THE SHORT, STOCKY WOMAN

There is someone at the Metropolitan Life Insurance company who says that most American women are under 5 feet five inches tall and weigh close to 120 pounds. So let us open the class with the problems of the short, stocky woman.

Let us say that this woman is sitting down at a table like everyone else. So long as this woman is hatted in proportion to the width of her neck, her shoulders and her head, she will be all right because nobody will know what is under the table anyhow. She should concentrate on wearing a hat that is in proportion to her face. She shouldn’t try to wear a little beany which will make her look like the moon. Any kind of completely rounded hat is a great mistake.

I think a short, stocky body can always overcome its sins best by wearing some kind of oversized beret, which is flexible and can be draped into a number of soft, unsymmetrical lines. I advise this type of woman in particular to find a good hat model and stick to it. Order it in hundreds of different colors and fabrics, but never change the basic line.

If you don’t care for the beret idea, I also think that a hat with a broad cown and a medium sized brim is good for you. But be careful not to make the hat bigger than is necessary or people will think that you are trying to live up to your proportions, which express only relative fatness. If you try to hide your width by exaggerating it, you are doomed to disappointment and failure. Live up to a beret instead, or something like a beret, and be a happy woman.

THE TALL STOCKY WOMAN

A tall, well-built woman is very fortunate as far as hats are concerned because she can wear almost anything. She will look well in a hat that is powerful in its atmosphere and bold in its architectural approach. The crown can be big and the brim can be elegantly dashing because she has the height and the width to carry it. She can also wear elegant trimmings on her hats in proportion to her size, and if she does choose a trimmed hat – let it be boisterous and daring. She has the size and the authority to get away with it. She should avoid itsy-bitsy trimmings and fussy materials, She can be the most bravely hatted woman of them all if she likes, so why not be like Sir Walter Raleigh, sister, and get on with it!

But don’t overdo it. Know when to stop, so that your friends will say “How dashing!” and mean it, and not “Good heavens!” behind your back.

GOOD LOOKS

Let us take a few minutes to discuss good looks. No matter how often it is proved, young people find it difficult to accept the fact that good looks alone are the least important rung in the Personality Ladder. Some of this attitude is caused, no doubt, by a mistaken notion of what good looks are. To the average girl, good looks, no doubt, means Sue Jones. Of course, the Sue Joneses who fit that description are good-looking, but if that is all they are, they are not destined to go very far. Standards of beauty have undergone drastic revisions in our time. The classic-featured, beautiful-but-dumb, doll is as dead as the dodo. The stage and screen, the worlds of business and romance, no longer scout for the merely beautiful. What gets the contract, the good job, and the diamond ring is the animated face, the merry eye, the friendly smile, the infectious good humor, the grace in movement, the shining hair and band-box look, the beautiful expressive hands, the warm cordial nature. These qualifications are at a premium not only in Hollywood and on Broadway, but on Main Street and everywhere.

You have heard the expression, “All brides are beautiful.” Actually many a bride is as homely as a mud fence. What makes her appear beautiful is inner happiness shining through the plainness of her face. Similarly, a pleasing, happy personality makes the plainest girl or boy attractive.

Examples of personality taking precedence over good looks are legion in story and fact. Consider the case of two famous gentlemen, each cursed or blessed with abnormally large, ugly noses. The one, a great poet, lover and swordsman, Cyrano de Bergerac, let the unhappy fact ruin his life. The other, the great entertainer and showman, Jimmy Durante, has let it help him earn fame and fortune and has become, in spite of it, or rather, because of it, one of the screen’s most beloved personalities.

Many a polished, handsome aristocrat graces the American hall of fame, but the greatest of all Americans was the raw, homely Abraham Lincoln who developed qualities of heart and mind and speech so powerful that they completely eclipsed his ungainly ugliness.

So, it bears repeating: you start out with what you have and what you are and you fashion these into the lovely, glowing personality that is the real you. You examine your temper and disposition, and you try to be perfectly honest about what you find. You take stock of your looks. If your hair is sticks and straws, you turn it into silk. That’s magic, 20th-century style. If your skin is a far cry from a baby’s, you study the baby’s beauty routine and profit by what you learn. If your figure bears an uncomfortable and highly recognizable resemblance to a sack of potatoes or a bean pole, this is an S.O.S. signal calling for drastic rescue measures.

DIET:

Breakfast:

Sliced tomato on green lettuce leaves

Coffee

Lunch:

2 Broiled hamburgers

1 cup boiled cabbage

1/2 glass of whole milk

Dinner:

Vitamin cocktail or tomato juice

Liver (beef or calf), pan broiled

1/2 cup of spinach or beet greens

Raw celery, 4 stalks

Coffee or tea

Ladies, if you think those slim, lovely Hollywood glamour girls you see on the screen are just naturally born with beautiful figures and perfect postures – you are mistaken. Those cut-on-the-bias figures are kept that way only by constant slimming and trimming, by diet and exercise; believe me, ladies, I should know.

…If you have ever envied any of the screen beauties for their trim figures, just don’t forget that they have more than their share of worries and problems to keep them that way. For instance, a star has a seveno’clock call; that means that she is to report to the hairdressing department at seven. Her hair is shampooed, set, dried,combed; then a session with the wardrobe department; in the meantime she is, or should be, studying her script and preparing to meet the director, so that a lot of time is filled up. This means she has to be in the gymnasium at six.

The stars have a couple of strikes against them before they even get around to taking the first bow to the critical eye of the camera, which automatically adds ten pounds, and the strong intricate lighting and powerful lamps which bring out the slightest bulge and flaw.

…Why do people want to lose weight? There are a number of reasons, other than the veiled hints your husband may have been tossing around recently. Aside from that, we’ll look younger, we’ll feel better, we won’t be exhausted, we’ll find we can rip through our work and we won’t be tired – tired from dragging it around all day. It will step up our circulation, speed up our metabolism, make our brain click faster, and just generally speaking we will be healthier people.

MAKE UP YOUR MIND TO SEE IT THROUGH.

Remember, girls, you are over the hump when you have made up your mind that you are going to do something about yourself. Let me put it this way. Here is one job on which you’re the boss, and it’s entirely up to you whether you’re going to punch that time clock or not. Once you have made up your mind, you can very well drive right into the home stretch.

How about planning this thing, taking inventory of your time, making it as easy as possible on yourself. And, of course, make it as easy as possible on your family. Following a diet is difficult when the rest of the family must have regular meals, but with a little thought you will be able to plan the family meals around your diet.

If you’re still on the fence with your tongue in your cheek, let me ask you this: how many times have you shopped and tried on a suit or a dress that looked fine on you, until your eyes traveled down to the bulges? So what happens? You’re furious with yourself. You flounce out of the store without the suit or dress on which you had your heart set. Now really, there isn’t any excuse for that – now is there? Be honest.

by Helena Rubenstein

The Beginning and Basis of Beauty is Correct Cleansing.

By correct cleansing, I mean a cleansing treatment which includes both washing and cream-cleaning. In order to insure immaculate cleanliness at all times, every skin needs two kinds of cleansers: 1) a pore-refining and purifying washing preparation, and 2) a penetrative cleansing cream with enough consistency or “body” to work deep into the pores, loosen stale make-up, dirt, and impurities embedded there, cleanse immaculately, stimulate the pores to normal activity; also to add rich, soothing oils to the natural oils of the skin and help preserve the skin’s youthful firmness.

Wash For Beauty’s Sake.

I have always maintained a unique position in the beauty world on the subject of face washing. So many theories have been advanced on the subject! I am one beauty specialist who always has insisted upon the value and benefit of washing every type of skin. This conviction that all types of skin need correct washing led me to originate special beauty washes, which replace ordinary soaps, such as my gentle friction wash and my cleanser, which creates a rich, foamy lather. In truth, I was a pioneer in the creation of individualized washing preparations which would insure perfect cleanliness and aid in developing a fine-pored, exquisitely transparent, beautifully textured complexion, without drying effects.

I advocate that the normal skin be washed two or three times a week to maintain its beauty, improve the circulation and encourage that fresh, glowing look; that the oily skin be washed once a day to refine the pores, normalize the activity of the oil glands, aid in improving the health, texture and appearance of the skin; that the dry skin be washed once or twice a week to keep the pores clear and clean.

I cannot stress sufficiently the importance of knowing how to apply your beauty preparations correctly. If you use the wrong movements, you may accentuate your most unattractive features, and so defeat the very purpose of your beauty treatment. Therefore, I am giving you these correct massage movements based on those used in my salons all over the world. Study them carefully – and follow them to the last letter for best results from your beauty preparations.

Fasten the hair back from the face so that the hairline is free all around.

Wet the face and throat with warm water first.

Work the cleansing preparation between your fingers into a fine creamy later. You will find that instead of bubbly suds, the lather will be smooth and creamy. Manipulate lather gently over skin with fingertips, using both hands and moving upward and outward. Keep skin moist throughout washing. Rinse thoroughly, splashing warm, then cooler water on the face. Use a washcloth for the final rinse, if you wish.

Since the beauty wash is made on a special cream base, unlike ordinary soaps, it is safe for even the driest skin. Now you can wash your face without fear because this special wash soothes while it cleanses.

Place hands under a Turkish towel, lift up to face and dry with both hands at once. The movements for drying are similar to those for cleansing. Stroke from chin out toward ears. Move up to sides of mouth and again dry outward, then up to sides of nose and out. Dry upward between the eyebrows and out on forehead. Pat gently around the eyes and stroke down lightly over nose. Dry the throat with upward movements from the base to the jaw.

The Charming Woman is a set of magazines that my friend Kristen found at a central Pennsylvania yard sale. I thought the wisdom of these publications should be shared with the rest of the world, as there are so many things to keep track of and remember. I hope you find them as charming as I. I reproduced them as closely as I could to the original page layouts. I did not alter the text or imagery because it was SO charming.

My goal is to not only read these and share the advice with you – but to LIVE it. To LIVE THE DREAM.

And as I embark upon my journey into the world of charm, I do hope you will join me.

- Celia Pleete