1940's Guide to Glamour, Dress and Posture: Color Restored

What can I do to be glamorous? Well, now that's always a popular question with a girl. Uh, but tell me, just what is glamour? Well, it's... well, you know. Yes, I think I do. As a French chef might say, c'est la kiffé à la soupe. In other words, it's the little touch of seasoning that makes the dish just right. But suppose you get in too much seasoning. Well, then it's no good. Well, that's right. And it's just the same as glamour. Now, glamour, you know, is... Now, in order for it to be effective, that means that everything else must be right. Glamour and poise and charm, too, are all based simply on good group. They're a poise and charm of personality traits. What do they have to do with clothes, makeup, and hair? Well, poise, you know, is simply a state of mind. It comes as a result of confidence in the way you look. If you know you look well, your clothes are right, your makeup natural, your hair neat, the assurance of all these things brings with it that elusive poise. So, poise comes from good group. And charm... Well, now, charm is the ability to make other people happy and comfortable with you. Now, that means that you must forget yourself and concentrate on putting the other person at ease. Right? Right. And I assure you, no woman can do that successfully if she's worried about the way she looks. Is her lipstick on straight? Has she a run in her stocking? Or... Is her hemline even? So, you see, good grooming comes right in the front door again. Why, Mary, I never thought of it that way. What else do you tell these girls? Perhaps we could learn more. Yes, Mary, kids, tell us exactly what you do at those high school lectures. Well, tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock... I don't know whether you think of posture as a beauty subject, but it is, just as much as it is a health subject. So, let's talk about posture for beauty. Believe me, it is important, because regardless of how much or how little money you spend for clothes, they can't do the whole job of making you look your best unless you give them a certain amount of support. I don't often advise you to take examples from the movies, but just watch any good movie actress for posture. Notice how she walks, goes up and down stairs, sits down, and gets up. Why, if her posture weren't perfect, she wouldn't be a movie star. You know, bad posture sort of sneaks up on you when you're not thinking about it. For instance, there's the girl who goes through the halls supporting her books on one hip. She looks like this. Then there's the stomach carrier. She goes through her school life looking like this. And of course, there are so many wrong ways of sitting down that I couldn't begin to show you all of them. There's the girl who throws herself at the chair as though she were playing living statues. Then there's the shoulder blade sprawler. And the knees apart, pigeon-toed sphincter. Now, it's just as easy, and a great deal more poised and charming, to, uh, sit down and get up gracefully, all in one piece. Now, there are a lot of little bad habits that many girls have that detract from poise and charm. I'll show you what I mean by turning my back and describing some of the things that I know are going on in this audience right now, even though I can't see them. For instance, I'll bet that right this minute there's a girl out there biting her beads. And another one contentedly munching the paint off a pencil. There are undoubtedly several of you who are playing with your hair, twisting a pet curl round and round and round. And, of course, there is the nail biter, the worst of all nervous little habits. If you can't break yourself of this habit, never, never wear a nail polish, because the bright polish will attract attention to your short, ugly nails. But don't go to the other extreme. Nails like claws. Claws are for cats. Well, I can't leave this subject of habits without talking about the good old American habit of chewing gum, the cell. And whatever you do, don't chew with sound effects. Well, enough about habits, except for this. Be sure you rule your habits. Don't let your habits rule you. And take an inventory every once in a while, just to be on the safe side. Now I know you're all waiting to talk about clothes. Well, I'd love to talk about them, too. But since I can't give you a whole fashion course right now, I think it would be best to talk about accessories and well-fitted clothes. It makes me think about the best secretary I ever had. When she came to my apartment for an interview, well, I don't think that most people would have hired her. I did, because I thought she had ability. And I knew I could help her with her appearance. She had on a nice tailored suit, but in the most important places it was a misfit. And no suit shows off to advantage unless the fit is right. First, it fitted badly in the shoulders. There was obviously something the matter with the skirt. And it took me a minute to figure out that it was too long. So she had just rolled it over the waistline. No skirt will hang right if you adjust its length this way. And an even hemline is a must. Her blouse is much too fussy for a tailored suit. And her hat was all right, but she'd spoiled it by adding a veil. Her bag was much too big for such a small girl. But like so many of us, she either thought she had to carry everything she owned around with her, or she was too lazy to clean it out. Her gloves were much too elaborate, and her shoes. Well, they would have been all right for an afternoon dress, but definitely not for this suit. Then after she'd been with me for a few weeks and asked me a thousand questions, she looked like this. The same suit, but nicely fitted and the shoulders fixed. She carried a smaller bag, suitable for a girl of her size. Now, plain gloves matched her hat. The same hat, but the veil was gone. Her plain pumps were an excellent taste, a good buy because they could be worn with practically everything. And her tailored blouse was perfect. Well, you can see how important accessories are, and well-fitted clothes too. Some of you may believe if you had unlimited money for clothes, you'd have nothing to worry about. Well, that just isn't the case. For no matter how much you spend, if you don't take good care of what you have, you won't be well-dressed. I spent a weekend with some friends of mine recently who have two daughters. Their wardrobe is the envy of all their school friends. They don't have a lot of clothes, and what they have are not expensive. But both Ethel and Louise know that a needle and thread, some cleaning fluid, good clothes brush, and an iron are the hidden secrets of keeping well-dressed. They know too that either a sagging hem or a gaping seam is a sure way to kill glamour. Both of the girls spend a few minutes each day on their clothes. It doesn't take long because they never let the work pile up until there is a lot to be done. Louise uses a touch of cleaning fluid on the inside of collars, cuffs, and hat bands because even if no one else could see it, she could certainly never feel well-poised or charming or glamorous if she knew that collars or cuffs were soiled. And both girls know that it saves time and saves clothes to get things ready to put on and then put them away neatly where they belong. They spend no time frantically searching for clothes to find them crushed in the corner of a drawer or hanging shapelessly on a hook. It's not the size of the wardrobe that counts, you know, it's the shape. One thing more, the final check-up. See that the hemline is even, the slip where it belongs, the stocking seam straight, and if those shoe heels are run down, get them fixed pronto. Then, flip a clothes brush across the shoulders to make doubly sure that there is no loose hair or dandruff, and you're ready to face the outside world. That's all.