Transvestia

that I write this. Maybe it will relieve me of the neces sity of sending word to unknown callers that I am "out" and straining the capacity of my trash basket with letter! full of question marks. Allow me that hope, at least.

That a knowledge of feminine dress plays an importa part in my work I cannot deny. The realization of this fact came to me early, but not until after I had begun to depict girls on the stage. I found that I scarcely knew the difference between calico and satin, and it was plain to me that if I was to be a successful "woman" I must kn as much about my rainment as the women knew about the This was far from easy, as you may imagine, but I began with the very rudiments. Giving up the stage for a time I found a position in a store which dealt in cloth and dress fabrics of all kinds. I was not a salesman, but worked in the receiving department, where there was am ple chance to learn the facts I sought. To show what pro gress I made, the end of the first year found me doing most of the buying for the firm.

The experience gained in this way has since proved invaluable, for it gave me not only a knowledge of quali but of values as well. And let me tell you, I have to com sider the size of my bills for dress as much as any woma in moderate circumstances! But this was only one step in my education. I saw. that to know textures was one thing to match them was another. A palette full of various colors is worthless to the would-be painter if he does not know how to combine them for the best effects. To get the right idea of such combination I took up the study in oils under the guidance of a capable artist.

I went in for draperies and their treatment largely. I sought the secrets of graceful and artistic draping of forms. But besides possessing knowledge of material val- ues, colors and contrast, there remained another probler It was how to wear my rainment gracefully. A woman ma be fitted out in a creation by Paquin or Callot, and yet all of the distinctiveness of the gown may be lost through her lack of knowledge of proper poise. Much too often one sees a beautifully attired woman standing like a soldier on parade, with every fold perpendicularly stiff and unbroken. Sometimes such a woman impresses me as a clothes-horse upon whom a maid had hurled a dress from

46