SITTING PRETTY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4220, 6 December 1939, Page 4

SITTING PRETTY

AN ART AI.L WOMEN SHOULD LEARN. Some people are lucky enough to be naturally graceful, but on looking around I believe that they are very much in the majority. Just a few women drop into naturally graceful positions when they sit down, but the majority hunch themselves up like humpty-dumpties. It strikes me as being a very great pity that women are not more careful about the way they sit. We all want to be as awmcdyUl possible, but what is the good of spending time and trouble on hair, skin, clothes, etc., if whenever we sit down we drop into a shapeless heap, thus spoiling the entire effect? Quite apart from the fact that good deportment holds enormous charm in itself, there is a very narrow margin between bad deportment and bad manners.

I remember an incident which took place just after I left school. A girl friend of mine was incited to stay for the week-end. She was older than I, and I thought her very smart and attractive, just what I myself would have liked to have been, in fact. I was tremendously anxious for my family to like her, but, alas, her visit was not a success. There was a slightly chilly feeling in the atmosphere right from the start, and it was quite evident that my mother took a poor view of my treasured girl friend. Finally I tackled her on the subject. “Well, darling,” she said, “I suppose I’m old fashioned, but I simply cannot bear people who lounge about the house as if they owned it. That girl sits all of a headp, even at meal times and though I’m sure she’s very nice, I do think it’s dreadfully putting off. That made me think. It is putting off, and not only to mothers either. Boy friends notice deportment tremendously. Employers notice it even more.. So practice keeping your head up with your chin level, your back straight and flat. Walk from the hips, keeping your chest up. Don’t lean backwards from the waist; you don’t want to overdo a good thing and look stiff and pokerish. Now the question of sitting. If you are one of the many who like to sit with your legs apart and your skirts pulled up over your knees, do try to remember that you certainly are not looking your best in this position. Sit down easily and with control, don’t plump. Cross your legs and stow them neatly away to one side of your ; chair.

Remember that your legs show more than usual when you are sitting down, and if you want to look your best at all times, you will see that your stockings are neat and trimly suspended, the seams straight and the ankles free from wrinkles. This is equally important whether your legs are your best point or your worst. If they are good, you want to make the most of them; if they are bad you will want them to attract as little at-

tention as posible. Therefore your stockings should be neither too dark nor too light, for either fault will be sure to catch the eye. For summer a soft shade of tan is the most becoming colour, for winter a brownish shade which has a tint of grey in it. You will, of course, need a lighter colour for evening wear, but I advise you to buy all your day stockings of the same make and in the same shade. It is far more economical for you can match up the pairs as they wear out.