Jonathan Swift, ( 1667-1745), author of Gulliver's Travels wrote in his "Polite Conversation" essay, "She wears her clothes as if they were thrown on with a pitchfork." In case you do not know, a pitchfork is a large tool like a shovel, with prongs like a fork, used to pitch hay from the ground up to a pile. In general, our society today looks as if their clothes were thrown on them by a passing tank. Perhaps Jonathan Swift saw a greater contrast between the neat and the untidy than we do today, because our society has slid so far. We have been talked into believing that clothing should be easy to "slip on." If it is easy to slip on, then perhaps it will also be easy to "slip off." I have seen women wearing things that look like they are going to fall off any minute. Surely no painter would say, "I must capture this on canvas for all time." No matter how old you are, there is no excuse for sloppy dressing in public. It shows disrespect for your fellow man. It shows that you regard the onlooker as nothing more important than a passing dog, for why would a dog be bothered by the way one dressed?
Lakeside Lace Joyce Birkenstock You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com | As you can see in this painting, the ladies are enjoying an outdoor activity and still wearing feminine clothing. Modern women often use the excuse that outdoor activities warrant a more "casual" attire. They dress in tank tops or less, and grunchy sweat pants or torn trousers. Do you know that you were created in the image of God? (I Corinthians 6:18-19). What has happened to us? Much of it is as old as the creation, but some of it in recent times has merely come from Darwinism, or the theory of evolution, which is part of modernism. If mankind can be convinced that there is no God and no reality of Creation, then he can be reduced to the level of an animal, and not pursue higher aspirations towards goodness, truth, and beauty in God's creation. Perhaps you do not believe in Darwinism, but you may have been living by some of its standards, especially in dress. Get out that mental pitchfork and just pitch all the "slop-chic" styles and begin again. Sew up a wardrobe that really inspires you and puts a smile on the face of your fellow wanderer on this earth. |
| I doubt very much anyone could say that the woman in this portrait looked like her clothes "were thrown on with a pitch fork." Keep that thought in mind. After you dress, ask your mother (husband, brother, etc.) if your clothes look like they were thrown on with a pitch fork. Have another look at this painting. What are some common threads throughout the paintings on these pages on feminine dress? Look carefully and see if you can find them: the women have sweetness in their faces. They wear dresses. They are holding babies or books or baskets, and always, always, there are flowers in these paintings. In fact, women in poetry were compared to flowers. How do you compare to flowers? Are you sweet and soft, or prickly like a thorn? Backgrounds depict homes and countryside scenery. There is a soft blush to the face, and the hands are delicate and graceful as they stroke a baby , a book, a letter or a kitten. Children in these paintings hold harmless toys and dolls. Arms of women reach up to pick luscious ripe peaches. In some paintings it is so realistic you can almost smell the fresh fruit. Women are portrayed doing good. These painters were less concerned with how smart a woman was than with how loving and kind she was. |
Girl with Roses Harry Watson You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com |
Mother and Daughter in a Breton Garden Edouard B. Debat-Ponsan You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com | Another reason that women dress so carelessly is that modernism has brought into our society a lack of concern for the soul. If one does not believe in the soul's destination or the afterlife, and one does not even believe he has a soul, or if one feels he may be in fact reincarnated and come back again to live another life, he loses his concern for how he lives and looks today. Ladies, you aren't going to get a second chance. You can't live your life over again. But you can "restore the wasted years that the swarming locusts have eaten", a phrase found in Joel 2:25. You can begin now to dress like a female; a lady. From a distance, and even from up close, most women cannot be distinguished from men because of their clothing. Do you ever despair of seeing this? Think of what you are doing. You'd be foolish indeed to let your life pass by without being pretty. All women have beauty, but they can mess it up with modern design in hair, jewelry, makeup and clothing. Return to the classic design in all this and you cannot fail to bring out true beauty. You will feel so much better that your performance at home will improve 100%. |
| Perhaps you are a mother at home with your children and do not feel that taking time for your appearance is "practical." Dressing femininely does several things for you: 1. It improves your outlook on life, 2. It makes you feel more valuable as a human being, 3. it makes you more careful in your work, and 4. it improves your mental and physical health and increases your femininity. You behave more gracefully than in jeans. Many women complain that they cannot afford dresses, but for the cost of one pair of designer jeans they can actually have several dresses. Dressing femininely has a good effect on your children, such as: 1. it keeps them from getting discouraged and depressed, 2. it makes them proud of their mother even if they never mention it, 3. it helps form values in their minds as to what a woman should be. When boys grow up, they will have this fixed indelibly on their minds and will be attracted only to women like their mothers, and 4. they approach each day with a newness and delight instead of dread and boredom. It makes home a wonderful, glorious place to dwell. Notice the mother's hands and face, as well as her garment in the lovely painting by Jessie Wilcox Smith. Then turn to the painting below by Kennington. Notice the mother's arm curved lovingly around her child, and the way the children are snuggled up close to her. |
Mother and Child Jessie W. Smith You Can Order This Art Print from AllPosters.com |
Mothers Love
Sir Thomas Kennington
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The amount of good you can do society in dressing femininely cannot be estimated because it is just too enormous. It is worth the sacrifice, so do without that modern electrical equipment or that new car, and get yourself some nice clothing to wear. Life is simply too short to just dream about it or watch it in the movies. The vision of your cheerful appearance can inspire a poet or a musician. Like one 18th century female novelist said, upon viewing a young girl in a beautiful garment, "I have my eye on your daughter for a character in one of my stories." If you were to have a story written about you, dress in such a way so as not to be described as "dressing as though her clothes were thrown on with a pitch fork."
