In her interesting book on the dress reform
movement of Germany, Else Wirminghaus
speaks of this unexpected turning of the tables
and utters a word of warning: "However
much we may rejoice in the success by which
the transition to the modem garment is made
easier for numberless women, we must not be
deceived by it or allow Ourselves to reduce the
amount of our organized efforts. Fashion has
not turned to the modem dress-system out of
inward principle or fundamental needs, but it
has merely taken over, for lack of original ideas,
some superficial ear-marks. Just as swiftly
as it came, this apparently rational tendency
can vanish again. In ever growing numbers,
then, women should refuse to wear tightly-
laced clothing again, after they have once had
the opportunity of a more comfortable gar-
ment. Whether the new dress-system wiU de-
velop henceforth in harmony with, or in op-
position to, the prevailing modes will de-



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REALIZATIONS IN DRESS REFORM 57

pend entirely on the future course of the
latter." '

II

The present dress reform movement inherits
its direction from two essential sources, the hy-
gienic and the aesthetic. Pioneers on the hy-
gienic side were, of course, the doctors and the
object of their especial attack was the corset.
