CURVES WILL BE CURVES

Northern Advocate, 11 July 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

CURVES WILL BE CURVES

Women who have vainly tried to wear the new clothes with credit, only to find that what should be a smooth unbroken line is nothing more than a 1 discouraging series of bulges, realise | that their fashion story must have a perfect beginning.. The new clothes are nothing without some suggestion of a figure beneath. Long, clinging, attenuated dresses need unbroken streamline — too much to demand of the average sylph. We are going to have to wear corsets now, more than ever, because the line of the moment is smoother, more moulded than Nature made it. You cannot have a roll of flesh about the midriff. You age ten years with fleshy bulges at armpits, thighs and abdomen. Tight satin gowns are vulgar over curves that are “natural,” uncontrolled and obvious.

But, because they are also ludicrous when childish 'nubbins of suspenders and fastenings show beneath, corsetmakers have had to discdver entirely new methods of causing one’s figure faults to disappear. So corsets have become, overnight, foundations —that is to say, as much the perfect beginning for the frock as the perfect finish for the figure. Surface has become of vital importance. Corset fabrics had to become more and more second nature to our skin. So manufacturers developed filmy satins, failles, nets, made stretchable with Lastex, which will actually hold, mould and control heavy figure types. And this again means better control all round since the corset now controls by fabric as well as by construction. New flat suspenders, invisible seaming, talon fastenings ... . .

these have also come in answer to the search for smoothness. Our lines are corseted—but smooth, supple and flexible as Nature intended.

Another thing fashion persuaded us when it decided to mould instead of just clothe. We have bosoms. And we shall have to give them all the uplift we can get into two tiny spheres of satin, lace, net or what-have-you., A well-placed bosom—by virtue of Nature or a good ■ brassiere—lends an optical illusion to the silhouette; the lines from the armpits to the waist look longer, the waist looks smaller, and the hips, although held in lightly, maintain their natural curve. Moreover, the bosoms cani|ot be bosoms. Our ideal is nearer that of the lovely maidens of Bali, who pray to their native gods for “breasts that point to the moon.”