Passing to the other extreme of the body, our tight hats should be
condemned. Hats should be as light as possible and should not be so
tight as to interfere with the circulation of the scalp. Many bald
headed men owe their loss of hair to tight hats. The stiff collars worn
everywhere at the present time mar the natural contour of the neck,
make an erect position more difficult, and are one cause of the round
shoulders that are so common everywhere to-day. The suspenders worn by
men have also an influence of this sort. They are inclined to pull the
shoulders forward and make it more difficult to maintain an erect
position. The flat-chested man will not feel his suspenders, but the man
with a full round chest, properly carried, is under continuous
pressure from his suspenders.
If I were to select an ideal costume for men I am inclined to think that
I would go back to the Roman toga, to the flowing drapery of the
Greeks, or to the Scottish kilt. The kilt is undoubtedly better suited
than the robe to the colder weather of Northern Europe and America.
These costumes not only allow a reasonable amount of freedom for all
bodily movements, encouraging rather than discouraging the correct
position of the body, but they also allow free circulation of air to
the central portions of the body. As a hygienic feature this is of
tremendous value. The air coming in contact with the skin is of value
at all times, but it is especially required in these important parts of
the bodily organism. Many weaknesses are brought about through the
unhealthful covering and restriction of these parts. Trousers are not
by any means an ideal garment. To be sure, they are a vast
improvement over the long skirt, but they are not by any means equal in
healthfulness to the costume of the Scottish Highlanders.
In feminine apparel corsets are perhaps productive of more injury than
any other part of the costume. The injury wrought by tight lacing is
now everywhere understood, and in recent years large waists have become
stylish. This tendency of the times will ultimately mean the elimination
of the corset.
When fully clothed we should have the same freedom of movement as when
unclothed. The most perfect costume is our "birthday clothing,"
the clothing with which we came into the world, the human skin. To be
sure, in cold climates bodily covering is necessary for warmth a part
of the year, though in warm climates, or warm seasons, the more nearly
we avoid restrictive apparel, the more happy and more healthy we are.
The ideal costume in warm weather, therefore, would be no costume, but
conventions demand that we cover our nakedness, and this command should
be followed in a manner that will restrain our movements as little as
possible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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