How the Small Woman Should Dress

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 5, Issue 3, 1 September 1926, Page 22

How the Small Woman Should Dress

r I 'he five-foot-nothing woman is, nowadays, decidedly in the minority. Perhaps that is why dress designers do not often seem to consider Iter needs; but she has no reason to feel aggrieved at this, especially if she he young and slim, for she has advantages from the dress point of view which her taller sister does not possess. She can emphasise her individuality in dress much more than a tall woman can, and, besides, she looks her best in all these dainty feminine fripperies in which a tall girl would look ridiculous, she can dress, in short, in a picturesque style. Perhaps it is in her day-time dress that the five-foot-nothing woman finds the most difficulties to encounter. If she has her skirts too short she will, in all probability, look like an undignified schoolgirl of any age from ten to fourteen, and this more especially, if she wears her hair plainly shingled. On the other hand, however, there is a type of short woman who can wear her skirts as short as this season decrees to be the fashion, —and this is an important if —she has not shingled her hair. A r Dainty Type A woman of this type who wears her long, fine, corn-coloured hair done in neat coils over her ears. She is just five feet high, and very, very slim, with exceptionally neat legs and ankles. She takes "twos” in shoes, and has tiny hands, and a pink and white complexion. When dressed in her evening finery she looks exactly like a little pink and white doll. She is not the type of woman who can wear tweeds with large patterns or plaids—in fact, she has to choose her country and outdoor clothes very discreetly; but in her wardrobe is a frock of the type illustrated here. It is a style which is a positive boon to the small woman —not only to the small, slender young woman, but to the short woman who is inclined to be plump. he latter, by the way, must wear skirts longer than arc the skirts depicted in the illustration. A Useful Ensemble ' I 'he little ensemble is made of navy repp, and the gown is relieved at the neck and the wrists with white crepe de chine. The belt is of black patent leather. There are inverted pleats at the front and back of the skirt, to give extra fulness, and there are similar inverted pleats at the back of the cape. The cape would have been even more successful if it bad not bad the deep yoke effect, and perhaps the plump, short woman, in copying the design, would do well to keep this fact in mind.

It is during the warmer months, and in the evenings at all times of the year, that the five-foot woman can look her best. She can deck herself out in picture frocks of muslin, taffetas, and lace. In those dainty little sprigged voiles and flowered chiffons of small designs, she looks charming; her garden party frocks should always be made in picturesque style, and so, for the matter of that, should her evening frocks. Taffetas, for which there is a great vogue, seems to have been a material specially made for the small woman. She can look so sweetly picturesque in it. That type of frock with very full skirts of taffetas and a transparent hem of net suits her exceptionally well. It is a type of frock which is equally becoming to the slim, short woman and the plump, short woman. The latter can wear her skirts as long as she likes, or she can have a long frock which gives the effect of shortness by having the taffeta skirt edged with a very broad, transparent net hem. 'Don't Shingle T Ary tew short women, look * their best with shingled hair. There are exceptions, of course, and this is an age of contradictions; thus we see boyishly cropped locks and picture frocks in the evening, while the picture frock seems to call especially for ringlets and coils of hair. Perhaps that is why so many women are using coils of hair with their shingle in the evening. It may mean that the shingle fashion will die out very soon. Its end has been prophesied for a long time now: hut I do not think it will come yet. It is curious, isn’t it? that women, instead of growing their own hair, should be content to pin false hair to their cropped heads. What to 'Avoid r S 'he short woman should avoid A the present sports fashion for contrasting jumpers and skirts. Her junipers and skirts should match exactly. She should be very careful also in planning out her colour scheme, especially if she happens to he plump. In these circumstances, for ordinary every-day coat and skirt wear cither navy blue or black relieved with white should be her choice. She can indulge her love of colour more freely where her garden party and evening frocks arc concerned but, even then, she should avoid choosing patterned materials unless they are those very dainty-looking printed muslins, voiles and chiffons previously mentioned, with tiny floral designs which can he -made up in picturesque style.