The present-day attitude seems to be one of dissatisfaction, spreading to women of every class. Once it was said that it was only the college woman who was not satisfied to live an aimless existence under the protection of her family—but the revolt going on in the British aristocracy against the useless lives of women proves that this is no longer true. The producer of the famous plays of the Oxford University Dramatic Society considers this unrest a tragedy, and save "There really is not room enough for them all on the stage however capable they may be." But. there is room in other professional callings.
Take, for example, the field of fashion. It was formerly presided over by a few men in France. Today women in Europe and America are originating fashions that compare very favourably with models of Redfern, Worth, and others.
Tae Listits oF Fasnion-
Fashion expresses the changes of life. It can express politics, religion, the degree to which a nation has cultivated its art sense, etc., but fashion as a whole cannot express individuality. It must take on a general expression and define the period in which it is made. I believe this is the reason why women of the past have not become as great dressmakers as men. The average woman has a capacity for detail and can do one thing well, consequently she has been able to clothe the individual. But in order to clothe a nation, or if, I may say, a period of time, is tically, she must have broad vision and the ability to generalize.
When Worth designs anything it can be adapted and readapted. It can go through an everlasting line of change until one can scarcely recognize it, but this very evolution stamps it as a masterpiece, when considering a fashion. Imagine the design of the average dressmaker lending itself to many changes!
I have been in a number of "ex-elusive" shops in Europe and America, where ''we have no two frocks alike" and I have studied closely the line of demarention, how it: winds. curves, straightens abruptly. and gives itself to the charming modifications of one original design—but the original is vaguely apparent always. The man or woman who designed the original was artist.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.