Part 2

The envelope chemise and knickerbockers are very comfortable undergarments and are quite popular with most young girls of today. They may be made most attractive when soft dainty materials are used and the needlework is carefully executed. These garments should be kept quite simple. If lace is used it should be in limited quantities and of a kind that may be laundered often. Little bits of dainty feather stitching and hand embroidery will add individual charm to these undergarments.

Style depends not only upon the proper selection of clothes but very largely upon the way these clothes are put on and worn. Many girls wearing beautiful clothes are decidedly "not stylish." Their clothes look as though they had fallen upon their owners. This is caused by the fact that the wearer does not carry herself well, or has not good poise. Nothing is so vitally necessary for good health and good looks as good posture. The slouchy, humped-over girl is unattractive enough when young, but when she develops into a misshapen woman with superfluous flesh about the abdomen and shoulders the most skillful artist will be unable to disguise her deformities. The girl with the debutante slouch or the one who "sits in her corsets" is rarely graceful. The uncorseted figure is the popular one today but if corsets must be worn they should be most carefully selected. Fortunately the long, unyielding coats of mail of several years ago are now rarely seen on girls, and soft, flexible girdles leaving the figure with its natural lines and grace, have appeared as substitutes. A well-shapen brassiere is often necessary with these low-busted girdles.

A stylish girl has good poise. This means that she stands well, walks well, carries her head high, her shoulders back, and looks the world in the face. The clothes worn by this girl will take the correct swing.

Shoes and Feet

All organizations and publications keenly interested in the welfare of young women are making a strenuous effort to produce better American feet, and this is to be done directly through the shoes worn by our girls. The Y. W. C. A. during the war discovered that lack of endurance among girls could be traced back directly to misshapen feet, flattened arches, weak backs and abdominal muscles. In almost every case these had been caused by wearing high-heel shoes.

The human body is built and strung so that a person may walk and stand with natural grace and ease. When the equilibrium of this delicate mechanism is disturbed by inserting a spindle heel directly under that point responsible for most of the human weight, it is not surprising that physical ails result that must be carried through life.

A French or spindle heel is absolutely inconsistent for any occasion when walking or standing is to be done and is certainly not artistic when worn with a tailored dress or suit. Vanity, gratified by a foot that seemingly is a bit smaller, should not compensate for the loss of good health, good sense, natural grace and efficiency. An elaborate evening dress may call for a higher heel than the one worn on the street, but it will not excuse the wabbly spindle heels sold girls by many ruthless concerns.