Resumo de Book Of Facts - Reader's Digest

FASHION- I

SILENT MODELS

The first model girls, a century ago, were hardly seen, never heard, and chosen purely as clothes- horses. They had no social status or respectability, and were not even picked for their looks in case they drew attention from the creations they were showing off.
In 1920, Paul Poiret, a Parisian courtier, took his models on tour, all kitted alike in semi-military uniforms with belts, buckles, eqauletters and peaked caps. Launching at the Carlton Hotel in London with fashion writer Alison Settle. Poiret was startled when she turned to address a silent model beside her. ?No, mademoiselle, do not speak to the girls?, he warned Miss Settle, ?They are not there?

THE BARE-LEGGED LOOK

Victorian women considered even the merest glimpse of female leg indecent- much more so if leg was unclad. Right up to present times, no fashion- conscious women would go stockingles- despite a virtual ban on them by the British government during the Second World War because of material shortages. Even when supplies of wartime cotton and rayon stockings ran out, many women used specially prepared leg make- up.
The first real attempt to abandon stocking was made during the First World War by actress Gaby Deslys, mistress of King Manuel of Portugal. She shocked women and amused men by declaring that surrendered to the Allies. In the 1920s Hollywood femme fatale Pole Negri went bare- legged and actress Joan Crawford discarded stockings for evening wear in 1926.
In 1934, after a long debate, the fashion weekly Sketch concluded the ?going bare-legged is inartistic and tends to spoil the softness of the skin?. The British government?s official disapproval of stocking came in did not the Board of Trade warned that of women did not stop wearing then in summer, there would be none by winter.
As late as the 1960s, matrons in Melbourne, Australia, disapproved when model Jean Sheimpton appeared as guest of honour at Flemington racecourse hatless, gloveless- and stockingsless. Then in 1983 the Princess of Wales attended a Government House party in Canberra with her elegant legs covered only by a golden suntan: the bare-legged look had finally won the royal seal of approval. Nobody could argue with that.

MOUSTACHE BAN

Faded photographs of moustachioed Victorian males show only one side of the 19th century Britain?s love- hate relationship with the hairy upper lip. A wealthy Englishman named Henry Budd died in 1862 leaving one London estate. Twickenham Park, to his second son Edward and William- on condition that they did not wear moustaches. Seven years later a British upholsterer left 10 pounds to each en=employee ?if no moustaches?. In 1904, Regent Street drapers in London stopped employing assistants who wore moustaches (or parted their hair in the middle). The Bank of England contrast, nearly and scrupously avoided interfering with staff?s private lives; moustaches were merely forbidden ?during working hours?.

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