Another safe rule was never to place together colors differing widely in hue. The eye experienced a difficulty in accommodating itself to sudden changes, and a species of color discord was the consequence. But if the colors, even though primaries, were of some very dark or very light shade, they become harmonious. All very dark shades of color went well with black and with each other, and all very light shades went well with white and each other. A much-vexed question with ladies was, "What will suit my complexion?" The generally received opinion was that the complexion was pink, either light or dark, and colors were chosen accordingly, working dire confusion. But no one living ever had a pink complexion unless a painted one. The dolls in the Lowther Arcade were pink, and their pink dresses were in harmony. No natural complexion whatever was improved by pink; but gray would go with any. The tendency of gray was to give prominence to the dominant hue in the complexion. When an artist wished to produce flesh color he mixed white, light red, yellow ocher, and terra vert. The skin of a fair person was a gray light red, tinged with green; the color that would brighten and intensify it most was a gray light sea green, tinged with pink--in other words, its complementary. A color always subtracted any similar color that might exist in combination near it. Thus red beside orange altered it to yellow; blue beside pink altered it to cerise. Hence, if a person was so unfortunate as to have a muddy complexion, the worst color they could wear would be their own complexion's complementary--the best would be mud color, for it would clear their complexion. Passing on to the consideration of form in costume, the lecturer urged that the proper function of dress was to drape the human figure without disguising or burlesquing it. An illustration of Miss Mary Anderson, attired in a Greek dress as Parthenia, was exhibited, and the lecturer observed that while the dress once worn by Greek women was unequaled for elegance, Greek women were not in the habit of tying their skirts in knots round the knees, and the nervous pose of the toes suggested a more habitual acquaintance with shoes and stockings. An enlargement from a drawing by Walter Crane was shown as illustrating the principles of artistic and natural costume--costume which permitted the waist to be the normal size, and allowed the drapery to fall in natural folds--costume which knew nothing of pleats and flounces, stays and "improvers"--costume which was very symbolization and embodiment of womanly grace and modesty. A life-sized enlargement of a fashion plate from _Myra's Journal_, dated June 1, 1882, was next shown. The circumference of the waist was but 12¾ in., involving an utter exclusion of the liver from that part of the organization, and the attitude was worthy of a costume which was the _ne plus ultra_ of formal ugliness.