The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 30, 1903, Page 10

THE SUNDAY OCALL. £ every girl who loves the outdoor eports knows, corsets and athletics have long been on unfriendly terms with each other. For some strange reason, not entirely understood by > devote & part of every day to athletics, the designers of feminine bar- or mo study of & table for h exercise, and certainly have made no effort to bine the straight front with the free- m of movement required in playing golf and tennis. For the very first time on record peace has been established. We now have the able, easy straight front that is adapt- eeds of the athlete. vances of the summer girl umerous that at first they a but they even phssed the ege and grew into something pa- c and almost tragic. The girl who enough for sports to give up her y sleep certainly cares emough for her personal appearance not to resemble & first-class meal bag. She knows full all very smart to be per- to golf. tennis or rowing, likewipe understands the full looking chic and at her best. generation has not lived ers fbr naught. has taken to girdles, ited to only ti : slender fig- ures, or else ehe has put on her wrdinary corset and let it out at the hips and walst until she could with absolute free- dom, but eve front steels, which are £ and stiff, were always jab- bing her and giving gentle hints that they we: not be forgotten. Both these arrangements have their de- cided dvantages, however, especlally for the girl whose bones are well covered with flesh. A girdle is nothing more than & belt to hang her skirt bands from and there is not the faintest suspiclon of a traight front in all its rows of dainty fbbon and lace. The slim, girlish girl is far better off, in fact, ghe does not need any consideration &t all, for she looks just about as trim and neat in & tight-fitting corset cover as she would in a heavy boned affair and she can bend, twist and turn to her heart's content without belng hampered in the slightest. On the other band, the fashionable stays, if they are cut well, are possessed of good lines—even doctors agree that they are the least harmful that have so ar been designed, but even though they @o admit of so much freedom and lberty above the waist line they are so heavily boned, steeled and stitched about the hips and over the abdomen that they are ren- dered far from suitable for the swinging s, of a tennis racket or a golf club. is wanted is a corset that conforms to prevalling modes while at the same time it remains light and flexible, and in response to the numerous demands for an article of this kind there is now offered a novelty in which may be found all the qualities perfectly blended. The new straight front corset looks so much lke its sister vise that you could never see any difference without inspect- ing 1t closely. The great pity bf it is that ®0 far they are not to be found in all shops, and the better ones are ordered by your number. It hes taken time and & great deal of patience and experimenting te finally ar- rive at anything satisfactory in the corset problem, the women themselves being one ©f the most serious obstacles, for their maln idea scemed to be that & corset that was not made up of fifty-eleven bones, girded with several steels and cords, was nothing that resembled a corset or that could be used for a single instant. Un- lese it was the regulation vise it was abso- lutely no good at all. Bo far as the ribbon girdles were concerned they were light and dainty, but you might just as well go without one at all as to wear the pretty bauble—that is, 50 far as any support was concerned. The new athletic stays are usually made of white coutille, and they are cut almost exactly on the lines of the approved street models. They have the long dip over the hips, with the upward curve toward the front, which comes to ever so slight a point directly over the abdomen. One radically new thing about them is that they have not the long front straight, as a board, so that the figure looks as thick at the waist as it does at the largest part of the hips. A slight curve is natural, and it is far more lovely than a straight line; and it may be as well to mention that this season will see thé return of this curved waist line, but just how soon it will reach this coast remains to be seen. Paris gets the fashions, and they travel slowly to New York and from there out here, so that no matter how we strive to keep up with the times we always seem to be anywhere from six months to a year late. : Of course, this does not mean that the straight front is going ta be abandoned. It ie quite possible with the best cut cor- set to give the long front and the straight lines at the side toward the front, and yet have a little curve at the walst. One splendid thing In the new corset is its decided spring in the front, so that the diaphragm and lower ribs have plenty of room for expansion and curve without any confining pressure. The steels down the front are just stiff enough to serve their purpose and from there to the back there is not a sign of a bone or cord, so you can réadily imagine how limber and loose they are. It is perfectly comfortable and cozy without being sloppy. In fact, it is in every sense€ an easy stay that any woman may wear and feel as trim in as she would in her very best Sunday one. There is no negligee sensation such as there is apt to be when only a ribbon girdle is worn. In place of that there is a snug- ness and a fitness that is a great relief as well as a feeling of ease. The back of this new boon is cut rather low abgwe the walst and quite high below, #o that there is & very pretty curve from the long hip to the lacings. There is just one fault to find with the straight front corset, and that is the pulling in of the front g0 that it may answer as en abdom- thiett Tm\ a 7l (S inal support has resulted In producing any number of flat backs. This necessitates the wearing of a bustle of pad and no matter how small they may be they are always warm and more or less heavy. To be absolutely healthy the less weight one carries about the better, especlally on the small of the back. For the average figure considerable held away from the ribs by means of & #oft lace or curled hair pad made in the shape of a heart. Not until you have worn one in your sport will you ever be able to realize the ‘wonderful amount of liberty that is yours. You may bend forward, backward or to the side without the least feeling of re- stralnt, yet at the same time be con- sclous of a pleasing feeling and know within yourself that you are presenting e trig appearance. Don’t be afrald that the unboned portion will wrinkle with each movement, for that is really so and it would be strange if it didn’t, but it curls up but slightly on account of the gentle pressure of the garters, which are fastened to the direct front and sides, just as they are to all corsets. By the way, garters are as much & fea- wure of the athletic corset as they are of any other kind, and just because there are two sets of them that fasten just over the hips and in front does not signi- fy that you are about to be harnessed up in an uncomfortable manner. The elas- tics serve to hold the stays down and the stockings up and do not in any way add stiffness to the original pliability. The girl who rides a great deal will ap- preciate what this new corset means, for she has found it utterly impossible to ride with her ordinary apparel. For such uses the front steel is & little shorter, but the main departure is in the size of the hips. ‘The right side, which is always higher when on the horse, is made somewhat larger than the left, but it has the same long unboned curve that is so character- istic of the golf, tennis and hockey girl This model does not confine anywhere, and it is not long enough to interfers In the many free movements of any of the outdoor games. No woman, she young or old, wants to look other than trim, and every one will be quick to appreciate the advantages of the newest try in the favor of athletics—comfort and trimness. Strange as it may seem, thers has been but little demand for fancy fabrics and dainty trimmings. There is always a Sat band of lace around the top of even the plainest corset, and this is drawn down to & deep narrow point in front to give an air to the affair of steel and bon This ‘wee bit of trimming seems quite enough, for one seldom assoclates ornamentation ‘with vigorous exercises. Girdles always have been and probdbiy ealways will be far more elaborate, as the foundation itself is generally of moire silk or satin in some delicate tint, fastened under the bust with a pretty chou of rib- bon and lace. For the very slender girl, who alone can wear one of the fragile things without looking unprotected and undressed, a ngw and popular cut has just come in. The girdle comes to just a suggestion of a point in front, while the back is cut off square and so stralght up and down as to invarfably punch the wearer under the shoulder. At Interyals there are strips of cream or white batiste stiffened ever so little with thin bones, and these upright bands are held together by means of nar. row ribbons, which run around from the front steels to the back ones. The ribbons are run underneath the batiste and end at the front in a flufy bow. Where no weight is wanted on the hi not even the support of the skirts, a narrow plece of batiste—for durability—covered with colored ribbon is fastened from the shoulder pileces and comes to the fronmt, where it is fastened with tiny safety pins. The pins may not look as well as a silk eyelet, but they are by far the most serviceable thing that has been found as yet, and they permit of changes without the least trouble, a thing greatly to be desired In such a garment. A clever little idea In the trimmings of corsets is the Introduction of flowers, small blossoms, of course, such as forget. me-nots on & light moire, llles of the val. ley on a white batiste or almond blossoms on pink satin. If you don’t think such a combination is smart try it yoursel? anq find out whether or not you like the effect. You certainly can afford a pale pink Batiste without a vestige of trim- ming. Then hie yourself to the Nearest shop and Invest In some small flowers that take your eye, a bit of ribbon to match or to be a direct contrast, and put it on to the best of your ability. Prob. ably you will be surprised at the pleatn, effect yourself, for it rarely falls to 4: light even the most stald and sert, minded old maid, -—