Dress-reform : a series of lectures delivered in Boston, on dress as it affects the health of women.

  • Woolson, Abba Goold, 1838-1921.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Dress-reform : a series of lectures delivered in Boston, on dress as it affects the health of women. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Gerstein Science Information Centre at the University of Toronto, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Gerstein Science Information Centre, University of Toronto.

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    For this no singular style is required, since our present fashions will supply a model which is the most healthful, convenient and artistic that is possible for us to-day: I mean the Gabrielle, or gored dress, with additions and modifications as represented in cards i and 2. It requires less cloth than any other, and is consequently lighter, as well as cheaper ; its weight depends entirely from the shoulders ; it has no band and no fulness at the waist; and its lines, flowing from shoulder to foot, blend bodice with skirt by graceful curves. This alone will form the house-dress. Fcft the street superadd a pol- onaise, or, if you prefer, an over-skirt and a short sack. The color and material of these last gar- ments may be different from the Gabrielle, which will appear to outward view only as the black under-skirt of the dress. Would you make this costume .'' Buy a good paper pattern of the Gabrielle ; cut off its train, rendering it as short as you can wear it, and still retain your peace of mind ; trim some fulness from the gores behind and from the side-seams