The Problem of Legs

A lady may wear the finest clothes and the best stockings and shoes. And how much trouble she often takes to achieve a smart, beautiful appearance. Yet all this dressing goes for nothing if she does not take care that her manner of wearing dress and stockings suits the shape of her legs and calves.

And since God has not granted every one of us perfection in the proportion of leg and calf, we must therefore obtain what measure of harmony we can by various means — either through exercise, where possible, or by covering those flaws, if we know how to turn the eye away from them.

Here are some of those means; try to apply them to yourself — that is, unless you have a pair of legs like Marlene Dietrich's!

1 — Heavy legs:
Beware of wearing short, tight clothes, for they bring out the heaviness of your legs. The skirt of the dress should be as full as possible, and the shoe plain in style. As for stockings, it is best that they be of a dark shade.

To slim them, try to reduce your weight; and the first exercise to help toward that is walking.

2 — Crooked legs:
They show less clearly if you make the skirt of your dress longer than what you usually wear. Use these innocent little "tricks"!

Make the seam of your stockings incline toward the inside of the leg. And so that their crookedness does not show when you stand, place one foot slightly forward of the other. Avoid wearing dainty shoes; rather try to draw the eye to the upper part of your body — thus you will charm with ornamented blouses and pretty hats.

3 — Bowed legs: These too show less clearly if the skirt of the dress is of medium fullness and length. And to deceive the eye, make the seam of your stockings incline toward the outside.

Use a shoe with a high heel instead of flat heels.

4 — Thin legs: Wear stockings in light colors, and let the heel of the shoe be low. Avoid making the skirt of the dress full. As for the kinds of exercise that help give them grace and roundness, they are swimming, tennis, and bicycle riding.