Science of Dress/Chapter XII

CONTINUING my remarks as to the proper fitting of dresses, I would observe that special care is required in fitting them round the throat. If they are cut too tight the muscles of the throat do not get full play, breathing is hampered, and the movements of the larynx checked; the mode in which the voice is produced is thus altered, and the voice becomes harsh and weak, while the low notes are spoiled. All singers insist that the movements of the throat should be quite untrammelled. If the dress is cut too high at the back it presses on the lower vertebrae of the neck, and pushes them forward, so that the neck and head protrude in a way that is as ungraceful as it is unhealthy. It must not be forgotten that the upright position is the most graceful, and the healthiest. When the dress is being tried on, throw the head back as far as possible, and if the bodice is too high to permit of this it must be cut low enough to do so. In front it should just cover the clavicles or collar-bones, and the back ​will be about right if on a level with this. The collar of the dress, if one is worn, will of course be sewn on above this line. While strongly opposing low-necked dresses, I am sorry to see that just now it has become the fashion to wear all but evening dresses so high in the neck that nothing of the throat is visible. This plan would perhaps not be objectionable in the winter if with the height of the covering there was no accompanying tightness or stiffness; but laces swathed round the neck are often fastened too tightly, and high collars of starched linen are in every way objectionable, preventing ventilation, hampering circulation, and being incapable of absorbing perspiration. The "Masher" collar is a thing to be avoided with horror—a very instrument of torture, and ladies should not be induced to wear it, even if their male relations have sufficiently taken leave of their senses to do so. If linen collars must be worn, as for riding, they should be large and not too high. Turn-down collars, like boys' Eton collars, look neat on the dark habit.

Tight collars and cravats round the neck cause headaches, by interfering with the circulation, and when the veins of the neck are swollen, as during drunkenness, by their preventing the return of blood from the head, a sort of apoplexy may result and death follow. It was not without reason that our grandfathers kept a boy or attendant to loosen their neckcloths, and those of their drunken guests, as in due course they subsided under the table ​after dinner. About fifty years ago elderly gentlemen usually wore a high, tight collar, reaching partly up the cheek, with a couple of cravats wound round; younger men wore also a high collar, and one silk cravat twice round. After 1848, similarly stiff collars were still worn; but the tie now was single. Then came the epoch of the low collar with the throat left free, and this fashion has ever since been maintained by some, although the tendency of late has been to revert to the bad old custom of obstructing the free movement of the muscles of the throat by walls of starched linen, which rasp the skin and spoil the voice. The sooner men take to a better way of clothing their chests and necks than with stiff linen shirt-fronts and collars the better; but for health's and reason's sake do not let us copy them in the present error of their ways.

Nothing is more becoming than lace in the neck, and if anything is wanted this should be used; or a fold of fine lawn just to show above the collar of the dress is very pretty, although, if the collar is of velvet, it is quite allowable not to wear even this. Instead of the high stiff collars worn for riding, I would also suggest that a fold of lawn, or of a white silk neckerchief, if nicely arranged, would look quite as well, and be infinitely more comfortable and healthy.

Coming now to the question of out-door clothing, I would call attention to the fact that tailor-made jackets are far preferable to the fashionable dolmans, which bind the arms down to the sides in a ​most uncomfortable and objectionable way, and in which the shoulders are frequently drawn forward, diminishing the capacity of the chest. Jackets or ulsters should always be worn by growing girls; they should be fitted like dresses, and should not be of heavy materials; heavy cloths are generally weighted up with cotton or rubbish.

Tweeds and the soft Scotch Cheviot cloths make good walking dresses, and ulsters or jackets. The tailor has generally a good selection of them from which to choose, and they should be chosen for their lightness and warmth. Very pretty tweeds are now made from two colours of the natural wool, and are consequently preferable to dyed materials. All garments which can be made by a tailor should be so made. For tailors are not only more accurate in their fit than dressmakers, but they are also more attentive to instructions, and less "pig-headed," if I may be allowed to use that very suggestive expression.

When furs are worn, as they may be with advantage in cold weather, provision ought to be made for their ventilation. Heavy trimmings for jackets, as for dresses, should be avoided, and the bead trimming, now so fashionable, is especially unadvisable in this respect.

For bonnets or hats, bead trimmings are also bad, as their weight on the head is most pernicious, and the charming light summer hats and bonnets now in fashion are too frequently spoiled, from a health point of view, by the addition of a quantity of beads. ​Artificial flowers, of which such beautiful specimens may now be had, make an elegant, becoming, and fashionable ornament, and are strongly to be recommended for the outside of bonnets or hats; they should not, however, come in contact with the skin, as their lovely colours are too often produced by the aid of very poisonous dyes.

The head, unless in extreme climates, does not require a very warm covering. As I have said, man requires clothing because he has not the natural protection of wool or hair possessed by the lower animals; but on our heads we have a natural protection in the shape of hair, and it is considered a beauty if we have this in considerable quantity.

The reason why we have hair in abundance on our heads alone is interesting, not only from an evolutionary point of view, but also because it teaches us a lesson in the choice of head-gear.

When speaking of the ways in which we lose heat, I mentioned that, among others, we lose it by convection—the rising of heated particles. Now, in this way, heat is naturally lost chiefly from the uppermost surface of the body, and we consequently find that most land animals have their hair or wool thicker on their backs than on their bellies. The particles of air heated by their bodies, which, having become more elastic in the process of heating, have a tendency to rise and give place to colder particles, are entangled in the hair or wool, and thus adhering to the body, make it a small warm atmosphere of its own; for air is a ​bad conductor. In hot climates also we find the hair thick on the backs of animals, and the negro's head woolly, because hair is a non-conductor; and here it serves to protect from the heat of the external world. The top of the head in man occupies the same position, as the uppermost surface of the body, as the back does in quadrupeds. Now, if the protective qualities of the hair are rendered unnecessary by extraneous aids, the hair, having no longer a use, will tend to fall off.

It has always been noticed that scholars and those who work their brains hard, lose their hair very early, and I believe the cause of this is that, having a constant over-supply of blood to the brain (for, as we know, the greatest quantity of blood goes to the organ most in use), the head becomes over-hot, and the hair falls off, in order to provide a sort of natural safety-valve by which the surplus of heat may be got rid of. The close covering of the head with hats and caps is also a prevalent cause of baldness. Such baldness is a common characteristic of the Turks and the Spanish Jews, for among these peoples the head covering is never removed, and is only changed at night. This perpetual covering, carried on from the earliest infancy, when a well-wadded cap is tied under the baby's chin, retards the growth of the hair, and hastens its fall; and the transmitted tendency becomes an hereditary cause of baldness.

It is noticeable that in England baldness is most common among the upper middle classes. The ​poor, as a rule, if cleanly, have very good heads of hair, because they are generally uncovered in the open air; but it has frequently been observed that, looking down at the stalls in any theatre, the vast majority of their male occupants over thirty years of age have heads as innocent of hair as the backs of their hands. Besides the mental work of men in this position, there is another great cause for their baldness. Stockbrokers, merchants, and others engaged in the City wear tall hats, both in their offices as well as out, all day long, as a matter of form, and almost of etiquette. This may appear almost incredible, but it is none the less true. A young friend of mine, calling on business on a stockbroker, as habitually, removed his hat on entering the office; but, before he had been there long, the owner remarked: "You had better put on your hat, or people will think you are quite ignorant of city customs."

The tall, stiff hat, whether silk or felt, is a most insanitary article of dress. It presses on the arteries entering the scalp, and so lessens its blood supply, interfering with the nutrition of the hair. It is practically impervious to air, of which it contains a certain quantity that soon becomes poisoned by the excretions of the skin of the head.

Air is, moreover, as I have said, a bad conductor, and the air in the hat becomes heated with heat from the head, which, not being able to rise through the hat, it retains. It also becomes charged with moisture given from the skin, and the hat is so constructed, with a leather round the edge, that ​this cannot be absorbed, and frequently runs down on to the forehead in a most unbecoming way.

Thus the high, stiff hat envelops the head, as it were, in a hot-air poultice, and it is small wonder, after what I have said, that the hair is spoiled by this treatment. The same remark applies to riding-hats worn by ladies, and in a less degree to felt or straw hats. All hats should be properly ventilated. If you cannot blow through their structure, small holes should be pierced, or eyelets inserted, and these by no means injure the appearance of the hat.

The so-called ventilators which many hatters insert into the crowns of their hats, and which consist of a simple eyelet-hole covered with wire gauze, are perfectly useless. Ventilation is impossible unless the air can circulate, and for this to take place there must be at least one inlet and one outlet ventilator. The air in a chamber or recess, open at one point only, remains stationary. Hence it is necessary that at least two eyelet-holes should be inserted in every hat, and these must not be covered by the trimming; they should preferably be placed on opposite sides of the hat, or two or three small holes can be pierced symmetrically in the same position. In riding-hats or others trimmed with a band of thick ribbon, the ventilating holes should be just above the level of the ribbon, and the same remark applies to men's hats.

Leather, oilcloth, or other impermeable head linings should never be worn, as, besides not ab​sorbing the perspiration, they are very hot to the head. Excellent head linings may be made of flannel, cashmere, or even of sarsenet, or what is called silk-serge, with a coarse flannel at the back to give the necessary thickness, and act as an absorbent. Head linings should invariably be white or the natural colour of the material, as dyed stuffs in this position are especially liable to be dangerous, being readily acted upon by the perspiration of the forehead.

An advantage of not having a smooth-faced lining to hats is that the hat need not fit so tightly, for if the surface be somewhat rough, the hat will be supported by friction against the hair and skin. Hats should be perfectly fitted to the shape of the head, but should not be made tighter than is absolutely necessary. The soft-fitting brims are to be recommended, as they are more pliable to the shape of the head than hard brims.

In the matter of hats people are unfortunately very much at the mercy of the hatter, and I am therefore very pleased to be able to say that I have converted at least one fashionable hatter to rational views on the subject. My own hatter, Mrs. White, ladies' hatter, of 63, Jermyn Street, St. James's, has consented to adapt her hats to the principles here laid down; and her husband, gentleman's hatter, of 74 in the same street, has promised to do the same as regards the head-gear of the sterner sex.

If veils are worn, they should be of plain net or tulle, as spotted net is apt to dazzle the eyes. The ​veil should not be tied tightly, or it will break and spoil the eyelashes; but I do not agree with those medical men who would abolish its use altogether, for in windy and dusty weather, or when travelling, I find a thin veil is a great protection to the eyes.

Gloves, like other articles of dress, ought to be pervious to perspiration and transpiration, and they ought not-to fit too tightly, or the circulation will be impeded, and the hands will feel cold and swell. Suède gloves, although by no means perfect from a sanitary point of view, are better than kid; silk are better than Suède, and woollen gloves are better than either for use, if not for ornament, and there is no reason why growing girls should not wear them, although I can understand that their grown-up sisters would not wish to emulate them in this respect, on the grounds that woollen gloves are "so dowdy." I have seen buckskin driving and tricycling gloves ventilated by means of eyelet-holes, and this is a very good plan.

When in Chapter II. I spoke of the functions of the skin, I endeavoured to show how very important it is that they should be in no way impeded, and that no reabsorption of excretive matters should take place. For this reason mackintoshed or waterproof articles should not form articles of ordinary dress. I referred briefly to this subject when speaking of infants' clothing (p. 69), and I should add also that the waterproof dress-preservers which most dressmakers insert beneath the arms are injurious. They certainly prevent the ​perspiration from injuring the dress, but by preventing evaporation they allow the underclothes to become soaking wet and cling to this part of the body, which is very sensitive to cold; thus they frequently give rise to chills, besides which they probably permit some reabsorption of poisonous matters.1^[1] That this is so is indicated by the fact that heat and feverish restlessness quickly follow the use of a close waterproof dress by sportsmen and others. Hence waterproofs should only be worn when it is absolutely raining, and be taken off when the shower is over. The circular waterproofs, which do not fit closely, are very good, and also those with loose sleeves or with a ventilating arrangement under a cape. They should be as light and thin as possible, so as to be easily portable and not warm enough for a chill to ensue on their being taken off. Every means for ventilating them should be adopted.

In this connection, it is most satisfactory to learn that by being subjected to a process called "Warnerizing"—a process discovered by an American lady named Warner—all kinds of articles of dress, from tweeds and cloths to silk hats, velvet, and lace, may be made "water repellent," so that ​rain can hurt neither them nor their wearers. To think that ordinary outdoor garments can thus be made thoroughly waterproof seems almost too good to be true; but it seems to be true, nevertheless. Articles submitted to this process were exhibited at the Health Exhibition of 1884, and they were said to be quite pervious to air. Since that time a "Warnerizing" Company has been formed, and has, I believe, taken offices in Queen Victoria Street, London, E.C.