Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1901 — American Women and Dress. [ARTICLE]

American Women and Dress.

The views on “The American Woman and Dress,” expressed by Helen Watterson hfoody, in the Ladles’ Home Journal, are based on the marked difference In the way the different nationalities of women visitors at the Paris Exposition last summer treated the problem of clothes. The English women were gowned with the utmost regard for utility and comfort. The American and French women appeared in toilettes of silk and satin and lace which properly had no place whatever In the exposition grounds. But while the French women’s clothes were as beautiful as the American women’s, and fuller of that Indescribable charm called style, they were not nearly so costly. The cost of dressing grows greater every year, and the shifts of fashion are prompter and more imperative. Where the English woman goes plainly dressed with a serene mind tbs American woman “keeps up with ths fashion,” but lines her face with anxious thought as to how it shall aU be managed. Our last season’s gowns, perfectly fresh and Just as pretty and suitable as ever, are altered and recut and retrimmed at the cost of many dollars and much time and hard work, not because {hey |t not because we want to, either, but simply Because Mrs. Wood across th? way, and Mys. Pope in the next street, are' doing ths same thing—and they are doing ft because we are! The truth Is, we American women not only lay too much emphasis upon dress, so that it takes quite too prominent a place in our scheme of life, but we also spend too much money on dress.