Personal Appearance 1948

A new year—time for every smart girl to tip her hat to the past, roll up her sleeves and get down to the job of planning for a more beautiful future.

First on the agenda: Wardrobe mistakes. Take a tip from the department Stores and make a little January inventory of your own possessions. Get rid of all the useless bits and pieces that clutter up your closet. Joan Caulfield doesn’t wait for New Year’s day. She has a monthly clothes inspection in which she appraises her accessories, restores those not in repair and adds a scarf or belt or purse designed to brighten and put new life into the oldest outfit.

And while we’re on the subject of clothes, let’s have a little closet inspection. Do you have a place for everything? And is everything in its place? Now that we’re following grandmother’s fashion trends, we might adopt a few of those worthwhile adages from her strict housekeeping manual. A little paint, a roll of wallpaper and a little ingenuity can do wonders for your closet. Betty Hutton has glass doors on the wardrobes that hold her luscious evening clothes. The floor of this glassed-in view is covered with the flowers, feathers and other feminine cloth gadgets which Betty uses to perk up her outfits. Not all of us can afford this sort of thing, but a smart, inexpensive idea comes from Olga San Juan, who rejuvenated her closet by papering the walls in gay red and white stripes, covering her hat boxes to match. On the floor she laid a piece of bright red felt.

Beauty-conscious gals know a clothes closet is as definite an aid to beauty as last night’s facial. Blouses and skirts hung correctly on padded or wooden hangers to keep them from sliding off, will keep the press in your next morning’s wardrobe. Cuts down cleaning and pressing bills too. Tissue paper stuffed in the toes of shoes keeps them looking shapely. Save precious moments when you’re dressing for the office or a date by organizing your wardrobe, with blouses kept together, dresses in one section and suits in another.

While you are thinking of the future and making good resolutions (which you sincerely mean to keep, of course) promise yourself that you will keep your hair clean, shining and neatly coiffed. If your pocketbook permits, have it done professionally at least once a week. If not, learn to do it yourself. Fifteen minutes before bedtime devoted to putting your hair up in pin curls will give you many hours of assurance during the week. Brush your crowning glory regularly and when you do go to a beauty parlor, ask the operator to brush your hair dry so that you may have that extra stimulation. If the operator is too rushed, instead of pushing you under a dryer, ask her to let you brush your own hair dry. Tell her that’s the way movie stars keep their hair shiny and healthy. If she’s a Progressive hairdresser, she will thank you for this tip.

A most important point on the agenda is—your make-up a la 1948. Remember that in this year of 1948 A.D., the trend is toward the unmade-up look. The blood-red lips and heavily-rouged cheeks of the past are passe. For evening and bright lights you can afford to be a little more lavish, but even then, be discreet and subtle in keeping with your new lady-like wardrobe. Always make sure the powder on your face blends gradually into your neck make-up. It is the mark of the amateur to have a sharp delineation between the color of her face and her throat.

Hold that line! Even if you’re allergic to exercise and devoted to lemon meringue pie, you’ll bemoan that poundage when you step before the mirror in your 1948 ensemble. Resolve to exercise discrimination (as well as your muscles) and concentrate on leafy green salads for lunch, high protein foods for dinner. Substitute a fruit cup for the pie. And let compliments take the place of sweets in your life. Your doctor will be glad to work out a proper diet for your individual needs. After you get his advice, give him your cooperation.

In looking ahead to your future, don’t neglect to hear yourself as others hear you. Personal appearance will make you friends, but your social manners and your conversation will keep your friends.

Don’t go out with a man of doubtful reputation. A good book will do you more good in the long run. Reading a newspaper with your morning coffee will keep you up on today’s news and tomorrow’s conversation. An art gallery is an inexpensive place to spend a Sunday afternoon and a wonderful way to learn good taste.

In this revolutionary period in which we live, it is important for us all to be good citizens. Read more. Take part in community activities. Join clubs and develop hobbies. Often hobbies develop into a source of income and many times lead to interesting careers. Failing that, they provide a source of education and satisfaction. Gail Russell, like many other Hollywood actors and actresses, paints because she finds it relaxes her. Her friends admire and respect her work and she is a happier person for having developed her latent talents. It pays in mental happiness to have a hobby, be it ceramics, writing poetry, painting, or crocheting charming table mats.

On the social side, too, remember your manners. There is no such thing as good or bad manners. There are only manners. Bing Crosby, for instance, always has the same gracious manner for a little secretary as he has for a studio head. To be thoughtful of others is to invite thoughtfulness in others.

So with a backward glance at the past and a best face forward to a gracious future, we close the book on 1947 and open it to 1948.

Happy New Year!

THE END

It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE JANUARY 1948