Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(1892) Fashion Slaves
(1892) Fashion Slaves
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BY
B. O. FLOWER.
F^rioe-- IS Cei^ts.
BOSTON, MASS.:
ARENA PUBLISHING CO.
Copley Square.
1892.
The Rise of the
Swiss Republic
By W, D. ncCRACKAN, A. M.
SPECIAL FEATURES.
AMONG the special features of this
made by
volume are chapters on the recent
the Swiss Republic, the revised
experimental innovations
Constitution ofSwitzerland (1874), a general reference index to
works by Swiss authorities, and a handsomely colored map of Switzerland.
It contains over four hundred images, printed from new and handsome type
on a fine quality of heavy paper. The margins are wide, and the volume is
Address all orders, ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY, Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
/
/A-
B; FLOWER,
O. ^
ILLUSTRATED.
^Hren^Pres^^
BOSTON, MASS.
THE ARENA PUBLISHING CO.,
COPLEY SQUARE.
1892.
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FASHION'S SLAVES.
BY B. O. FLOWER.
Avith the young men of her class too much exercise, or lack of
;
rest and quiet at certain periods when nature demands it. All
: ;
God knows how to make boys and, when He sends a boy into ;
" That was a long time ago, but I have never known a single
physically reasonable day since that sweet May morning, when I
cried in vain for longer lease of libert}'."
broadening
The fiction tliat women have no legs is now fully discredited,
for in the show windows of the largest dry goods stores stand
dummies of the female figure dress-ed only in the combination
undersuit made of wool or silk " tights," covering the whole
body, except the head, hands, and feet. By this time everyone
must know that woman, like man, is a biped. Can anyone give a
good reason why she must lift an unnecessary weight of clothing
with every step she takes,^ pushing forward folds of restricting
drapery and using almost constantly, not only her hands, but her
mental power and nervous enei'gy to keep her skirts neat and out
of the way of harm to herself and others?
Much discussion has been wasted over the question whether a
woman should carry the burden of her voluminous drapery from
the shoulders or the hips. Why must she carry this unnecessary
weight at all ?
tume that shall say to all beholders that we are equipped for rea-
sonable service to humanity.
* During this period the ingenuity of man came to woman's rescue, by the
invention of an interesting, and, judging by its popularity, exceedingly serviceable
contrivance known as a dress elevator, whicli enabled ladies to instantly'elevate their
enormous trains when they came to a particularly muddy and tilthy crossing.
: ; ;
10
SISTER SLAVES.
You think there is littleof kinship between them?
Perhaps not in blood, yet there's likeness of soul
And in bondage 'tis patent to all who have seen them
That both are fast held under iron control.
The simjiering girl, with her airs and her graces,
Is sister at heart to the hard-working drudge ;
11
determination on the
part of its origina-
tors to render walk-
ing as difficult and
fatiguing as possible,
while fully exposing
the outline of the
wearer's body below
the waist at every
step. What in '60
or '70 would have
been accounted the
height of indecency,
is in the eighties per-
12
13
* I have reproduced the admirable cuts found in Dr. Trail's physiology, as they
were essential to the understanding of the text quoted, anil also because they con-
vey more vividly than words the injury necessarily sustained by tliose who persist in
outraging nature and violating the laws of their being by improper dress.
14
queathed to
posterity suf-
Street costume. Spring, 1884.
fering that
will not vanish
for many decades. By it, as has
been pointed out by the authorities
cited, every vital organ in the body
has been seriously affected. The
heart and lungs, by nature protect-
ed by a cage of bone, have been
abnormally crushed in a space so
contracted as to absolutely prohibit
the free action upon which health
depended; while the downward
pressure was necessarily equally
injurious to her delicate organism.
The tightly drawn corset has
proved an unmitigated curse to
the living and a legacy of misery
and disease to posterity. And
this cruel deforming of the most Street costuine. Summer, 1891.
beautiful of God's creations was (Compare waist M'itli anterior
view of thorax of cor.set-wearing
said to be beautiful simply because lady of to-day.) See page 412.
18
fashion willed it. Nor was this all enormous bustles and
;
bones and steel, while the very instincts of being cry out against the sin of it. Surely
every child has a right to be well born! Wealth maybe a grand inheritance, but
health is a better ne, as any poor suffering creature will testify, whose misery the
(
most expensive doctors have been called upon to alleviate without avail. And how
can a child be well born unless its parents observe the laws of life bearing upon the
birth and rearing of children ? It is impossible. If a mother will so clothe herself
that the vitality which properly belongs to her baby becomes exhausted and de-
stroyed, the child is robbed, as a natural consequence, and perhaps the weakened,
jniny, distorted, fretful little creature, who is innocent of the cause of its own sviffer-
ings, will live to become a curse to the world instead of the blessing that it would
have been had rational conditions been observed before its birth.
Tight corsets grudgingly loosened a quarter of an inch at a time, heavy skirts, and
all the evil conditions we are so familiar with, are still retained as the months pass,
bringing ever nearer what should be the very happiest hour of wcmian's existence —
that in which she is to be intrusted with the keeping, training, and guidance of a new
human soul. Perhaps her baby comes into the world dead or deformed, perhaps
deprived of certain of its faculties; or it maybe that it possesses life and all of its
special senses and organs in such a diminished degree that the whole of its future
becomes a pain rather than a joy, while its miserable, puny structure remains a last-
ing reproach to its parents as long as they live.
1878 188G
ViGAKIES OF FASHIOX. PREVAILIXG STYLES IX AVALKING COSTUMES DUKIXG THE
PAST THIRTY YEARS.
19
20
lustrati o n
we suppose
for a mo-
ment that
a plant is
end owed
with reas-
o n and
Vagaries of Fasliion. A belle early in the sixties. s e nsation,
;
22
and obeying the general law of its being, and the persua-
sive and inspiring influence of the sun and rain, is strug-
gling to rise heavenward, and give to the radiant world
above its impearled wealth — its gorgeous bloom, its mar-
vellous fragrance and fruit but by virtue of the bonds of
;
a prison-house below, —
a small pot or a rocky encasement,
its life work is thwarted, its bloom, perfume, and fruit, if
they come at all, are stunted, limited, and imperfect. For
generations woman's condition has been like that of the
plant, the wealth of her nature has been dwarfed, the mar-
vellous richness of her life has been marred by the impris-
oned conditions of her body, and infinitely more sad and
far-reaching have been the baleful consequences upon mil-
lions of her offspring, dwarfed, weakly, sickly, enfeebled
in body and soul. A
another whose thoughts have voluntarily
or involuntarily been held in the atmosphere of the physical
nature, necessarily imparts to her child a legacy of ayiimal-
ity which, like the corpse of a dead being, clings to the soul
throughout its pilgrimage. Terrible as have been fashion's
ravages on woman's physical health, the curse which she
has exerted when the ethical aspect of the case is entertained,
far transcends it.
It is a curious fact that almost all the opposition from
women to proposed reforms in woman's dress comes from
two extremes in societ3^ Those who do no independent
thinking, taking all their thoughts and opinions from the
expressed views of the men with whom they associate,
and the profoundly earnest and thoughtful, but conserva-
tive women of society. The opposition of the former class
is merely the echo of husbands, brothers, fathers, and lovers
but the others are moved by conviction, and for this reason
their views are worthy of consideration. They fear that
any radical change will exert an immoral influence. Their
minds are swayed by ancient thought which tliroughout
all ages lias cast its baleful shadow over the brain of the
world. They are held under the spell of a conservatism
which unquestioningly tolerates established institutions and
existing orders, bnt has no confidence in aught that pro-
poses to break with these, even though the new has rea-
son and common sense clearly on its side. Thus time and again
fashions have been tolerated, although known to be morally
enervating and singularly repulsive to all refined sensibilities ;
23
pernicious,and vulgar
would mildly express the
sentiment of conventional
thought, until the same
society had become ac-
customed to the change.
To us at the present time
it difficult to conceive
is
29
30
*In speakinir i>f tliis ))ractical dress retorm on the jiart of the belles of New York, the
Boston Ua'ihi (iluhr rt'cently observed editorially The jireat question now agitating
:
the fashionable women of Fifth Avenue is : " Do you wear knickerbockers? "
Stripped of all apologetic circumlocution, " knickerbockers" are simply loose, easy
trousers, above which IS worn a becoming blouse waist, and thus attired, the belles
of New York come down to breakfast. Nor are the trousers subsequently removed
while the ladies are about the house, unless some conservative caller is announced,
when a stylish tea-gown can be jumijed into in a second, and the lady is in faultless
female costume.
That women should be handicapped in their locomotion in their own homes is
simply a relic of oriental slavery and prudery, and the revolt against it is sensible
and wholesome. That they have come to stay is evident, while improved costumes
for shop girls, and other women engaged in business every day in the year, are certain
to follow in the order of progress.— Boston Globe.
It might be well also for the council to recommend the formation of societies in
each community where social or society gatherings of those interested might be lieM
at stated intervals, at which all members would api^ear in dresses made with special
regard to health, comfort, and beauty, and in which all garments would conform to
the general ideal recommended by tlie council.
t As the paper is being set iip my attention has been attracted to a remarkably
sensible signed editorial in the Boston Sunday Globe, of July 26, by the brilliant
:
31
However little she may realize it, every girl who rides her steel horse is a vivid
illustration of one of the greatest waves of progress of this century, the advancement
of women in freedom and (ii)ii()rtunity.
A wise physician once said that the opinion that a good woman should stay closely at
home had killed more women than any other one cause. In the days of "our grand-
mothers the suggestion of regular gymnastic training or athletics for girls would
have been received with horror. It was hardly proper for a woman to have any
knowledge of the construction of her physical system.
It is a curious historical fact that the first women lecturers upon physiology were
women's rights women, and viewed by the majority of people as dangerous to female
modesty, while the Ladies' Physiological Institute in Boston was at first much
disapproved of by the clergy. " So long, too, as old-fashioned " stays " (laced up
sometimes by the aid of equally old-fashioned bed-posts) remained in vogue, neither
physiology nor athletics stood much chance with women.
But the often derided dress reformer has had her way, to a great extent. Bathing
dresses, gymnastic and tennis suits which would have frightened an eighteenth
century dame into one of her favorite fainting fits.
Meanwhile the girls have mounted their bicycles. Bless you, my children; what
endless vistas of good times are before .you! "What glorious landscape views and
ocean moonrises, what freedom, what fresh, airy delight in young life and strength !
Already one young doctor has departed with his bride on "a wedding tour to Texas,
each upon a bicycle. Other strange affairs will no doubt take place. By and by
the bishops will see no more irreverence in bidding Godspeed to girls starting on a
journey to California upon bicycles thau to girls departing to Europe on a steamship.
—
THE ARENA.
The Arena, since its inception, has been more liospitable to women
tlian any other a^reat review imblished in the civilized world. It has also
ever been the champion of all means and measures looking toward the
emancipation of woman. As an illustration of these important points we
call attention to the Arena for Aujjust, 1892, which contains papers by
°5e
ublishincL" .,
(b.Q) '
y "H 44 81
PRICE, PAPER, 50 CENTS; CLOTH, $1.00.
ADDRESS ALL ORDERS
ARENA PUBLISHING CO., CopLEY S^,, BOSTON, flASS.
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