Good fit is essential in a girdle. And no one girdle fits all teen-age types. There are those who need high waistband models to control midriff tires. There are those who need models with thigh control, those who need the support in the rear, and those who need it in frost. So buy what you need and buy it in the right size. A too-tight girdle will only make you bulge all the more, and a too-loose one accomplishes nothing. A good rule to follow is to buy by your waist measurement, but if your hips are larger than your waistline by more than ten inches, then use your hip measurement as the guide.

Just as I advise teens to wear girdles, so do I advise teens to wear bras. Your own bust development will determine what you should select. Here, as in girdles, your figure dictates what kind of bra you need. You may require only a simple bandeau, or you may need the added support of a firm underhand with well-shaped cups. Whatever you need, find one that fits and then wear it. Remember also that in summer (and for party formals) you will probably need a strapless job, so don't overlook that department.

Bras and girdles come under the heading of underwear and should be laundered as often as you wear them. Girdles need special care; they should be washed only in lukewarm water, well rinsed, and dried in a towel. Do not wring them dry. Hang them to dry as you would anything else, but select a light and airy place.

Stockings are not precisely underwear. They are actually outer wear, but they demand the daily attention lavished on all lingerie in general. Rinse out new stockings before wearing. It helps strengthen threads. Always wash your stockings after each wearing. Use lukewarm water and mild soap flakes. Be careful not to snag them with rough or broken fingernails while pulling them on or off. Given good care, stockings, even the sheerest, should wear a long time.

Stockings and girdles go hand in hand because from one hangs the other. In hitching up your stockings to your garters, be careful to get your seams straight. Take care to fasten the garters at the reinforced top of the stocking, not in the sheer part beneath. Stockings should fit properly so that they don't twist about the leg and so that the reinforced top naturally meets the garter. To look sleek and slim, stockings should fit your leg like a second skin, and they will do so if you take care when you shop to select the size you wear, not the one you guess you wear.

Good fit is important in everything you wear. You probably think about it only in relation to your outer wear, but it is

GOOD GROOMING

equally essential in your underwear. A baggy slip will bungle the lines of a sleek dress or skirt. A too-long slip hitched up at the waist will make you seem thick—but even that is preferable to a slip that hangs below the hem of your skirt.

In looking for good fit in slips make sure that you have adequate room for movement without so much room that they seem ready to fall off. A slip should slide on smoothly, should not pull at the shoulders nor hang lopsided at the hem. It may seem like a small point, but remember also that color is important. All white is a good basic, but you should have a few dark ones to use with dark sheer dresses. Try to choose your slips as carefully as you do your accessories that show. If you do, you'll never slip up.

When it comes to honest-to-goodness accessories that show —hats, shoes, bags, gloves and scarves—remember to keep them clean and well pressed. Shoes should never get run down at the heel. All leather goods need to be polished—a little elbow grease and some wax will work wonders and make the leather last longer, too. White scarves, gloves, and collars—basic standbys—should always look fresh and sparkling clean. Be on the lookout for any torn seams, rips or jagged holes and repair them at once.

All good grooming means attention to details. It is the sum total of all the little things—the neat glove, the sewed-on button, the clean blouse, the freshly pressed skirt, the straight seam, the trim figure. It means looking after yourself and your clothes. It means hanging up your things when you take them off—a skirt that has lain rumpled on the closet floor all night is not going to look like a million dollars the next morning. It means using a clothes brush to remove dust and lint, and it means taking time to remove a stain with a cloth and some spot remover.

Most of all, good grooming means looking well put together. The girl who looks helter-skelter, whose colors don't match, and whose clothes are all awry is not well groomed, nor is the girl who is all pinned together, a perambulating pincushion, bristling like a porcupine at every seam. Pins are all right in their place, in an emergency, but they should be supplanted with something more permanent as soon as possible. Youll never get to be a pin-up girl if you depend on pins to keep you in your clothes.

Here is a morning check-up that you should try before you start for school

1. Underwear—Is it clean? Does it fit?

2. Blouse or sweater—Is it clean? Does it smell fresh?

3. Skirt—Any wrinkles, any spots or stray dirt?

4. Shoes—Are they polished and are they trim at the heels?

5. Stockings or socks—Are they clean? Is the seam straight?

6. A last look, to straighten out a lock of hair, check on nose, chin, and lipstick, and you're off.

"Gosh, I wish 1 had her clothes."

How often we envy others their clothes. We think that if we could have the same clothes, if we could afford as many, we too could look as pretty. But, truth to tell, even if a fairy godmother waved a wand and said, "So be it," chances are that what looked well on one girl would look not-so-well on the other. Individual figures present individual problems, and what is sauce for the goose ain't so for the gander.

Whether one goes by hackneyed adages or not, the matter of clothes boils down to the simple principle that one must dress to flatter oneself. Height, weight, general build, color of hair, eyes, and personality all play a part in what land of clothes to choose.

In spite of these individual considerations, there are a few general rules to guide one. These rules stem from the fact that the eye can be fooled. By optical illusion one can make a tall girl seem shorter, a short one taller, a thin one plumper, and a plump one thinner. All this can be done by a happy arrangement of lines.

Lines are what make up the overall shape of the dress. There are wrap-around lines, slim lines, pleated lines, gored lines, diagonal lines, radiating lines. Sometimes the lines are made more obvious by use of patterned fabric, such as plaids and stripes; and sometimes attention is called to lines by applique—such as a panel of contrasting color down the front opening of a dress.

By recognizing that such lines exist in every dress, you can then choose those dresses which have lines to flatter you. If you are tall, you want to select styles that tend to cut you down. Horizontal lines are your best bet. If you are short, then look for vertical or up-and-down lines. If you are thin, try for horizontal lines (provided you are also tall) and radiating lines—the effect gained from sunburst tucking and shirring. If you are plump, you want lines that call attention to the upper part of the figure; lines that lead the eye away from hips and waistline—big collars are one answer.

With a judicious study of line goes an equally careful study of color. What colors you choose to wear can have a telling effect on how you look. To find out which colors become you, start by placing yourself in one of the following categories:

1. Brunette—fair skinned.

2. Brunette—dark skinned.

3. Blonde—fair skinned.

4. Blonde—dark skinned.