Vintage Wisdom on Fashion and Wellness: Lessons from H. Stanley Redgrove
Today, we have an excerpt from a 1930s beauty guide that provides some thoughts on clothing, namely that it should allow free movement in order to promote better health. The author, H. Stanley Redgrove, criticizes restrictive garments like tight shoes and corsets, and praises the shift away from such practices, led by the women who discarded corsets. Modern “short” dresses (this is a relative term) are commended for their hygienic benefits, since they provide greater freedom and some exposure to sunlight. Redgrove opposes the return of long, restrictive dresses for these reasons.
The guide is called The Cream of Beauty, and it was published in 1931.
Redgrove was a chemist of the early 20th century who was a founding member of the Alchemical Society in London. He was indeed an Occultist, but also a legitimate scientist who wrote a number of books on beauty and optimal health. Here is his explanation of the benefits of loose clothing:
CLOTHING
Moreover, clothing which in any way restricts the free movement of any part of the body should never for one moment be tolerated. Tight shoes and corsets are two abominations which fortunately are far less in evidence to-day than in the past. The sports girl who threw away her corsets set a fashion which has benefited Englishwomen enormously. Not only is the wearing of corsets extremely unhealthy, but the “figure” produced by their aid is very far removed from that of Nature, and hence of beauty.
The very short frock of the modern English sports and business girl is much to be commended on hygienic grounds, apart altogether from the fact that no style of dress more pleasing to the eye has been designed in recent years. The added freedom is a great asset ; moreover, any style of dress which allows light and air in moderation to reach the body is to be commended. Under the action of the ultra-violet rays present in sunlight, a constituent of the natural secretion of the sebaceous glands with which our skins are studded all over is converted into vitamin D, whose great importance to good health is now fully realised. The recent attempt to reimpose the burden of long dresses must strongly be deprecated.