Cliffe Girls Don't Like Hobble Skirts, but...

Annette Bollman, Radcliffe '49, has the sensation of being pursued by a small puppy when the "new look" long skirts flap against her legs.

And adjectives ranging from "hideous" to "unflattering," have been applied by Radcliffe undergraduates to the new skirt lengths. Puppies and strong words to the contrary, however, 30 out of 30 Cliffedwellers admitted yesterday that they are buying the knee-covering skirts and dropling hemlines on the old ones earthwards.

As Luey Manuellian, Radcliffe '50, put it: "I'm all for skirts that stop very little below the knee, but I don't think you can change style by joining a club. The clothes are already manufactured and they're going to be bought."

The new style of skirt was described as dangerous, unflattering, expensive, and an annoyance to wear. Miss Manuellian caught her heel in the hem of one and all but fell down a flight of stairs.

"In long skirts, short girls look lost and tall girls looks like beanpoles," said Dierdre O'Brien, Radcliffe '50.

"Too expensive! Too much trouble! Terrible!" exclaimed Kathy Robinson. Radcliffe '48, "but I'm going to wear them."

Speaking as a 1947 guest editor of Mademoiselle, women's fashion magazine. Marry Lou Buckley, Radcliffe, '49, thinks that a moderate length will be adopted by college girls. "Thirteen or 14 inches from the ground is quite enough for daytime wear," she said. "Tall girls will discover that skirts well below the knee are graceful and flattering to them, but extreme length will make short girls look henny."

An undergraduate whose husband is a Harvard junior confessed that the man in the family selects the clothes she wears. "We went shopping for a dress," she said, "and he turned thumbs down on all the new lengths. 'But,' said the saleswoman after I had modelled everything in my size for his approval. 'everyone, simply everyone, is wearing the new skirt!' 'Madam,' he retorted, 'would you regard me as a character who wants his wife to look like everyone?"

A senior, asked for a comment on the subject screamed.