MODERN GIRLS' EXTRAVAGANCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20290, 24 December 1927, Page 9

MODERN GIRLS' EXTRAVAGANCE.

JUDGE AND THE COST OF CLOTHES. "I AM SHOCKED.” (Fbou Oub Own Cobeespondskt.i LONDON, November 19. “ The extravagance of modern girls with regard to their clothes is scandalous,” said Judge Crawford, at Wood Green County Court. “ I suppose it is indicative of modern tendencies.” This statement was made during the hearing of a case in which a labourer was sued by a draper for £l3 Bs, the_ balance due for goods supplied to his wife, daughter, and adopted daughter. Counsel for the draper submitted that the articles were necessary and the husband was responsible, although the husband stated that he was not aware of the debts at the time they were contracted. Judge Crawford; The items on the account include gloves, silk stockings, coats, hats, and numerous things for women's needs. Some of these items are scandalous. Fancy a working girl wearing gloves at 4s llfd a pair. Why do drapers charge such prices? The 4s lljd might just as well be ss.

SOCKS AND BRACES. Counsel: I submit that the husband must have been aware of the transactions, as some of the items refer to ties, socks, and braces. Judge Crawford: But women sometimes wear ties.

Counsel; Yes, but they do not wear socks. Do they wear braces? Judge Crawford: I know nothing at all about women’s underwear. What are the items supplied to the daughters ?_ The draper had better mark them with a pencil. The usher then handed one of ttie judge’s pencils to the draper. Judge Crawford: There you are, it has broken before you can use it, you see. That is like all Government stuff. The judge then examined the account, and exclaimed: “I am shocked. It is ridiculous on the part of working people. I am not going to make this working man liable for the debts of the daughters. If they go to work they should pay for their own clothes.” He gave judgment for the draper for £6 6s Id, representing the balance of the claim after the daughters’ debt had been deducted from the total. SIMPLICITY AND SIMPLE EFFECTS. The learned judge, by the way, created - a storm recently by declaring that no one with a salary of only £ISOO ought to drive a motor car, because his means were not sufficient. The resentment felt by motorists, however, at such a sweeping statement pales into insignificance beside the resentment of city girls—and workers among girls—at his view as to the amount they should spend on dress, A woman with considerable experience at working girls’ clubs gave her views thus; . “A working girl is just like any other woman, and can never be too well dressed —though she may be overdressed! The average post-war working girl does not, however, show any tendency to overdress. You only need watch any group of girls to realise that the working girl of to-day hae an excellent sense for the right thing in dress. She is out for simplicity and simple good effects, not ostentation, and if she likes to spend sgns on a coat which is a replica of the costly simplicity of the 50-guinea model worn by her favourite actress, why shouldn’t she? ' “ Isn’t it better for a working girl to give 4s llfd for a pair of gloves and 13s lid for a really charming hat than that she should waste her substance as did the working girls of former years on flamboyant ostrich feathers and rustling suit petticofits? Twenty years ago it was no unusual thing for a working girl to pay several guineas for a massive ostrich feather, while to possess a two-guinea bcfrilled rustling glace silk petticoat was a dear desire, The working girl of to-day spends her dress money more wisely—but proportionately she probably spends no more than did the girl of yesterday. But . she looks different. To all intents and purposes there is very little difference in appearance—whatever the difference in dress bills!—between the working girl and the society debutante, which is really a score for the former. THEN AND NOW.

There arc lots of people who regard the present age as expensive and extravagant, and they always first instance silk stockings and shorn heads, for both require continuous expenditure. In the old days—indeed, less than 20 years ago—tne average citizen of England could buy black cashmere stockings of excellent wear for Is per pair; the more wealthy confessed to the extravagance of ” two-and-eleven-three ” per pair, but only the rich ever saw a real silk stocking. The black cashmere served on every occasion, and the cost was a mere trifle. Nowadays there are “ silk ” stockings of many gradations of quality, price, and tone, and every woman and growing girl wears them. They certainly have to be renewed because none seem to last like the old black woolly ones —but the majority of women fall into line on the score of appearance, and even in winter time they would rather seek warmth by putting on two pairs of silk hose than by venturing out in a pry- of the old homely black cashmere, '.'stes certainly have become a little extravagant, but, again, the effect is so much smarter 9 and more attractive. In past years, too, there was often great neglect of chaussura because there was the fallacious idea that the feet did not matter. But now everyone is neatly shod and lakes a pride in the appearance of the most distant and very important members of the body. Tha rustling-petticoat-with-shabby shoes is & memory of the past. Artificial silk is a comfortable fabric, and it serves many purposes. Greater variety of the wardrobe has gradually come about as the result of. its introduction, and the greater the variety the more one needs to spend. The days of good old white calico for clothing are other memories of thep ast, and people of every station in life demand more attractive " undies,” whose renewal certainly must be made with greater frequency. Comparative extravagance perhaps, but it is all part of the present-day life, no matter what its station, and everyone jn«t buys the dainty things that are offered.