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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 1912)
6 fi&X?'Mt& X-Sss ip. BT 6TERXJXG HEILIG. , vS W55) - -J HVlWr tW I f' HTl ? i lAKIS. July 9. (Special correa-j pondtnce.) This It not a fashion article. But, madame.- would you be posted on new styles? It is a great problem: and I offer you a "cinch." I see fair women on the spot, in Paris, eagerly studying through the special fashion quarterlies, "Femina," the "Vie Heureuse" and the fashion photographs of Paris daily papers; yet their hearts and Intelligences are not satisfied. They buy one gown from a great rue Royale establishment In order to see 20 models. Yet they are not sure. They rubber through the Acacias at the fashionable noon-hour when rich and elegant women try the newest things. But which of the new things will "taike?" They stand medi tative before the beautifully-dressed wax flowers of the department stores' shew windows and compare their Judgment with that of big secondary Paris commerce. The department stores often have a feeling of what will take. Would you be almost as well posted as these Paris women? Here goes. I have been much of late with Am erican wholesale buyers in and out the great "exhibitions" which the most famous ladies' tailors, dressmakers and milliners hold for them behind closed doers. I have seen experienced ones laugh at a new buyer for loading up with "ugly styles" and "trial balloons,1 Cultivating Americas Trade. But first of all keep posted on the New Tork styles. There Is an Ameri can tasta which may may not be dis regarded. And the Frenchlest of Paris gowns loses some of Its atmosphere when transplanted. The successful American buyers know this. Three such wholesale buyers from Vienna, New York and London were at Jeanne 'Castle's. Of five particular hats each bought all five; there was no doobt. Concerning 10 others they laughed, disputed and "kidded" each others choice. TVhen their bills were made out each had a lot of different bats. They paid the highest retail price from J1S to J50 and hurried off with their hats and various "mem oranda," Each "memorandum" Is made up of lists, descriptions and ad dresses. It Is the pedigree of the hat. It tells where the duplicate form may 7be bought wholesale, and each detail of trimming with Its name, quantity and wholesale price. So each buyer hastened to his addresses and bought enough material to reproduce each hat SO times. Each did the same at Georgette's, at Esther Meyer's, at Lewes. Do they imagine that all of them BY DON MARK LE'JCN. JUST come up on the roof, sir, and Til show you the cage and tell you all that I know about the profes sor, but before we go a step farther let me warn you that I don't believe a word of what the - newspapers have printed about him. No. slr: I won't and I can't believe that such a true gentle man as the professor always showed himself to be could have deliberately set out to rob the government of over 115.000. It's preposterous to think of It but It's Just like the newspapers to make the matter as sensational as pos sible. .Take care you don't tear your coat on that nalL I'll have my boy pull it out when he comes home from school. Now. sir, step this way, and you can ee for yourself how innocent the pro fessor was of any evil Intentions. Look! Do you think this flat tin roof looks like a robber's roost? It's ridiculous; yet to read the newspapers youwould think that we landladies are the friends of robbers, and all manner of thieves. We landladies have a hard enough struggle to live, without the news papers making it any harder for us. Yea, sir, this is the cage where the professor kept his three big eagles, and now I'll tell you how he came to stop with me, and why he had such strange like pets. You see. I had Just lately taken this house and had spent the last dollar I had in the world in fur nishing lt and was glad enough to have such a nice gentleman as the pro fessor coma along the second day after I put up my sign and ask if I hadn't a furnished front room to let, with run-( 1 L$) UUAJLUlOl -J. will be an equal success In Paris? Certainly not They know that half their purchases will fall more or less dead In Paris. But those five hats which all agreed upon will, likely, make a hit. The eye of the trade sees it. the temperament of the trade feels it. Two other hats Jeanne Castel forced on them. All accepted but the Lon don man; she fought it out with him and conquered. One of these buyers, who knows all about it. but expresses himself clumsily, said: 'A peculiar characteristic of the French merchant Is his obstinacy in persisting that you buy what he thinks you ought to want, rather than what you do want; and if you persist in hav ing your own way, he regards you with pity and scorn. In doing business he has much more professional pride, thinking more of obtaining an artistic result and less of making money, than the average Anglo-Saxon. This is not understood by ell Americans, who, ac customed to having their slightest com mand executed without comment, ac cuse French tradesmen with lack of desire to please." All of the three laughed at a new buyer for a really great American house who Insisted on picking up a dozen "ugly hats," which he took to be magnificent novelties. Beware of Novelty Dreaeea. Novel they were. Will they take at home? Will each of his "ugly hats ' be duplicated 50 times? And will you. j ning water and a good- deep closet where he could keep his clothes. Well, sir, I snapped him up at once, as I could see he was a gentleman, and, besides, he looked neat and prosperous, and I felt I wouldn't have to worry about him not paying his rent on time. But before he took the room he asked if he couldn't go up on the roof and see if lt would suit him for a certain purpqse. I was somewhat surprised at him wanting to rent the roof, but thinking him a photographer, or some thing like that I brought him up here and he was real pleased. Eo he told me his business, and I rented this roof to him without any hesitation, at all. It Isn't every day one can rent a scrap of roof for more than a good sunny front room, and you can't blame me for doing so. Well, sir. he was a kiteologist as he told me. He flew kites to study the winds and the temperature at & great height He wasn't in the employ of the government but was studying on his own account He took his silk hat off and sat down right over there, and ex plained all about it to me. His kites weren't like those that the boys fly. nor were they like I have seen pictures of In the papers great big box-like things but they were eagles real live eagles. He had three of them, and he would attach a strong string to their legs and let them fly up into the heavens with a thermometer and barometer at tached, or some such-like scientiflc in strument, and, when he was ready, he would gently draw them down again. Well, sir. it waa a pleasure to hear him talk; he knew everything- about; THE SUNDAY O perhaps, buy one, madame? I will tell you how to avoid It. It looks very, very . novel like the howling novelty it is. "Cgly gowns" are more dangerous, because more Important. My buyer friend explained it to me In his didac tic way: "Here Is where the unwary and In experienced may easily go astray," he said. At the beginning of each season there are always a certain number of dresses shown which are utterly un practical what the dressmakers call "ugly dresses." These are made to give piquancy and Interest to the ex hibitions, and are often amusing; but like the ornaments on a cake, they are only made to look at. These "ugly dresses' sometimes prove a 'tempta tion to the inexperienced buyer, who mistakes their eccentric or startling characteristics as representing the true Parisian note whence disappointment later on." The Individual tourist-lady buying Paris gowns herself plunges, even oftener, on these "ugly gowns." She is misled, not so much by bad taste as by anxiety to make friends at home Jealous. "After a trip to Paris," said the wholesale buyer, "friends at home often expect to be shown something French and different to what they ever saw before, while In Paris the gown worn by the elegant French woman Is often of the simplest. The secret of dress ing a la Farlsienne is not so much to eagles and kites and the heavens, and of course I consented, for him to bring his birds and fly them from my roof, not supposing the landlord Igos the house from would care at all. Which I can say,' he didn't So the next day the professor came with his three eagles and placed them up here on tne roof SX T Fx K EGO XI AN . PORTLAND. CAN - BpyRs have a French gown, but to have the right French gown, the one which suits the style and make-up of the wearer. It is to this Instinct in re gard to what to wear and which guides to a correct choice of every detail and accessory, that French women owe their reputation of being chic and ele gant and which is responsible to a large extent for what la known as the French finish. "But," I objected, "why do they force such horrors on the innocent?" "They don't," he answered. . "No French dressmaker would encourage a customer to buy a dress unsuitable to her. He has too much professional pride; his object is to dress each client- so that she may be a credit to him, .and bring him other customers." "Stubborn women, or pig-headed buyers," he laughed. "When they see the choice is fixed upon an ugly gown or hat. or a "nightingale, the Paris dressmaker or milliner does not inter fere. The stubborn purchaser would be offended. And, note, oftenest lt is a suspicious purchaser the wholesale buyer who Imagines the "ugly the 'has been,' or the simple 'failure' is" the most chio Just because the dealer Is trying not to sell It" "Do you pretend that no great dress maker or milliner of Paris ever forces failures or has-beens on the Innocent?'- "Never, In styles," he answered. "In materials, perhaps; now and the they may try to "place a piece of expensive stuff that has not 'taken,' but not often. ...."- Now we are getting down to tacks. I began by promising a great tip how to tell the new styles as surely as; THE AT in that big cage, and lt was good" to see how he did love those birds, and play with them, and teach them all kinds of tricks. My gracious, but they were strong! I really think the smallest of the three could have lifted a big child in its claws; and the professor explained how that they must be strong to carry freZtcfJ of iryJ'Ye . JULY 21, 1312. - CET - fiRsfLssK In'At New fASHis. And It Is Possible for the American Woman to Follow Dame Fashion's Latest De crees Without Going Abroad to Shop The Inside Story of Freakish Styles. SC. 'ft: Paris ladies on the spot who have so much trouble. Who first sees the new gowns? Why, Indisputably, the wholesale American buyers who reside In Paris or come periodically, expressly to select new models for duplication In big or exclusive American establishments. These wholesale buyers oftenest men see the new tailor-made and dress maker gowns long before the most privileged and elegant women of Paris. I quote the exact words of one of these men: "During the period Of the creation and preparation of the new models," he says, "each couturier guards Jealously his doors against all outsiders. When the collection is ready the first to view same are the buyers from America; for as their purchases have to cross the Atlantic they need to buy earlier than the buyers from France and other countries in Europe. Also the dressmakers are not so afraid that gowns sold to Americans will be quickly copied and sold in Europe. For this reason, no gown Is sold and delivered to a French or other Euro pean customer within a certain period, so that Americans are the first to see the new things." . Can an American 'dressmaker or mil liner on her first trip to Paris get this inside view? I have met several such. Hundreds cross before each season. Each great American city sees a tense. lone woman, with experience or get ting it start on the pilgrimage of styles, to wrest the right things from kaleidoscopic Paris. Do they succeed? Yes, lt is admirable how well they suc ceed. Their best plan which they soon dlscover-ls to employ a high-class, ex pensive "commissionaire, or technical AND UJ5 his scientific instruments so high In the air. ' Well, a week passed and he didn't fly his eagles, for he was waiting for them to get accustomed to their new location, so they would return like car rier doves in. case the string tied to their legs got broken; and at the end of the week, before the professor could try his experiment at all, that dreadful accident happened, which the papers made st much of. and which frightened the professor, who was timid, like all real scientific men, so that he never came back, even for his clothes. You see. Just across the street from here is the sub-treasury, and every lit tle while a wagon drives np to the door filled with big canvas bags full of gold, and the clerks will come out and get the gold and carry lt Into tne vaults. Well, on Tuesday morning. Just after I had finished some washing and was go ing out to get a new handle to my Irons, which had got broken, the wagon drove up before the sub-treasury door and the clerks began to- take out the sacks of gold and carry them into the bank, I can truly say that I'm not by nature a covetous woman, but naturally, I passed and watched the men a moment or two, thinking what I could do if I had . what was in Just - one of those sacks. Why, there must have been as much as $4000 or $5000 in each sack, and there were dozens of them, I be lieve. x ! Suddenly.as I was standing there, a darkness seemed to come over the sun, and at the same time a strange flying sound made me look up. and there were the professor' .three eagle broken fashion guide-and-agent Listen to my experienced wholesale friend: "However, to gain admittance to view the display of new models, the American buyer must possess a certain standing or be represented by a well known commissionaire; and such buy ers stand a much better chance to see the best things, and see them early, than any private customer either French or American. Another thing in our favor: "In creating their models and mak ing up their collection, the majority of the great couturiers have the American buyer in mind; and the object is to produce a range of models to suit all tastes, and to meet the demands of the different countries which send buy ers to Paris, while Impressing the French stamp, taste and elegance on all. Americans are among their best customers, pay the biggest prices for their dresses and are welcomed and taken care of accordingly. However, no buyer can treat these fashion ex nibitions lightly; and should he view out of curiosity and not buy, or should he disregard the unwritten etiquette governing these things, he may find the doors closed to him next season. "Now, there are really four seasons for American buyers; and four sets of models are generally made by the dressmakers who cater for the Ameri can trade. "First of all are the two very early seasons on a small scale, made for the wholesale cloak; suit people who come over in mldseason, choose their models and take them ffack to ' have them copied and distributed over trie country. These do not of course, get the newest models, which are not yetJ. GOLDEN loose from the cage I felt real sorry for the professor, to think that his birds had got loose and down they came and lighted on the wagon full of gold. lifted up my apron to shoo them back to the roof .when if those three mis chlevous birds didn't settle right down Into the bags full of gold, and each one grab a bag In his claws, like I saw them grab a bag with a dead rabbit in it on the roof one day, and no sooner bad they grabbed the bags of gold than up they flew again to the roof. I was astonished beyond measure, but the clerks who were carrying In the gold were simply dumfounded- And no wonderl Supposing the eagles should spill the gold or fly away with it why the poor clerks might have to return lt out of their salaries, and I hear they don't get paid so much, though they are employed by the government. Well, sir. the moment I could collect my scattered senses, I rushed back into the house to tell the professor what had happened, for, as I hadn't seen him on the roof, I supposed he was in his room. Of course the clerks followed me, and we all hurried up here where you are standing now.. The three eagles were goneand the professor was no where to be found. Poor man. he was out somewhere in the city, and I felt like running down and warning him not to return, for fear they would hold him responsible for the gold. I saw that the eagles each had lately had a long cord tied to its legs and I thought nothing of lt more than proper, but the clerks acted like a lot of wild men. They vowed that the eagles had been let down to steal the gold, and when they, saw that this roof leads j created as their models have to be bought soon enough to allow of them being copied In large quantities and distributed in time for the early sea son trade. How far these early models represent those of the big fashion dis plays taking place a little later, is largely a matter of chance, the differ ence may be great or lt may be very slight "Thirdly and fourthly, to speak of the buyers sent over by American re tail houses to visit the authoritative fashion displays which take place around the lBth of February, for the Spring season, and the 15th of August, for the Winter season, these do get the best of everything Paris has to show. "These buyers choose their models, and in a few weeks they are in Amer ica, at the disposition of their clients, and a flying trip over to Paris would find the same things in the French salons as in the best of the American stores. "The Idea that the Paris dressmak ers prepare two sets of models, one for the French trade and one for the American, is absolutely erroneous. It would cost far too much, and many people will perhaps hardly believe that at the beginning of the season the dressntikers themselves scarcely know what tne coming fashlons wlll be. Each house knows its own models, and has Its own ideas as to what new styles are likely to be adopted; but as to what their competitors are preparing behind their carefully guarded doors, they know very little. "Even in Paris, fashions vary. One house favors one style, and another something different; but at the same time there are certain ideas which are expressed by all In a certain number of their models. Exactly like those five hats which all three buyers, Eng lish, Viennese and American at once agreed on." You have only to be cautious and avoid the eccentricities in order to be better posted than your average Paris sister. The Paris buyers of the great Ameri can department stores and other high retailers regularly stand between you and "ugly" models, which often de ceive tourists. Yes, but what about "failures" and "has beens"? You have only to follow carefully the foremost Paris illustrated and "comic" weeklies not the fashion pa pers or the fashion pages, but the pic tured costumes in designs of the great illustrators of Paris life in "l'lllustra tion." the "Vie Parisienne," the "Rtref and "Sourire." These amiable illustrators have no task to illustrate fashions so their products are the more precious. They illustrate Paris life of the moment, in its gay, sparkling and elegant sides. They absorb, unconsciously, those "cer tain ideas expressed by all" great dress, makers the very ones which you de sire to pick up in American retail trade. Then, being sure you re right, buy, buy, with both hands, right and left. How to get the money for it that of course, is another matter. EAGL over to the next building yonder, they said that the owner of the birds had taken the gold and climbed through an open window in that building Into an empty room, and that way escaped with the 115,000. Of course I saw at once how dread fully dishonest it all might be made to look, and I sat down and almost cried. At first the clerks and the officers paid no more attention to me than if I had been a sick kitten, but when they learned that I was the landlady and knew all about the eagles and the pro fessor, they asked me a thousand ques tions, and I was dragged off to court like a criminal,- and the poor profes sor's name was mixed up with robbery and thieving, and I don't know what else. But somehow, he learned about the mischief his eagles had got into, and never returned. Of course the eagles flew away with the gold bags poor birds, I don't blame them a bit for making the most of their liberty and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the police should find that the birds had dropped the gora on some roof, when they discovered that the bags didn't contain rabbit, as they had Imagined. (Copyright by Shortstory Pub. Co.) His Very Own Car. "Well, Bildad," said Jimpsonberry, 1 suppose, now that you are living out In the country, you have a car." Yes," said Bildad. "That is, my neighbors and I have one together." 'Really?' said Jimpsonberry. "Co operative arrangement eh? Not a bad idea. What make is it?" On, Just plain Trolley." Judge.
