Show A DRESS REFORM r that is the topic be B fore the council sly OUT tissa KITUS ULE they have become fashionable Fa sidon in many parts odthe of the country A report keport BOSTON BOSTO mass ass dec 3 special A subject very close to the hearts of womankind that of dress reform beform engrossed engross d today the attention of the delegates to tho national council of women of the united states it came up in in the form of a report from the national 1 dress committee and which was presented by the chairman mrs A nute annie white johnson of chicago it 16 act forth that increasing interest in the tha movement to secure more rational arr i 3 for women vo exi is ia attested by the constant demands for assistance which come f ta the committee committed from all carts of tt tl i country and from foreign parts as aa wel I 1 on the atlantic coast the progress f e tho the movement is most encouraging from a practical standpoint the popularity of jhb short skirl skin with or without leeg leedings ings has haa been ve very y noticeable this season and it has be brought into use by women who do c n ride the bicycle are also eigo that the hard waist line a 3 vanishing and that gowns that hang hana from the shoulder ard ara coming into favor for other occasions than five teas on the coast vi ft omen can now wear wheel costumes without attention or adverse criticism in thos portions of the northwest of which st paul and minneapolis are the center the committee says that the bicycle has made short skirts eo common that those who year near the cos costume tunie for walking aba at tract no attention in brooklyn a womans comans dab club hr api 1 adopted a rainy day dav drees with th skirt skirl live five inches from the ground and intend to binau inaugurate u rate a reform in aj dresses intended for street wear ia which the skirts will clear the ground by at least three inches the report went on to say sav that there are other signs of the times that after ten years of agitation azita tion inspire hope and fresh courage and indicate that the old slavish adherence to fashion is ia being overcome allusion was made to the injury done to 0 women by tight lacing in addition the report stated that still another in di cation of advancement was the successful resistance women have made to the abortive attempts ot of dictators and the manufacturers to establish another reign of crinoline season after season seass 11 there had been published publiA ed announcements that hoops would surely again bo be worn dutt but fa a plans of the enemies of womans comans independence had bad been frus rated by the bold declaration of the women themselves that they will rot cot don aon this worse than barbarous article of dress the report of tho the committee concluded in this form concerted action is really all that is needed to inaugurate a decided change what the bicyclers hay hav eone edone for themselves we can do for ourselves in ia time it we so dr determine termine we are not trying to foist ugly ill shaped garments gar merits upon women in the name of reform rational dress has been assumed to be the synonym for ugly dress as if beauty were not rational too tao much stress cannot be laid upon this point the dress committee commit tea does not champion a movement which seeks to 6 destroy the aesthetic sense neither do we under value the import importance anco 04 0 tasteful and bee becs becoming ming dress indeed our demand for reform is mads made in of the aesthetic but let us no not V be misunderstood and charged with mistaking means for an end it is not art for arts F ake fake not beauty for beautys not dress fox foi dress dreas sake for which we are working our aim is to remove all those physical and moral conditi conditions ors engendered by irrational dress dreas which have helped to arrest the development of women we should clothe them not less lees beautifully but more artistically not less carefully but with the minimum of expenditure consonant with success in the way of time money and nervous strength |