Everyone is familiar with the traditional conical dunce’s hat, a large letter ‘D’ printed in black on the front. But how many would appreciate the value of a jingle bell sewn on a short tassel attached at its apex? How many have even thought of such an embellishment? Jingle bells are easily acquired from any traditional haberdashers or haberdashery department of some larger stores. So why not? (See article below).
Another thought -today’s ‘social media’ actually makes it easier to drive a wedge between a headstrong young thing and her compatriots if properly managed and manipulated. Ever thought about that? So... The use of bells to enforce corner time discipline? Nothing paticularly to do with my INSTITUTIONALISED series of novels, but an interesting concept nonetheless.
THE IMBECILE DRESS
The Imbecile Dress is designed with a view to the enhancement and augmentation of the benefit to be derived from such traditional disciplinary impositions as corner standing and other forms of discipline requiring the maintenance of some manner of prescribed posture. In the first instance the dress itself is designed to draw attention to the wearer, by way of its idiosyncratic styling and short skirt; to this end the sailor collar and integral neck scarf provide for a suitably juvenile aspect. Variations, such as the high stiffened collar lend scope for even greater disciplinary vigour, in correcting poor posture for example. The addition of jingle bells on the points of the collar, around the cuffs and hanging from the hem of the skirt allow for an extraordinarily high degree of control to be exerted over the young lady, even in the absence of direct supervision, when the discipline of corner standing is backed up by the threat of corporal punishment. She can be arranged in any number of postures as a refinement of the discipline - such as with arms folded in the small of her back, hands on head or fingertips on shoulders and elbows out to the sides for example – and the disciplinarian can retire to his or her writing desk or favourite reading chair safe in the knowledge that the slightest deviation from the imposition will ring out like alarm bells.
Outside of corner standing and so on, worn for extended periods the sound of jingling bells, especially those mounted on the points of the collar in the high collar variation, can be expected to become tiresome in the extreme to the pretty young thing, becoming a form of discipline in itself, encouraging her to ‘glide’ rather than stride, keep her arms down by her sides and her head straight and looking forward and discouraging any sudden energetic movements. No more her gaily dancing around or rushing about as if on the tennis court, she will be restricted to slow, deliberate and unhurried movements, a tiresome state of affairs for an energetic young thing, but a constant reminder to her that she is under control, that her affairs are no longer her own.
There is absolutely no reason why the disciplinarian should not take advantage of this aspect of the outfit’s design, after all he or she is unlikely to want to be bothered by jingle jangling bells. A few days of listening out for the tell-tale tinkling and quickly backing it up with a stroke or two of the cane or crop across the back of her thighs or across her bottom given in a timely manner so that she associates it with the jangling will pay dividends in the long term.
As far as refinements go, the dress already features a pair of metal loops, one at the rear of the belt, the other at the rear of the collar to which a leash can be attached much in the manner of a toddler’s ‘reins’. Alternatively this feature can be used to fasten her in a high, straight-backed chair to enforce maintaining a long-term seated posture for disciplinary purposes, whether for line-writing impositions or simply to keep her out of the way or as a punishment in itself. It has been shown that simply being left facing a blank white wall in a quite room for an extended period can have a very satisfying salutary effect on a wilful girl and is a good starting off point for the recalcitrant, pouting, foot stamping headstrong type who refuses to submit to corporal punishment and who threatens to run away.
A further refinement can be the addition of a name badge similar to the type sometimes worn by shop assistants, either pinned over the breast, as illustrated, or directly embroidered on to the fabric. This can give her name or can have any one of many words or phrases calculated to add to the feeling of humiliation the dress itself is designed to engender written on it. In the case of the illustration above, that word is ‘IMBECILE’, a term likely to capsulate how she feels with all those bells jingling like a court jester. Another variation, shown above, has the word ‘IMBECILE’ embroidered across the rear of the collar – which is why it is called ‘The Imbecile Dress’ - where of course it might be covered by her hair, unless, that is, she is threatened with a haircut! The word ‘imbecile’ is preferred over ‘dunce’ say, in that it better implies simple-mindedness and yet does so more fully than ‘simpleton’, say, in that it also implies some manner of mental instability or mental incompetence. The use of the traditional dunces’ cap, incidentally, perfectly compliments The Imbecile Dress for corner standing. Refined by the incorporation of a bell on a tassel attached at its apex, the traditional conical Dunce cap can be expected to magnify any movement of her head causing any attempt to look to the left or the right to result in tell-tale jingling, and a hard slap across the back of her thighs.
While essentially shapeless, to play down the wearer’s figure and thus not risk bolstering her self-esteem in that manner while adding to its juvenile appearance, nevertheless The Imbecile Dress is designed to be worn over heavy, rigidly boned, corsetry of the most restrictive type. Whether that corsetry supports stockings is up to the disciplinarian. There is a school of thought that says she should go bare legged, apart from a tiny pair of ankle socks or anklets and childish T-bar ankle strap shoes.
The Imbecile Dress is designed to go with flounced short-legged bloomer-style knickers, the frilled legs of which – gathered into deep rubber lined leg openings just above the knees - are designed to show below the abbreviated skirt, and this works well with ankle socks. On the other hand there is the view that stockings provide a juxtaposition with the juvenile appearance of the rest, which actually makes that childishness even more apparent. Either way, the corsetry is key and in fact is key to ensuring the wearer is not tempted to divest herself of the outfit. The Imbecile Dress possesses a feature – a metal ring – hidden discreetly beneath the bow, scarf or tie (which is integral with the dress) – which is designed to lock together with a matching ring mounted on the busk of the corset by way of a small padlock. The design of the corsetry which goes with this outfit is outlined elsewhere.
Conceptually The Imbecile Dress is as adaptable to the institutional environment as it is suitable to the domestic one, whether it be for the girl continuing her education at home, the new young wife who needs to learn her place or the runaway who, given room, board and shelter, proves reluctant to show her gratitude.