Salt Lake Telegram | 1937-07-13 | Page 6 | Marlene is Right

Amelia Bloomer emerged as the first sophisticated sophisti-cated woman to dare to appear in public wearing an outer garment (or what used to be called limbs, consisting of two more or lex cylindrical parts joined about midway between north and south into a more expansive and accommodating portion ending at the waist in fewer words, bloomers, carrying her name and fame 'round the , wnrld. Her outfit was something of a cross between pair of trousers and a circus tent. Iu billowy pints legs came to the ankle. It was a daring -and shocking creation in its day. Amelia was denounce! and thundered at. She stuck to her guns, inquiring how a woman could be expected to be active in the tripie-petticoated dust-mops vhat went by the name of skirts in those days; and in the slow progress of the years woman's light to dress as she pleases has been won. Amelia was a forthright American female who established the great tradition of feminine independence. Carrie Nation was another. She saw in the gin mill a blight and a disgrace; and instead of protesting gently that something ought to be done, she grabbed her hatchet and went out and did it. So it was with Susan B. Anthony, who went out into the highways and byways for women's rights as citizens. Frances Willard was another sprig off the same tree, and so was Harriet Har-riet Beecher Stowe. Now comes Marlene with fitting suggestions about fits and the fitness of things. On the centennial cen-tennial of Amelia Bloomer's bloomers, they may be regarded as timely, and calculated to make sightseeing more intriguing than amusing yea, even amazing. , Marlene Is Right NOT ALL tbe sight to be seen may be taken in on a sightseeing bus. The sidewalks, highways and byways provide daily evidence. That, undoubtedly, was what prompted Marlene Dietrich to remark the other day, but in nicer words, that pants for women are a sight when the woman's shape calls for anything but the bifurcated bifur-cated garment, or when sartorial art falls short of taking full advantage of what opportunities are present in line, curve and certain circumferences. circumfer-ences. In short, a food fit is not everything. What is fitted is also important to the beholder as well as to the occupant of the pants. A word might be said about the cloth. What makes charming sofa pillows, bright drspes, cheering awnings, serviceable bedtk-ks or sheer and graceful blouses is not necessarily the most appropriate material for pants, trousers, slacks or culottes. In the fabricated article a viewed In public places the thought is often inescapable that -the magnitude cf the wearer is quite out of keeping with the amplitude of the garment or quite the vice versa. In the latter, case curvaceous enticement entice-ment usually surrenders to angular prominences and an appearance of undernourishment These observations upon architecture and housing are prompted not so much by Marlenc's remark as by the fact that 100 year ago one