Life, 1910-12-29 · page 11 of 41
Life — December 29, 1910 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical article mocks a women's fashion reform movement advocating for practical, American-designed clothing instead of European fashions. The cartoon at top shows a tiny figure inside an enormous hamper or basket—a visual joke about the "smallest" league member. The text sarcastically champions American fashion independence, claiming women should make their own clothes rather than depend on Paris. It proposes specific reforms: loose-fitting Palm Beach bathing suits weighing under eight ounces, and practical elderly ladies' designs. The lower illustration depicts women in exaggerated, unflattering beach attire—the "svelte and modest effect" mentioned in the caption—satirizing how the proposed reforms would actually look. The humor lies in presenting these restrictive, unstylish garments as progressive solutions to fashion excess.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
*CPPE* Life’s Fashion Reform League No Hamlet So Small But Has Its Member -oce “NO MAMLET SO SMALL BUT HAS ITS MEMBER.” HE REFORM LEAGUE is gradually extending its in- fluence to the farther confines of the coritinent. Canada, will soon be with us. Our motto is Economy, Originality, Patriotism. No longer will we be controlled by Paris. Paris, on the contrary, will come to us. America for the Americans. Do not depend upon Paris any longer for your Palm Beach wardrobe, which will soon be a necessity. Through the Re- form League you can obtain anything you like. If you cannot afford to get your Palm Beach wardrobe outside, make it yourself in your own home. We furnish all the patterns. All you need are a pair of good scissors and a sewing machine. Remember that you are no longer bound by any foreign conventionality. There is no material in the world that we cannot obtain. It therefore remains for us to originate our own styles, with the basic idea, of course, of startling and interesting the men. Palm Beach bathing suits this year should be cut loose and trimmed either with sable or ermine. Do not flounce around the centre. They should weigh not more than eight ounces. Over the bathing suit, on the way to the beach, should be worn a beach wrap. This should be of any bright colored velvet. It should be 4 la Walter Raleigh, and should sweep the beach. The Walter Raleigh effects are specially designed by the league artists and will be in vogue through the winter. The problem we have had confronting us this year in Palm Beach effects is how to make elderly ladies attractive in bathing suits. In order to get the best designs the compe- tition was opened to all Americans, and every elderly lady was allowed to submit designs. From the best of these our pat- terns were made, and will be sent to any elderly lady who is a member of the league. Among other new designs for Palm Beach this year we may mention the matrons’ gambling costume. This is a three- picce suit, so made that the wearer can sit in it for four or five hours at a stretch without getting tired. There are pockets throughout to conceal chips and a special secret pocket for thousand-dollar bills. Our mammoth establishment on upper Fifth Avenue is now rapidly nearing completion and will soon be open to all mem- bers. In it we will carry a complete line of American fashions and everything will be done to insure the comfort of our mem- bers, The idea that there should be a Central Institute, in which fashion shall be considered and treated from a strictly art standpoint, and in which every American woman, regardless of her husband's income, can secure what she wants along the highest art lines, has never been promulgated before. Why is this? The reason is plain. Hitherto the fashions have been con- trolled by the tradespeople, for purely commercial purposes. If American women, instead of frantically demanding the suf- frage, had put their energies on this great economic problem, with a view to allowing their organizing and executive al ties to accomplish the results so greatly needed, they could easily have demonstrated their superiority. As it is, it re- mains for us to show the way. What is the real purpose of the Reform League? It will take some time for its extent to be fully appreciated. But we can state the matter briefly thus: More money is spent on woman's clothes in this country than on any other necessity or luxury. Almost every material known enters into the manufacture of a woman's wardrobe. Women are the largest buyers in the world. They buy practically nine-tenths of all that is bought in every household. Up to the present time, however, women have had no SVELTE AND MODEST EFFECT IN ERMINE AND GROS-GRAIN SATIN- ETTE TIGHTIES, FOR PALM BEACH GRAND DAMNS.