ABSTRACT
One of the most interesting was contributed by Viscountess Harberton on ‘The Hygiene of Dress’. Her Ladyship said that if the human race originated in warm climates, it was likely that the first object of dress was decoration. Women’s dress also erred in construction, but as the skirt made the general outline appear widest at the feet, a violent and unnatural constriction in the centre of the body was formed to break the clumsy outline. Parents were not alive to the cruelty of dressing little girls in much too voluminous frocks, and for summer flapping capes and large cotton bonnets tied on with strings, worrying to children. People were aware of the danger of insanitary houses, but seemed not to perceive their responsibility in avoiding injurious dresses. The beauty came from materials and colours, much more than from the shape of the dress, and people were blinded on this point by custom.
