THE INFLUENCE OF ATTIRE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14010, 15 March 1920, Page 6

THE INFLUENCE OF ATTIRE.

Ii : men are not more vain than women, thev have ati least, according to Dr" .Elisabeth. Sloan Chester, a certain amount •of reason for being so. Tn a lecture given by her in London lately on ''Clothing and'its Influence," at the institute of Hygiene, she said that trie popular supposition that clothing exercised a special fascination upon women Was a fallacy, with no more foundation than the idea, that women were better looking than men. It was a biological fact, all through the animal species, that the female was less -beautiful, less vain, and less influenced by personal adornment than the male. 1o instance duly birds, the robin, the wild! duck, and t3io the personification of male beauty and male vanity. Ideas of decency in dress appeared to depend upon climate, upon the period:, and upon national characteristics, znl preachers and purists were justified, in condemning bare backs and over-dis-played ankles at an age which was usually associated with "crochet in the firelight." . When dress was considered from Ihe hygienic point of view it was frequently found that too many garments were worn by the poor,and too few by therich. Sha had examined children in the 'elementary schools who wore 13 different articles of clothing, while girls of a different social class appeared, to consider that—at least for evening wear—more than two garments and a dress was frumpy. i In footwear women .sacrificed the hygienic to the artistic. Much influenza and pneumonia could be prevented by a. universal decree that every girl who worked away from home should wear light woollen stockings and good soled\boots or shoes. . H Dress had a tremendous influence on mentality. The nervous, depressed type of woman responded well to the stimulus of beautiful clothes. When people were mentally and spiritually.at a low ebb thev should try what buying something nice for themselves would do. A new hat might have a greater therapeu- . tic stimulative value than any tonic purchased at the chemists. The lecturer quoted some commonsense advice about clothes given by Sir James Cantlie., who sa;d that the normal average amount of clothing ror ouired in a temperate climate was 11 v weight for -every' stone weight of the lodv. If a woman weighed lOst her clothing should' weight 101b. The "clothes sense," like the artistic or musical sense, was something apart from business or'- -professional abilities. It was wisdom to he dressed fitly according to. the occasion, and, .other things being equal, a man would like his wife better if she had the clothes dense. The feeling that one was well and suitably dressed brought harmony to one's consciousness and personality.