn by the tight lacing necessary to,;achieve- a- 'wasp waist.' Of course, the newest dresses are not waspwaisted, and street .dresses do not yet sweep thJß;groimdi However, many for-

DOCTORS ON DRES&;.; SIYtBS

ward-looking persons' are asking whether the'latest fashon of longer skirts, form-fitted dresses, and corsets will stop where it is, or whether it will not swing all the way back to the extremes of the gay 'nineties and the early 1900 'a. Long, full skirts, even if they do not reach the ground, and corsets, no mat-j ter how loosely, fitting, are hampering to physical activity. Some physicians see harm enough in the hew clothes if they do noijnore than keep women from engaging in the healthful athletic activities which have kept them out in the fresh air and sunlight and given them new health and endurance in the years since the "World War. Hampering'garments also would make women less agile in dodging the present-day swiftly-moving vehicles,, and rriight prove an added accident hazard to the great numbers of women how'engaged in industrial operations.. Some leaders of-the medical profession believe that with woman's;'lately -acquired physical freedom has cpine a greater freedom;of mind and spirit. The modern/woman will perhaps:xefuso ..to,bo avslave to 'fashion,' and"cwiltiinsist on the dress styles in which she has found grea'tost comfort, freedom- o;^ movement, -and, perhaps, greatest health." ;, ... -