Wife Dressing

If I had to boil down my thinking about clothes into one word, that word would be Discipline of the mind, of the body, of the emotions. When feeling drab or upset, a tight belt or firm foundation will make you feel alert. Don't wear a tight dress to a buffet party, where you will end up sitting on the floor, your body awkwardly rigid because of the constricting lines which looked so great standing up. As for slim, tight skirts, I think there should be a federal law against wearing them girdleless. There is no situation in which a girdle can be dispensed with - even with shorts.

The feeling of after-five wear should be one of constraint rather than comfort ... Elegance and queenly bearing go hand in hand with constraint. You're not meant to suffer, but you are supposed to be ''aware'' ...People ask me ''How do you keep your slim figure?'' Most of my adult life I've been lucky enough to have an 18 inch waistline, which I'm convinced is because of the cinch or wide, tight belts I've always worn. The theory is very much akin to the old Japanese (sic) tradition of binding feet to keep them small. When the loose, beltless look came in, I got lazy and stopped wearing a cinch. In no time my measurement jumped to 19 1/2. At this writing, I'm trying to work it back to normal. To maintain your figure at its flattering best, depend on foundation garments to control and distribute, a cinch or tight belt to restrain.