15 MAY 1941, Page 20

Why Women Wear Clothes. By C. Willett Ctmnington. (Faber% 7s.

6d.)

DR. CUNNINGTON writes of "Man " and " Woman " and has in addition a somewhat inelastic theory of a sexual nature to account for kid-gloves or flowers in a hat (" primitive fertility symbols "). This, together. with excruciating references to fair charmers, anldes (peeps at) and bustles (titillating, these), makes difficult reading for those who gratefully remember Dr. Cunnington's magnificent dictionary, Women's Clothing in the Nineteenth Century.