A New Vocation (1930)

[66] The Catholic Gazette (Vol. XXI, No. 2) thinks the moment is propitious for some sort of corporate action by Catholic ladies (and every true Catholic woman is a lady) to emphasize the present trend of fashion towards a more becoming and more artistic style of dress. Any artist will tell you, says our contemporary, that the short dress was not beautiful, whatever may be claimed for it on the score of comfort and hygiene. The trend of fashion is now against it, and possibly the energetic action of Catholic women in Italy and elsewhere has had much to do with the change. We have heard an eminent professor of moral theology argue that a few Catholic women, recognized as leaders of fashion, could quickly put an end to the extravagances of the dress designers by corporate action. Let it be agreed amongst them that they will resolutely refuse to buy anything, however beautiful, which offends Christian modesty, and let it be equally agreed that they will not buy a modest garment which is not beautiful, and the designers will quickly toe the line. This idea opens up the interesting possibility of turning the ''cult of fashion" into a vocation, but it requires a little pluck on the part of the few Catholic women who are sufficiently well-off and well-placed to be recognized as "leaders of fashion."

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Source: Anonymous editorial, "A New Vocation," The Catholic Fortnightly Review 37, no. 3 (March 1930): 66.