=Criticize your own garments.= Try to have them neat and clean, for this makes one more self-respecting. Try to have your clothes convenient, neat, graceful, beautiful, allowing for free movements of the body. Choose something which is not overdecorated but which will emphasize your charm and personality. Young girls do not need jewelry or much decoration on clothes, for youth is always charming in itself. Some girls try to copy every "latest style." Do you? One should not unless it is a style which will suit one. Cousin Ann heard a talk at the Young Women's Christian Association one night. It was on simplicity of dress. The speaker was from a large department store in Paterson where Ann lives, and she gave Ann some new ideas about dress. She said simplicity is not necessarily plainness, but it means being so intelligent that one knows what to leave off in the way of decoration. She said being well dressed is knowing what to omit. She also said that trimmings and ornaments without reason are foolish and spoil a gown. Because one bow looks well it does not follow that ten will improve one's appearance. So many girls are really caricatures. They wear every exaggerated thing and many things which are not refined, as the very low neck, or the very scant or transparent skirt. This is not beauty of dress, but very bad and vulgar taste. The speaker said that "beauty of costume is not necessarily the result of costliness, but of artistic appreciation." Cousin Ann said several of the members of her sewing club were at this lecture, and they decided to ask Miss Willing, who leads their club, to talk about "artistic appreciation." Cousin Ann said she did not quite understand what the speaker meant. This is what Miss Willing told the girls, and then they understood perfectly. Perhaps you would like to know, too. =A costume is a work of art.= She said we must think of our costumes as being works of art. Every girl has a style of her own, and she should study it and dress so as to bring out all her good points and conceal those not so attractive. One's hair or eyes should be considered in choosing color. Stooped or narrow shoulders, if they cannot be corrected, can be made to look less narrow by the plan of the gown. Stout figures can be made to look less stout. So by choosing the right colors and correct decoration and right lines, one can often improve one's appearance. Miss Willing says to understand about this is to have what the speaker at the Young Women's Christian Association called "artistic appreciation." One should cultivate artistic appreciation for good furnishings as well as for appropriate dress. Miss Willing told the girls another evening about color and good lines, for they are all so anxious to learn. They never even imagined before that any one ever thought about such things. Marjorie Allen and the other girls at Pleasant Valley School are very glad Cousin Ann told them too.