Dress and Look Slender

We cannot all be beautiful but we can give pleasure to ourselves and others by being correctly and pleasingly attired at all times. And it is necessary, too, this keeping always alert, in this day of competition and progressive freedom of women. Your responsibility to look well is greater than ever before. So work, watch, study and persevere and be happy about it. Good health is the greatest essential. And no matter what you weigh, you can, by following the rules given you in this book, look at least 20 to 40 pounds lighter than you are. You can have real fun and keep off any additional weight by your alertness, interest and enthusiasm for looking your “slenderest best” all the time.

Of course, women who are decidedly overweight need to know these rules of slenderizing dress more than those who are only a few pounds above the normal. But in this imperfect world of ours there are few women indeed, no matter how much or how little they may weigh, whose proportions are perfect and satisfactory. Where indeed is the woman or girl who would not like to be a little slimmer here, a little taller there, a little more gracefully proportioned one place or another?

HARMONIOUS PROPORTIONS—THE AIM OF EVERY WOMAN

I cannot be too emphatic in my assertion that the wrong clothes, or even a wrong detail in a costume may mar an entire effect and may indeed create the illusion of ungainliness and dumpiness even in a girl who may be underweight, as far as actual pounds go. Perfect proportions then are the aim of every woman who wants to make the best of herself and I am certain that a careful study of these rules of optical illusion and an intelligent application of them will improve the appearance of every woman.

Nor is it the moneyed woman who is always the best dressed. Far from it indeed. Sometimes it is the shop girl whose few dollars have been wisely and intelligently spent for smartness and becomingness who looks most charming and most distinguished, for since these girls rarely have rich furs and jewels they can more simply and more tellingly emphasize beauty of line and color.

The stout woman improves her position by omission rather than addition. “Every little bit added to what you have makes just a little bit more” is all right for Scotch pennies, but not for one who is working to look 30 or 40 pounds lighter. Be slim by being trim; be attractive by being immaculate; and strive with all your might for grace, ease, and personal charm. Never yield to a misuse of color, line, or fabric. Never give up in your determination to dress for slenderness. You must admit right now that it is far more interesting than diet and much more effective.

And now that you know the rules, study and practice them. Apply them to perfection so that when dressed you will make a picture of loveliness such as all may envy and admire.

Whistler says, “A picture is finished when all trace of the means used to bring about the end has disappeared.

“To say of a picture, as is often said in its praise, that it shows great and earnest labor, is to say that it is incomplete and unfit to view.

“The work of the master reeks not of the sweat of the brow—it suggests no effort.”

So hide the means, let it not be visible to any one that you have deliberately and with intent worked to achieve slenderness in your dress. Only in that way will you really achieve it.

SIMPLICITY IS THE FIRST ESSENTIAL

As you have read and studied this book you have been told many times what not to do. This advice has been repeated so frequently because I have wanted to impress you with the fact that simplicity in dress is the first essential of Youth, Dignity and Slenderness. So to leave out of your costume the offensive coloring, line or trimming is of prime importance.

Here are a few points always to be remembered in planning and designing or in buying clothes for yourself:

Choose fabrics that cling, that are of smooth, soft surface, that are lusterless.

Choose colors that recede—none that “light up” and “advance” in the eye.

Avoid clothes that are too small.

Avoid a tight, short waist line.

Avoid skirts that are too full, too short, or too long.

Use set-in sleeves rather than kimono sleeves unless the arm is very attractive. Then the sleeve must be very short or the dress sleeveless.

And here, finally, are ten chief rules that will help you profit to the utmost by what you have learned from this book and aid you speedily in attaining that slenderized appearance which is your aim:

HERE ARE THE TEN CHIEF RULES IN A NUTSHELL

1. Whenever you make over an old garment or design, have made, or purchase a new one always apply to it the rules of optical illusion as regards line, color, and fabric.

2. When you know what is becoming, try to achieve becomingness in an attractive way, emphasizing as much smartness and youthful charm in your dress as age, circumstances and occasion will allow.

3. Consider what is best for you as an individual. Study your type until you are sure what you can and what you cannot wear—do not try fantastic experiments unless you have unlimited means.

4. Make it a definite rule to assemble your attire and decide on every detail before you begin to dress.

5. Aim always to be refreshing, clean, neat, and carefully groomed.

6. Wear neat, good-looking, perfect fitting shoes appropriate to the size of your feet, and choose trim, sheer stockings that do not contrast too strikingly, if at all, with the color of your costume.

7. Be sure your corsets are right for you and that they surround you comfortably, but do not mold or hold your flesh too tightly. Let your brassiere fit perfectly.

8. Let your slip be of fine, smooth silk or batiste. Have it of the same color as your dress or of a harmonizing shade. Let the bottom edge come a trifle shorter than that of the dress, and be sure it fits you without a wrinkle.

9. When you are dressed, look yourself over carefully in front of your mirror and improve every detail as much as possible. Before the last look or the last dab of powder, consider carefully whether you are overdressed and whether all accessories go together, and especially make certain that you are not overtrimmed with jewelry, necklaces, or knickknacks.

10. Then, when all is done, put on a smile that expresses the finest that is in you, that compliments you for doing your best. And if, to this smile, you add all the kindliness that you can command, all the happiness that you can summon, your friends and your very own folks will declare you charming.