We already have uniforms for women, apart from the fashions, uniforms
which never change: those of the nurse, the nun, the parlor-maid, the
tea-girl. We have national costumes, Dutch, Swiss, Irish, Japanese,
Italian; we have drill suits and sports dresses. And they are not ugly.
All these uniformed women have as good a chance of marriage as any
others, and her ladyship gains as many proposals on the golf links as at
night on the terrace. I would suggest that women should have two or
three uniforms of a kind to be decided, which would never change, and, I
repeat, they need not be ugly uniforms.
Men's uniforms are not ugly; I would any day exchange my lounge suit for
the uniform of a guardsman--if I might wear it. In this "if" is the
essence of the whole idea, the whole practicability of it. Men wear
uniform, that is to say lounge suits in certain circumstances, morning
coats in others, evening clothes in yet others. They never vary. We are
told that they vary. Tailors show new suitings, the papers print
articles about men's fashions, and perhaps a button is added or a lapel
is lengthened, and that is all. Nobody cares. Men follow no fashions so
far as the fable of men's fashions is true; they dare not do so, because
to do so serves them ill in society. A man who dares to break through
the uniform idea of his sex is generally dubbed a "bounder"; if he is
one of the very young, fancy-socked, extreme-collared kind, people smile
and say, "It'll wear off with time." And women, who tolerate the dandies
at tea-time, love the others.
The uniform would have to be brought in by a group of leaders of fashion
determined to abolish fashion. I could sketch a dozen uniforms, but
women would make a great to-do, forgetting that most fashions are
created by men, so I will confine myself to timid suggestions.
1. For general outdoor wear the coat and skirt is the best, together
with a blouse. Lace and insertion should be abandoned, and I feel that
the skirt is too long for walking; sometimes it is certainly too tight
to enable a woman to get into an omnibus or railway carriage gracefully.
Probable price, complete, $50.
2. For summer wear, a plain blouse and skirt; not the atrocious blouse
ending at the belt, but the beautiful tunic-blouse that falls over the
hips. Both blouse and skirt would need to be made of a permanently
fixed, plain, and uni-colored material. Total cost, $25.
3. If the skirt were shortened, leggings, gaiters, and stockings would
have to be standardized; the shoe buckle, being too costly, would
disappear.
4. A fixed type of hat, without feathers or aigrettes, made in straw and
trimmed with flowers; produced in scores of thousands, it ought not to
cost more than $2.50.
5. A fixed type of evening gown, price $24 or $32, without any lace or
trimmings, sequins, paillettes; without overlays of flimsies of any
kind; no voile, no chiffon, no tulle, no muslin, but a stuff of good
quality, hanging in straight folds. Jewelry to be banned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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