Los Angeles, Cal., May 25. — The mandates of the Fashion Art League will be defied by the fair sea bathers at southern California beaches.
When the serious minded body solemnly proclaimed sleeves for feminine bathing suits, they went too far for the pretty maids that haunt the beaches the year round.
“Knees may show, but elbows are taboo,” declared the Fashion Art League. “The long sleeve gives the bather a coquettish appearance.”
Whereat open rebellion was declared at Long Beach, Seal Beach, Redondo Beach, Huntington Beach, Balboa, Ocean Park, Venice and Santa Monica.
“If we must wear long sleeves in the surf to be coquettish, we will sacrifice coquetry for comfort,” declared the mermaids in chorus, and the sleeveless sea suits for spring give no indication that the Fashion Art League is on earth or ever had issued a decree.
Early arrivals indicate that striking colors and daring styles will predominate. The lead in fashions on the beaches surrounding Los Angeles usually is taken by the moving picture actresses—several thousand of whom are engaged in the sixty-odd film manufacturing plants adjacent to the Pacific ocean.
The canoe girl, the hiking enthusaiast, the angling maid and all other outdoor devotees, are going in for ease rather than style, but withal have not sacrificed the paramount consideration of the eternal feminine. Outing costumes will be “nifty,” say the arbiters, and they usually know.
The “Bathing Girls’ Parade,” an annual function at Venice by the sea, participated in by more than one hundred young women, brought out every variety of suit. “Low necked socks” and powdered knees were in evidence, but no sleeves. The one-piece suit retained its popularity and ideas of the riot of colors may be obtained from the following awards of prizes.
Miss Mabel Johnson, first, silver cloth design of a typical mermaid, hat, shoes, stockings and trimmings of old gold; Miss Victoria Wolf, second, apricot suit, trimmed with white, white stockings and sash; Miss Claire Alexander, third, cerise and white Billy suit.