Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 171, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1918 — WELL-PAID WOMEN BUY NEW CLOTHES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WELL-PAID WOMEN BUY NEW CLOTHES

New York.—A wounded Anzac bad come to America to lecture. He bore some honorable scars on his body, which were symbolized by stripes on his arm. A woman touched the stripes and asked what were his worst wounds. He described one, which was a e'ean hole made by a bullet. In his Informal Anzac manner, he asked if she would like to see it. She would. So would everyone else at the luncheon. So he showed her the bullet hole below the collar bone. > , . < “How very disappointing!” she exclaimed. “I expected a great gash.” The Anzac buttoned his collar thoughtfully, and turning to the table said: “Now, I ask you, what are we going to do, with women if they begin to expect so much of men in this war?” And what will they do with them? Men have begun to expect so much of themselves, that % the situation is the most vitally interesting thing onthisplanet, next to the war, observes a distinguished fashion writer. Women are gaining so much more by this war than they ever demanded, that many are puzzled and some are nearhysterical. Once we were a contented race; then we became an unquiet sex; then we became a restless force; and then we became a militant power. Those with the keenest visions saw ahead of them a long They outlined the propaganda of self-educa-tion for women; they lectured to men and of men concerning what we should have in the way of industry and commercial opportunity. Whenever men said that we were not sufficiently educated to take over the commercial burdens of the world, we retorted that we would never be educated if we did not begin to study. Women Spend More Money. • Of one thing the prophets are sure; that women, making money, will spend more. Not having to ask for it, they will cease to be petulant about it. When a woman knows there are three thousand jobs open to her and that she can command as good a salary as the man she sent to war, she is not going to be niggardly about getting new clothes, enjoying herself and refurnishing her house. Human nature never changes, no matter what else changes on this planet, and spending will be a woman’s antidote to hard work. If she has been repressed in the matter of buying attractive things for the house or for her body, she will go out and gorge herself on those things when the first freedom from debt gives her a buoyant feeling of happiness. The business of feminine apparel should always have been attended to by women, not men. This channel of activity is being directed to its right

course. A million or more men on this continent, who are mixed up In women’s apparel, will have to give up their places to women, who have an instinctive knowledge of what other women want, and do not want. With training, which will give them a cool head, a smooth tongue and the ambition to rise, they will make admirable clerks, floorwalkers, heads of departments, buyers and shopkeepers. It is toward the apparel business that they are rapidly drifting. That is their desire, and all their preliminary training of the centuries has fitted them for this particular sector of industry. -Being in the business, they will spend more money on clothes, and they will influence the expenditures of other women. This is the situation which all seri-ous-minded women realize and which will probably dominate the country before peace is concluded. It is useless to tell women that they must not buy clothes. Thg reformers

mean well, but they are planting seed on barren soil. There must be some pleasure in this world, or we would all go mad with' the pain and anxiety of it and if you ask three million women to work for their living, you must give them the chance to deck themselves out in a bit of gay plumage and go out and- eat and laugh; otherwise, they will become useless for all service, patriotic or industrial. Demand for Evening Clothes. Let me tell you an odd thing about this development of women’s work, which has been brought about not only

through their service. in paying positions, but in war relief w’ork. It is the growing demand for evening clothes by women who have heretofore never indulged in them. We are only following in the footsteps of human nature as it has asserted itself in France and England during the last eighteen months. Paris has shown an extraordinary Interest in this development, and the London thinkers and merchants have found it to be an engrossing by-product of the war. Evening dress has always been a thing for the luxurious. It has been indulged in by those whose lives were more or less given to leisure. Millions of W’omen have not considered it necessary to change their somber street clothes into low or half-low, fragile ones for the evening meal or evening gayeties. The street suit, with a few changes, has served during the waking hours. The shirtwaist and sport skirt have filled in the rest Of the service needed. But this condition no longer exists in Europe, and it has changed in America in the twinkling of an eye. Why? Women have more money ; they have more opportunities; industry, charity, war relief, hospital service and committee work have brought women from the depths of social obscurity Into hourly contact W’ith those who lead fashions and live leisurely lives. All of this has lifted the art of dress instead of degrading it. It enlivens life; it brightens the prospect of our sacrifices; it is a light to our endurance. There were days when a woman used her motor coat for any chance evening gayety. Today she is asking for one of the vast assemblage of evening capes that the shops and dressmakers offer to this new type of buyer. These new wraps have extraordinary charm. They are figured, whereas they used to be solid. They are lavishly trimmed with fur, regardless of summer weather. Chiffon, in great Dresden patterns, is used over silver or gold metallic cloth, or a lining of plain satin. Dark colors are chosen, as well as light The two new blues, "Liberty” and “Blue Devil,” are chosen in crepe or chiffon that has an immense pink, scarlet or white and yellow flower on it. There are other wraps made of Dolly Varden, flowered white chiffon which are lined with lace, with mauve or pink chiffon as an interlining. (Copyright, 1918, by the McClure Newspar per Syndicate.)

Black satin, tulle and lace. There is a long tunic, which starts .with a pointed bodice built of the satin and swings free over a tight petticoat of black Chantilly lace. There is a shawl of black tulle, which stands well away from the shoulders and reaches to the elbows.

This gown is of mauve and yellow-flg-ured taffeta cut as a paneled tunio over a skirt of mauve-colored plaited chiffon. The bodice is cut in the new indefinite fashion', With elbow sleeves showing ruffles of chiffon.