A Little Below the Knee... A Return to the Old Fashion

In America today there is an uproar that has developed into a revolution, the like of which we have not heard since Irene Castle cut her hair in 1914, in the days when long hair was the symbol of complete femininity. But America's uproar today is not about cutting hair — that has become familiar among all classes of the people — but about the new fashion lately created in America, which — should success be written for it — will leave not a single one of last year's dresses fit to be worn in public!

This fashion that has caused the revolution may be summed up thus: the shoulder padding is to be lifted out of women's dresses, the waist narrowed, the skirts padded out over the hips, and the skirts made full and long, down to the ankle.

No sooner did the American ladies appear in the streets swaying along in their loose, long dresses than necks craned and eyes stared to criticize this grave event!... The pages of the newspapers could hardly hold the critical studies on this subject. One says the new fashion is almost an exact copy of the old fashion of the late nineteenth century; another objects that it shackles woman: from the pressure and squeezing at the waist that hinders breathing, to a length of dress that obstructs the freedom of walking.

The first to stir public opinion on this subject was Mrs. Louise Horn, after she stepped down from the "bus" wearing a full, long dress. The hem of her dress caught in the door, which dragged her and forced her to run a long distance hanging from the door of the "bus" until it stopped at the next station, leaving behind it an angry woman heaping threats and menaces upon the new fashion!

And indeed she stood up before crowds of women, inciting them to revolt, and haranguing them on the harms of this fashion and the dangers to which a woman is exposed if she submits to it. More than 1,500 ladies rallied around her and signed a pact against any change in the short fashion. Their zeal in this agitation went so far that they banded together in a club which they named "The A Little Below the Knee Club," its principle being to keep to last year's fashion and to remain unaffected by any manifestation of the new fashion.

Most of all, eyes turn in this critical period toward Mrs. Sophie Gimbel, who is counted among the most tasteful fashion designers in the United States. This lady has shown great daring by taking a stand of opposition, and making of her newest dresses models that agree with the new fashion in nothing at all!

Mrs. Sophie Gimbel declared to a journalist: "There is no justification for this new fashion other than raising the volume of sales in the markets and rescuing the great fashion stores from a severe crisis close upon them. This fashion takes us sixty years backward, and it has faults in plenty, chief among them robbing us of our bodily comfort at every moment — unlike last year's fashion, which gives woman comfort and freedom

the eighties."

The simple changes Mrs. Sophie has introduced into last year's fashion are a partial lengthening of the dresses together with a lightening of the shoulder padding. She counsels elegant ladies to make sure of bringing out the notes of femininity in their clothes, on condition that they keep up an appearance of modesty and sobriety...

And that, upon my life, is a frank counsel, one that represents the spirit of the playful American woman and her plunging into the flood of life just as far as it pleases her!...

The Americans ask themselves gloomily what the outcome of this revolution will be, and whether it will affect the currency of the new fashion and so become the cause of bankruptcy for a number of the great stores. But Mr. Dior, one of the designers of the new fashion and one of its defenders, assures us in the tone of a man sure of himself, saying: "The new fashion will inevitably spread. As for this heated revolution against it, it will die down as quickly as it flared up, and the waters will return to their courses. I assure the public that the women now so zealous against the new fashion will shortly become volunteers in its front ranks, keeping its laws; woman will forget this revolution of hers, for elegance is the first thing a woman aspires to, and for its sake she will sacrifice everything dear."

What, then, is the opinion of our ladies about this fashion? Will they accept it with all its faults, and fill the streets and the tram cars with long, full dresses with their puffed-out hips? Or will they stand in the ranks of the opponents, protesting violently against this fashion, which agrees in nothing with the simplicity of our country?

"The Woman's Voice" welcomes every opinion they may express on this subject.

We have published with this article two models of this new fashion, in which you will notice, dear reader, how the dress has lengthened to a little above the ankle, how the waist has narrowed and the sleeves widened; you will notice, too, its fullness and looseness.

Perhaps these two models, which reached us lately by airplane from New York, may be described as moderate, since the new fashion that stirred up this revolution in women's circles is marked, apart from its length, by fullness over the hips, after the manner it had in the last century.