YouLookFab Forum » Topic: Dress Doctors...

YouLookFab Forum » Topic: Dress Doctors... https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-doctors Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Tue, 21 Apr 2026 03:21:19 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php Jeanie on "Dress Doctors..." https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-doctors#post-1240671 Sat, 03 May 2014 05:06:52 +0000 Jeanie 1240671@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ How interesting.  In the early 90s at the bank I work for they used to give fashion shows to show everyone how to dress appropriately for work.  I do think many young girls are getting their idea of dress from TV these days.   Adelfa on "Dress Doctors..." https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-doctors#post-1240665 Sat, 03 May 2014 04:57:06 +0000 Adelfa 1240665@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Love this, thanks! I wonder what the mothers are thinking/doing. No teenaged girl of mine would have shown up at the Capitol dressed as a slutty lawyer. And there were no battles, either. Within reason they dressed according to current styles at school and play, but occasions demanded something different and they understood that! Sorry, hot button! I think I've always dressed to draw attention away from the face. To focus on it is a concept I've been seeing lately and I'm playing with it! Prudence on "Dress Doctors..." https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-doctors#post-1240546 Sat, 03 May 2014 02:32:38 +0000 Prudence 1240546@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ This is interesting. Just this week I was at my state capitol where there was a youth event. Mock senate I think? Anyway there were a few dozen high schoolers walking around. Most of the girls were in some variation of "slutty lawyer" costume. Overly tight pencil skirts, button-up shirts that were too tight to close all the way and 4-inch platform stilettos. I think there is also an element of media at work here. This is how female lawyers dress on TV. Also, stores that market to this age group promote this image. Many of the girls had switched to flats and had their heels in their hands. The few still in heels were offen clinging to a nearby gentleman in order to not fall over. This capitol complex has some cobble walkways that are rough in the most sensible heel (I have some experience here). At least at this age they have an excuse? lyn* on "Dress Doctors..." https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-doctors#post-1239226 Thu, 01 May 2014 23:43:13 +0000 lyn* 1239226@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Tee hee. I hate pants. I am a literal dress doctor. *cackle* Regardless, @dustt - I'd suggest that a reminder about the corporate culture would be nice, and I think that mentioning that the way she dresses may detract from her excellent skill set is an important lesson for this young lady to learn, and it's lovely to learn now as opposed to later on in love when people may "interpret" that by "this age" you should "know" how to dress. dustt on "Dress Doctors..." https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-doctors#post-1239167 Thu, 01 May 2014 21:51:21 +0000 dustt 1239167@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ very interesting and appropriate for me today.  I have a new staff member who started this week - in her early 20's with a bit of experience and an excellent skill set.  Most of the staff are in the 40-60 age bracket so she is my youngest team member.  Acceptable dress (we have no written dress code) for support level staff is on the very casual end of business casual.  I need to have a quick discussion already with my newest and youngest team member about how short is too short and remind her that tights are not leggings and leggings are not pants.  Any suggestions past passing her a copy of this thought provoking post!!?? UmmLila (Lisa) on "Dress Doctors..." https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/dress-doctors#post-1239144 Thu, 01 May 2014 21:36:53 +0000 UmmLila (Lisa) 1239144@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304393704579531753187674532?mg=reno64-wsj">http://online.wsj.com/news/art.....reno64-wsj</a>> A college senior headed for an Ivy League law school came into my classroom one afternoon after giving a speech at a university luncheon. Usually, she wore jeans and a T-shirt. That day, representing her student organization, she knew she had to dress up. She just didn't know how. Pity the audience that had tried to focus on what she was saying. Her black skirt was so short that she had to keep tugging it down, and her top was so low that the young man next to her in class spent the entire hour grinning. This smart young woman simply hadn't realized that her clothes were all wrong. As recently as the 1970s, learning the art of dress was a standard part of a girl's education. Hundreds of books and pamphlets were written to teach the American woman how to dress for the 20th century and its new opportunities. Millions of girls read them in home economics classes and 4-H clothing clubs. These materials were written by a remarkable group of women who worked as teachers, writers, retailers and designers. Their leading figure was Mary Brooks Picken, a co-founder of the Costume Institute, now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The makeover is at least as old as Cinderella, but the "dress doctors"—as I like to call Picken and the women who shared her cause—reinvented it for modern times. Some of the dress doctors' prescriptions—like their aversion to pants—are outdated, of course, but modern women of all ages could still benefit from their advice. Emphasize the face. There should be only one point of emphasis in clothing, and it should be near the face: We want people to look at our faces so that they remember what we say. That was easier in the past, when dress designers lavished attention on the necklines of dresses and hats brought our eyes upward, but it can still be done with the clever use of accessories, including colored strands of beads, bold "statement" necklaces, pins, scarves or stoles. Forget your feet. An emphasis on the face means that we have to end our obsession with shoes. High, pointy shoes in particular destroy the grace and freedom of a woman's stride, as two home economists wrote in the 1936 book "Art in Home and Clothing": "If you watch closely you will see the ankle wobble unsteadily as a step is taken." And without hats (banished by the bouffant hairdos of the 1960s), shoes have become our sole outlet for frivolous impulses. If you can't walk more than a city block in your shoes, they are not shoes; they are pretty sculptures attached to your feet. Better to put them on a shelf and admire them from afar. Beware of black. Worn near the face, black deepens the appearance of shadows, lines and wrinkles, the dress doctors warned. They counseled any woman who persisted in wearing black day dresses to at least throw a string of pearls around her neck to take advantage of the soft light they would reflect. Instead of black, find a smoky blue that plays off your eyes, a rich burgundy that throws warmth into your face, a golden brown a shade lighter or darker than your hair. See if you don't feel better. Shop for the life you lead. Women buy not only shoes that have no relation to their active lives but entire wardrobes. The gap between our lives and our fantasies may explain why so many of us have overflowing closets yet pull out the same five things to wear every week. Rather than buy on impulse, stare hard at those favorite five things, figure out why they suit you perfectly, and buy more of them. Now get on with your life. Although specialists in the art of dress, the dress doctors thought of clothing as a means to an end. Their aim was simplicity in material goods, to "free the spirit for the more important and permanent interests of home and society," as a statement from the home economists' 1904 annual conference declared. The dress doctors were wary of fads: Better to learn what makes for the beautiful in dress, they advised, than to forever chase novelty. The dress doctors were forgotten after the youth quake of the 1960s, which dismissed their ideas as an establishment plot, and the women's movement of the 1970s, which rejected their interest in appearance as retrograde. But perhaps today the dress doctors are, at last, ready for a comeback. —Dr. Przybyszewski is an associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. This essay is adapted from her new book, "The Lost Art of Dress: The Women Who Once Made American Stylish," published by Basic Books.