Show M 9 4 W 1 ib A irl vp I 1 F t pt 41 4 kj T t ita A tk ua A 9 14 R tre two r K V N A ea pal 1 r are 07 on Z ZM avents aviata viata hy 6 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON S annual enster easter dress parade Is staged in every city find and town in the hie united states on march 81 which Is the date of easter this ibis year it Is estimated by experts in the united states department ot of commerce that an investment of somewhere between and in fine raiment will till have been displayed by the ric richest test nation on earth on the two idress dress up days of palm sunday and and easter sunday what Is 13 the meaning of all tills this lavish showing of clothing aud and millinery the simplest answer is to point to the fundamental facts about raster caster and see how those facts can be related to a development which often seems inconsistent with the real spirit of caster the essential idea of easter Is shared by christian and pagan alike it Is the idea of resurrection of revived life after apparent death it marks the climax of the year when all nature awakes from sleep throws off the deathlike death like chill of winter and begins to live lire anew with all nature pointing the way by be decking herself lu in nt mw ral raiment ment it Is only natural that mankind should also celebrate the surge of renewed life by putting on now new apparel so when milady appears at church on easter sunday in a new frock and a new hat it Is not mere human vanity expressing itself she puts them on because she must she has responded to the fundamental instinct by responding r thus to the call of spring to the message of renewed life there Is an old fid british tradition that it Is g good luck to wear something new on castor day but that is a mere outgrowth of the essen bial idea of the Eister eastertide tide all of which Is a simple and entirely logical reason for the feminine display of new clothes on raster easter day put but it Is by no means a complete explanation for it does not tell why there has developed in this country on an expensive method of satisfying the primal spring urge nor why such a colossal sum Is spent on women Is clothing at this season despite tile the fact that their clothing Is as scanty it if not sc scantier antler than evar before if the easter easier dress parade was entirely in keeping with the traditional idea of wearing something new on raster easter dry day it would lie a parade of new clothes which might be she as well as nei but the fact Is eliat it lias has become an exhibition of national opulence and as such apparently more emphasis Is being laid upon the word expensive than upon the word new in these days when the psychologists have an explanation for everything we do think and feel tt it may be well to go to those learned gentlemen for an explanation of the raster easter dress parade it if you do that they will tell you that in order to arrive at on an understanding of the psychological problem of clothing you must go back to the orl origins ins and taki take into account four important theories as to those origins they are as follows first the modesty theory tills this theory familiar from the legend of tile the carden of eden holds that clothing was originally donned to conceal from a sense of shame modesty or embarrassment second the immodesty theory this maintains that the purpose of clothing in the beginning was to make the lie wearer a greater object of In interest tererA to the opposite sex this Is the doctrine that familiarity breeds indifference and that concealment increases interest third the theory that clothing begins begin S in the desire to attract attention or secure preeminence pre eminence the primitive clothing on this theory Is con for ornamentation fourth the utility or protection theory the supposition that clothing had its origin in attempts to protect the body from injurious or unpleasant features of the environment would seem to be the most obvious one but for various reasons has had little standing among tho the anthropological theorists it Is easy to see that neither the first second nor fourth theories in regard to clothing Is an adequate explanation for the faster easter pa parade it if naione of the four con can be logically applied it must be the third the theory I 1 hat the raster linster particle parade Is to attract attention or secure pre emli ence especial since the primitive clothing cloth lug on ahli theory is conspicuous for ornament athill 1 however before assuming that this theory Is the final explanation of miladys desire for n new w raiment lit at easter time li it may buy le be well to hiar hi ar a discussion of thee blics e theories by iy ay one on of the of tin the country or dr kulsht I 1 N J fly 4 06 3 ur ke y 24 in holland above Abo the photograph was made on easter sunday 1915 S fourteen years ago the world was steeped in the blood of war but when eastertide came around thoughts turned to dress and fashion to the glory not of the battlefield but of the easter parade fifth avenue the mart of fashion witnessed a queer procession that easter sunday motor cars were then first attaining real notice true the streamline body had not yet made its appear ance but horses no longer snorted and stamped when a car chugged past in the parade those on the sidewalks no longer stared at the peculiar horseless contraptions dresses were long very long and petticoats were bulky hats hate were bg gaily decorated with feathers women wore high shoes then and gaiters callers or spats were the fashion fur neckpieces neck pieces were all sizes and women carried large and roomy muffs a relic scarcely seen these days A brief span in the time of the world fourteen years but see the difference in the trend of bashion fashion when society parades on fifth avenue or in any other city this coming easter sunday then look at this picture it was made only fourteen years ago but one might well believe it was taken thirty years ago the world does move fast below on this day the children carry little statues of birds made out of pastry they go from house to house and collect coins dunlap of 0 johns dopkins university ile he says the modesty theory has probably had the greatest vogue in modern civilization through its having crept into popular religion and so having been connected with moral prejudices eve and her fig loaves leaves still till trouble popular moralists mora lists and bob up ap in police regulations it may sound merely facetious but it Is both metaphorically and literally true to say that every time woman shortens her skirts the moralists mora lists shiver yet this Is not the only way in which she has frightened them with her clothes some years ago shoulder puffs and baggy sleeves were denounced as aa indecent and ungodly un codly the shudders over the one piece bathing suit have not yet subsided in spite of the valiant missionary work of mack sennett that bobbing the hair daunted Inde indecency vency threatened the foundations of 0 morality and endangered the sanctity of 0 the home even the college freshman can remember he fie probably does not know however that not many years ago putting up the hair on top of the head was also looked upon with fear and indignation the alie obvious failures of regulatory measures in the past and the equally obvious certainty that it if women decide to discard clothing entirely they will do so in spite of select mens ordinances and the protests of clergy and press seem been to convey no lesson to the weaker eaker brethren As a matter of observable fact the connection between clothing and modesty Is a simple one any degree of clothing including complete nudity Is perfectly modest as soon as wo we become thoroughly accustomed to it conversely any change in clothing suddenly effected may be immodest if it Is of uch such it a nature as to be conspicuous it Is merely th the breaking of the established convention which makes it immodest the first and second theories go down together there Is today no reasonable doubt that clothing his nothing intrinsically to do with modesty or immodesty the third theory the theory of adornment Is perplexing it involves the curious assumption that adornment Is self explanatory the theorists otter offer more or less ague amplifications of the conception of adornment in terms of extension of personality sona lity 11 aggrandizement and so on but whon when their phraseology Is sifted down to matter of farl fact statements they have really nothing to otter offer except excel t the assumption that clothing Is worn to make thi the th i wearer conspicuous we may grant the ills human tendency to seek leek the limelight the desire for preeminence pre pro eminence and we moy may grant the influence of this thin in the development of clothing and adornment dut but that conspicuousness Is attained by adornment when every member of the group wears the same attire or ornaments can not be granted it if the simple desire tor for conspicuousness were operating the individual who should omit the ornament would bo be the most successful she would in fact be tile the most conspicuous but the she do it it I 1 reasonable to conclude that there Is 13 a rca son back of 0 the adorning that ornament Is not a simple instinctive product requiring no esplan explanation but that it requires to be explained along alone wl with t ab clothing the fourth theory which maintains that clothing was introduced primarily for purposes of protection has been in disfavor dlo die tavor favor because it has not beer been easy to see how the most typical primitive clothing really affords any protection tho the costume ol of the eskimo protects from cold heavy skin cloake or kar of other peoples are worn to krotec from rain and cold sandals leggings arm bandaged ban dasef and similar paraphernalia are undoubtedly developed as protection from stones thorns and brambles but these are really minor details in the development of dress for most savages and probably tor for prim primitive etive man protection against cold Is only an occasional matter and many races make no effort to p protect ro tee themselves by clothing even though inhabiting climates where cold Is encountered and yet these races develop clothing of a characteristic sort sandals leggings and arm protectors too are incidental ci put on and discarded in conformity with the occupations of the savages costume exist quite aside from these forms of protection and apparently ly was developed before these the most characteristic types of costume of savage age races types which are believed to be truly primitive are really represented by the fig leaves of the babylonian legend skirts and aprons apron a of t grass and leaves bunches of leaves give no protection from cord neither do they protect from thorns and brambles or to any great extent from the sun why then have these types of clothing been so widely and primitively developed if not tor for concealment from the eyes of other people the tact fact that the peoples who wear these garments put no emphasis on concealment but of al times discard the garments completely nod and the tact fact that where here there Is a costume which cannal be discarded discard cd in public it Is apt to be some non conceals conc conce cali all ng article such as a string of beads around the baila dispose of these explanations and apparently leave nothing but the unsatisfactory adornment theory in the held field man blan has a group croup of adversaries from whom protection Is an acute need especially in the warmer climates in which man undoubtedly originated and in which large groups of savages live today the origin of clothing properly so eo called can thon then be ascribed to the human need for protection protects 0 n from unpleasant agencies although other factors have entered into its further development so there you arel judging from this psychologists remarks on the third theory of tb the origin of clothing not even this ono may be applied to the faster fashion parade at least it cant be done so 10 lo logically I cally then how bow account for it Per perhaps hapit after all the easiest way to account for it Is to my bay that milady lias has ninde made the easter parade a nasonal nu lonal institution because slie she wants to As aa for the logic of it well tile she have to be logical li ea unless sliu she Narit 3 to does she |