Wholly aside from aesthetic and moral considerations, fashion is an

economic absurdity, and there is little to be said in its favor.

Nevertheless, we can appreciate the wisdom in Gina Lombrero’s belief 【M1】_________

the enormous stress which women lay on everything pertaining with 【M2】_________

clothes and the art of personal adornment is connected with the

tendency to crystallize sentiment into an object. A woman symbolizes

every important event in her life by a special dress; and a jewel or a

beautiful gown means to a woman that an official decoration means to a 【M3】_________

man.

The temptation of dress is the last step in the ceremony to the 【M4】_________

novice has to submit before entering the cloister. The memory of the

gown which she might have worn was the strongest temptation that assailed

St. Catherine before she took her solemn vows—a gown, embroidering 【M5】_________

with gold and stars,like that her sisters had worn, which her 【M6】_________

grandchildren would have gazed with eyes filled with wonder and 【M7】_________

admiration…

It a woman’s clothes cost the family and society a little time, money

and activity, they allow woman, independent in lies and calumnies, to 【M8】_________

triumph and come to the fore outside of man’s world and competition.

They allow woman to satisfy with her desire to be the first in the most 【M9】_________

varied fields by giving her the illusion that she is the first, and at the

same time enable her rival to have the same illusion. Clothes absorb 【M10】________

some of woman’s activity which might otherwise be diverted to more or

less worth-while ends; they give woman real satisfaction.

【M7】