<h2>IN CONCLUSION</h2>
<p>The foregoing chapters have aimed at showing the decorative value of
woman's costume as seen in the art of Egypt, Greece, Gothic Europe,
Europe of the Renaissance and during the seventeenth, eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. To prove the point that woman is a telling note in
the interior decoration of to-day, the vital spark in any setting, we
have not dwelt upon the fashions so much as decorative line,
colour-scheme and fitness for the occasion.</p>
<p>It is costume associated with caste which interests us more than folk
costume. We have shown that it is the modern insistence on efficiency
that has led to appropriate dress for work and recreation, and that our
idea of the chic and the beautiful in costume is based on
<i>appropriateness</i>. Also we have shown that line in costumes is in part
the result of <SPAN name="Page_325" id="Page_325"></SPAN>one's "form"—the absolute control of the body, its
"carriage," poise of the head, action of legs, arms, hands and feet, and
that form means successful effort in any direction, because through it
the mind may control the physical medium.</p>
<p>It is the woman who knows what she should wear, what she can wear and
how to wear it, who is most efficient in whatever she gives her mind to.
She it is who will expend the least time, strength and money on her
appearance, and be the first to report for duty in connection with the
next obligation in the business of life.</p>
<p>Therefore let us keep in mind a few rules for the perfect costuming of
woman:</p>
<div class="blockquot"><p>Appropriateness for each occasion so as to get efficiency,
or be as decorative as possible.</p>
<p> Outline.—Fashion in silhouette adapted to your own type.</p>
<p> Background.—Your setting.</p>
<p> Colour scheme.—Fashionable colours chosen and combined to
express your personality as well as to harmonise with the
tone of setting, or, if preferred, to be an agreeable
contrast to it.</p>
<p> Detail.—Trimming with <i>raison d'être</i>,—not meaningless
superfluities.</p>
</div>
<p><SPAN name="Page_326" id="Page_326"></SPAN>It is, of course, understood that the attainment of <i>beauty</i> in the
costuming of woman is our aim when stating and applying the foregoing
principles.</p>
<p>The art of interior decoration and the art of costuming woman are
occasionally centred in the same individual, but not often. Some of the
most perfectly dressed women, models for their less gifted sisters, are
not only ignorant as to the art of setting their stage, but oblivious of
the fact that it may need setting.</p>
<p>Remember, that while an inartistic room, confused as to line and
colour-scheme can absolutely destroy the effect of a perfect gown, an
inartistic, though costly gown can likewise be a blot on a perfect room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
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