Omaha Sunday Bee Magazine Page
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Designed by Lady Duff-Gordon to Be Transformed
from the "Plainest of Evening Gowns" Into the
"Most Tango-ish" by a Flip of the Hand
By Lady Duff-Gordon
CHANGING dances demand changing dresses. The most awkward
thlng in the world Is to fit a new habit Into a mind built tor old
ones. New wine in old bottles Is a more or less pathetic eight
but it has no more of pathos than old wine in new bottle. The
thing is tha'. old wine ought to be in old bottles and new wine in new
ones. This i.- a truth that hold good for most things and that is why
it is apropos of these new gowns I have designed for Mrs. Vernon
Castle which ae?ms to have aroused so much Interest that I have
seen asked to write about this one in particular.
The peculiar thing about the new popular dances is that they were
Invented without the faintest possible thought of harmonising with the
fashions. Therefore the effort to create an atmosphere of grace and
ease while tangoing in a yard and a quarter around skirt took a genius
to accomplish. And a skirt which allowed It was palpably built tor
that purpose only. But social conditions are such that one may want
to dance anywhere at any time and therefore it seemed intelligent to
harmonize dress with iance.
In this new dress one may dance anywhere at any time and be
Able to do the most complicated of steps. At the same time if one
doesn't want to dance there is nothing about it to cry out "If she didn't
want to dance why did she wear that gown." In repose, as you see in
the picture that shows Mrs. Castie swinging her hat, it 1s just a
dainty little dress that one could wear with alt propriety to the vicar's
dinner.
It la the last word in smartness rather demure if anything. Its
secret is hid in the arrangement of the free draperies. The fullness
that is to allow the free play of body In dancing is so concealed that
it gives the illusion of tightness.
But in the second picture its demureness gives way to a touch
of diablerie. The draperies are gathered up preparatory to the first
steps.
And in the third Is seen the transformation. It is the tame dress
but gone is the demureness. It is of the tango tangolsh, the trot-trottish
One can dance what she pleases end as she pleases. Tucked under
the arm it offers no obstacle to any step.
Let it fall, presto: In a moment we have the vloar'sdlnner
again.
To my mind the problem of fashion is a very simple one. All
that is necessary is to And the proper harmonies between the dress and
the times. I mean that just as every dominant mood should have a dress
created to interpret that mood, Just so there are race moods which
must be siezed by the creator of dress if fashion is to be harmonious
with the times. This is a dancing time and dress must be designed with
that idea foremost.
Furthermore the character of a dance must, of course, modify the
character of the dress. The real reason why the old fashioned gavotte,
the sarabande and the minuet are not danced now-a-days is because dress
is not In harmony with these dances. Nor can it be made In harmony
with them unless we go back to the actual costume of the days when
those stately dances were trod. There was an instance in whldh the
harmonies between dress and dance were so accurately caught that
the dress itself was killed by the dances going out of fashion.
But our dances are moderns of the modern. Even when their
sources are old they are made modern in this wonderful New York.
And therefore, I see them moulding the fashions of the future. This
little dress and others which the dainty Mrs. Castle wears are my
ioneers.
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PHOTOS OY IOA MiuV SruoiO ityc
Tk First Step of th Tran
fmrmation Into tho
Dane Gown
tho Fullnoa Gathered
Up in the Hands.
v4aa
The Gown Transformed for the Dance Tucked Under the
Arm and Now Adopted to Any Step.
How PharoaIVs Magicians Hypnotized the Snakes Into Rods
The Beautiful
Mrs. Vernon
Castle in the
New Dance
Go'n Epecially De
signed for Her By
Lady Duff-Gordon. This
Is the Dress In Its
"Demure Aspect"
Just a Lady's Dress.
EVEJRY by and (irl wko ever west to Sun
day school remembers the admiration
ad Jealousy which stole over their
hearts when thsy beard how Pharaoh's magi
cfauta la the days of Moses turned sticks into
snakes and performed many other mysterious
and startling feats. Professor Ernst Mangold,
of Jena University, Germany, now enters the
Hrena of science sad explains all of these sup
posedly wonderful feats of magic in such a
lathion that almost any brave boy etn carry
out any one of them.
Even ths blood-thirsty, and poisonous cebrs,
he says, can be turned Into a walking stick, if
Ued while In its threatening attitude by deftly
catching it behind ths head and then pressing
steadily with the Angers and thumb.
At once it begins to grow stiff and will re
main so straight thst a msa msy lean upon it
without binding it and for sous little time.
In fine, ths serpent thus passes into s ststs of
hypnosis due to pressure upon the certain vital
spot behind ths head. YoYu might, at flrxt
thought, Imagine that It would require great
bravado upon your part when In danger from a
cobra's threatening position to strike, you gent
ly leaned forward to isiss it behind. Such,
however, is not ths caae. On the contrary, as
the reptile gets ready to strike, it passes Into
a stats of auto-hypnotism, for a few moments.
This Is to steady its aim.
Ths ancient tricksters at the court of ths
Pharaohs evidently discovered this long before
our modern professors and scientists, such as
Dr. Mangold. Snake charmers also know it.
The result is that children can be trained to
turn these snakes Into canes.
In 14, the Jesuit father. Athanaslus Klrcher.
described a famous experiment.
He placed a ben on tiie table, beid it firmly
lupjrigt't. 1915. by the Star Company. Great Britain Rlghu Reserved
for a while and then drew a chalk line In front
of its eyes. Immediately the hen became cata
leptic. Science now explains this "miracle
and shows that the feat can be done with many
birds, irrespective, and the chalk line Is not at
nil necessary. It is all due to the capacity of
animals to feign dath by pouring out ono of
the Internal Juices or "hormones" from the
pituitary glands or similarly placed tissues.
llfwl Fabre, the nonogenarlan French ento
mologist, tells how he and his boyhood friends
and companions were accustomed to put whole
dorks of turkeys to sleep with their beads tucked
under their wings. Guinea pig, mice, rabbits,
fcqulrrelB, cats, dogs, bats and others are all
capable of this hypnotism. If you fasten thoni
gently and kindly to a pillow, bed, table or
board and turn, this suddenly upJde down,
hypnoaJs will be Induced In them.
Froga are peculiarly and quickly brought under
this influence. So also are newts and tadpoles,
beetle?, watrrbugs, 6tick insects, spiders, dady-long-legs,
and a host of different Insects feign
death in this fashion. This style of cutalepsy
and hypnosis naves their lives In many instances.
Even the females of one species of bug the
galeodes when it wishes to refuse the courtship
and advances of the strong and powerful ruale,
conveniently passes into this hypnotic condition
In order to avoid him. If the naturalist sud
denly seizes a female in the back. Just as the
male might mlht in the ecstasy of love, she
passes into a cataleptic state.
Certain crabs do tha same thing, but Dr.
Mangold's details of the crayfish's behavior are
particularly Interesting. If the crayftsh ia dis
turbed it fights and resists aa far as it la able.
-Not xm-cesHful, it at once becomes cataleptic.
It may then, l:ko a man hypnotized, be put into
any posture, and there it will remain bent,
ioublcl up, on ita head and so ou. It may, lUe
the walking stick insect, be fixed in the most
grotesque atltudes for hours without budging.
Ths walking stick insect goes Into a trancs
whenever light is Hashed upon it. It also dis
poses its body Intelligently parallel itb. twlga
and leaves, Just as if it knew what was what.
Human hypnosis differs considerably from all
of these.
it Is a sleep-like Hate brought on by sug
gestion. It implies a olose touch between ths
hypnotUer and the subject. It also has a power
exhibited In a che k muscular movement, and of
locomotion. Chanpes also of sensation and sen'
eitiveness occur. It in a physical effect, li
human hypnosis. The condition in animals is
entirely different. Suggestion here plays no
part, but the automatic- parts of the body, tho
"ductlosa glands," like the thyroid, play a major
role. The brain has nothing to do with, the
latter, and may not have anythins really to da
with human mesmerism.
Experimental investigations do not yot wholly
prove- hesauso they r.ro not yet completed but
eo far toward showing that the catalepsy In
cnlmaJs, hypnouls and mesmerism ia some men,
r.nd the normal sleep la everybody, aro induced
by releasing into the flowing vital otreama of
blood and lymph, some pent-up Julco or fluid.
There are present in the living structures, some
"hormone" or glaud-etuff which is freed at night
In the case of normal sleep. Fear releases tho
other stuff in animals, and suggestion as well
ss fear opens up the flood gates in the master
of catalepsy and hypnotis.
Morevor, in certain types of Insanitv, such
as dementia praecox. thyroid insufficiencies, and
others where near catalepsy an4 true catalepsies
occur, it has long been understood that vari
our parts of human physiology were out of order.
The thyroid, parathyroids, adrenals, and other
(lands are ofteo then found la distress.