the hips a corset is an absolute necessity; the mistake lies in not
suspending all apparel from the shoulders. In the latter case a
corset becomes useless, the body is left free and unconfined for
respiration and motion, there is more health, and consequently more
beauty. Indeed all the most ungainly and uncomfortable articles of
dress that fashion has ever in her folly prescribed, not the tight
corset merely, but the farthingale, the vertugadin, the hoop, the
crinoline, and that modern monstrosity the so-called "dress
improver" also, all of them have owed their origin to the same
error, the error of not seeing that it is from the shoulders, and
from the shoulders only, that all garments should be hung.

And as regards high heels, I quite admit that some additional
height to the shoe or boot is necessary if long gowns are to be
worn in the street; but what I object to is that the height should
be given to the heel only, and not to the sole of the foot also.
The modern high-heeled boot is, in fact, merely the clog of the
time of Henry VI., with the front prop left out, and its inevitable
effect is to throw the body forward, to shorten the steps, and
consequently to produce that want of grace which always follows
want of freedom.

Why should clogs be despised? Much art has been expended on clogs.
They have been made of lovely woods, and delicately inlaid with
ivory, and with mother-of-pearl. A clog might be a dream of
beauty, and, if not too high or too heavy, most comfortable also.
But if there be any who do not like clogs, let them try some
adaptation of the trouser of the Turkish lady, which is loose round
the limb and tight at the ankle.