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Show j II FRENCH fiS I LEADERS OF 1 FfiSHION -HI DV MARGUERITE B WILLIAMS. 7 mm In ho coatumo paKQ of a large dally lu tbe French as loadors of faahlon were vim diseased. While no one would qucs-Um qucs-Um Hon that the French genius in design-fBV design-fBV mg costume qualifies them to be leaders of fashion, yet In these times when the old established things are 'i : hmg way to the new and practical 1, we wender whether the god of fashion i v Ill conMnue to rule us with an Iron hand as in the pant and whether we - are as ready to fall victims to every whim that she dictates. We have f been told that changes of fashion were '; necessary that poor dressmakers could ;: make a living. This is the same kind ; of argument that used to be put for-; for-; ward for the continuance of the sa-loon, sa-loon, that wo need the money from I their licenses to run our schools. For-; For-; tunately the war has clarified the air of come of these old fashioned ideas and wo now know that the dressmak-' dressmak-' ers as well aa the saloonkeepers have i had to adjust themselves to new con-! con-! ditions. : The greatest force that will free the ; woman of the future from the slave of fashion is the instruction now being ! given in schools to educate girls to de- ', sign their own costumes. One of the J) ; pioneer teachers in thiswork. Miss Ksfclle Izor, believes that girls should analjse themselves carefully in a full length mirror and search for their ; good points and their defects. A girl Is taught to study herself In the same' Impersonal manner and spirit that 9 she studies .another person of a for-, for-, clgn object that she intends to draw, and she makes drawings of herself,! ., both front and back views. Furthermore, Further-more, she is taught the principles of iff good design and learns something of jjl. the history of costume. IW In her practical little book on "Cos- 0 tunic Design" Miss Izor sums up the ; whole subject very well when she ' 1 ; pays "When dresses are designed , J with lines thus accenting the grace- ! I ful contours of the body; when they' . are fashioned in obedience to prlnci-1 ? : pics of an and express originality in 1 ff ) design vilion they utilize colors that enhance and enrich the complexion S 1 and add to the harmony of the whole, jj ': then women and girls will be content-i' content-i' ' cd with what Is permanently beautiful I ,' and will cease to follow every fleeting change and fashion." ( When Idea such as these reach; every schoolgirl, or some rudimentary ' knowledge -along these lines comes to i thom before they leave school to work, then the power of Dame Fashion j : will wane. Perhaps the French in j the great interchange of ideas which even now has begun to take place be- tween us will assist in bringing about i ; theso results. No doubt French ! dressmakers and costume designers 1 will find their way to our shores In j greater numbers and our students of costume design will bo going over there to learn from them. If wo as a people are to express ourselves In our art, we should cultivate the art of dross as much as any other of the applied arts. -Though we may have been guilty in the past of blindly accepting ac-cepting fashions set down for us by Paris or adapting what they have originated or-iginated to our own uses, our sense of nationalism and pride In our own , artists are now betting too strong to permit us to go on doing this forever. |