True, every woman would like to have the ideal figure; to possess the slender, perfectly-proportioned figure. But if you cannot have it, do not waste time in vain regrets. Decide right now what type of figure you have and play up its best points for all you are worth.
Know your type! Just as the hands are distinguishable by their variations of shape, so the human figure shows many distinct differences. The modern movement aims to bring out the latent beauty in the various figure types.
Stand before a long mirror and take a good look at yourself-au naturel, for preference. Steady yourself with an observing and unprejudiced eye, as if you were seeing yourself for the first time. Perhaps your back has a too-deep in curve at the waist; your hips may be the thing that catch and hold your attention, or on the other hand, you may suffer from too-generous embonpoint (such a nice word for "tummy," don't you think?).
What's to be done? If you wear the right foundation garment you can depend on it to do its share by supporting you in the right places, but do give it a little hearty cooperation. It works from the outside in; you must work from the inside out. You must get down and exercise those muscles that support your bones-that hold your back in line, your hips down, and your diaphragm in.
You Are a Sway-back Type
Today the pretty curves of the sway back figure are very much in vogue, but those of you who possess this extremely youthful figure should be careful not to let yourself overcurve-especially at the back waist. This will throw the diaphragm forward, and- horrible thought-give you a noticeable derrière (the nice French word for it).
So make up your mind that you are going to keep your curves, but to keep them under control.
Here's an exercise a very simple one -which will keep that spine in correct alignment. Place a chair with its back about a foot from the wall--just far enough so that you can squeeze through. Now edge through-and notice as you do how you bring your buttocks in and under you. You do the samething when you edge past people already seated in the theatre. You slim up without realising it. You straighten out your spine, draw in your "tummy" and diaphragm, and flatten out those rear curves.
Worried About Your Hips?
Don't be! If they're very big because of bony structure no power on earth can change them. But if you carry yourself well you can make them seem half their size.
The thing you have to guard against is flesh. Unfortunately, this figure, already large in the hips, displays a tendency to accumulate unwanted flesh below the waist, adding inches just at the one place where it is not wanted.
So exercise!
Here's an entertaining way of getting the hips, particularly that part known as the buttocks, where they should be. It's splendid for the abdominal muscles as well.
Lie flat on the floor. Now bend your right knee up and towards your chin. Squeeze your thigh-bone hard against your body so that you feel the contraction of the groin muscles and muscles of the lower abdomen. Stop before you're tired, and. try the left leg. Then raise both legs at once, pressing the thighs hard against the abdominal wall. And, if you're really ambitious, stand up, lean your back against the nearest wall, and repeat the exercise with first one leg and then the other.
If you're doing it correctly you're bound to feel pressure way down in your abdominal muscles and in the muscles of your back. These muscles are vastly Important because they're the ones that hold your pelvis at the right angle and your buttocks down and under.
Remember always to:
1. Keep your feet parallel, letting your weight fall not on your toes, not on your heels, but directly over your ankle-bones.
2. Bring your knees immediately over your ankles and keep them easy. Locked knees are ugly and give rise to many figure faults.
3. You know where your hip-bones are? Well, line them up above your kneecaps and ankle-bones and keep your hips well down at the back.
4. Unless you especially admire pouter pigeons, don't shove your chest up and out. Keep your ribs easy and low.
5. Don't tense your shoulders; don't thrust them back; don't droop them forward; don't hold them high about your ears Hold them easily, far out at the sides.
6. Balance your head naturally, so that a line passing through the lobe of your ear will also cut through the middle of your shoulder.
Individuality has spread through all phases of life; it has relieved us of the burden of being standardized in thought, in action, in dress, in the face, in the figure. Be true to yourself, to your best self is the gospel of 1916.
