Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-06-04
THE MAN MILLINER OF PARIS
An Anteerat OF Fashion and hts ArIs
tOcralIc Supporters. f-..-l

| i tOcraiIe Supporters. a-.l
The correspondent of the New
York Times writing from Paris,
gives the following gOssiping sketch
of Worth, the famous autoerat Of
fashion, and of some of. his peeu-
harlties 7.ga -.E.leffl ssoH. 81.
1t would not be right to say any
thing against Mr.. Worth, the man
milliner of the Rue de la Paix, for
he is the prince of industrials in his
way. His establishment is a curl
osity; at least that is what people
generally say. There is certainly
none other like it. 1t is GU
rious, the evening of a fancy
dress ball at the Tuileries to see
the jam Of crested carriages before
his door 1t is curious to see
ladies, as deeply crested as their
carriages, take tickets at the door
so as to be admitted in turn TO the
presence of the great man inside.
1t is curious to witness their as
sault on the lunch set out for them
in the waiting room and which sug
gests that perhaps they do not all
penetrate further into the temple of
fashion. Once inside, it is some
thing more than curious to wit
ness what takes place The artist,
a gOod-looking man of forty, with
black hair and pale face, dressed
loosely in a black dress suit, and
with white craVat-a man who
speaks all languages and does not
know what country he belongs to,
although he sometimes forgets him.
slf and says he is an Englishman
stands in the middle of the floor,
with his eyes on the lady custO-
mer, examines her as he would a
horse he was going to buy. He
makes a female assistant turn her
around, trot her up and down, sit
down, stand up, and finally he
issues bis. fat, from which there is
no appeal, and the customer must
take the dress, the cut and the price
he dictates. ''That or nothing,
madam in anything else both
you and l would be ruined ! 7
Then, when the costume is finished,
they must return with it on, to see
whether it does not need a touch
here and there before its advent in
the world. Mr.. Worth goes through
all this process with such decorum
and with such an evident eye to
art, that the fashionable world,
from the Empress down, declares
that ia fashion there is but one god
and Worth is his prophet.
But there is good side to Worth
that the world in general does not
know of. Worth is liberal to the
trade; he does not charge Fifty
francs to a smaller tradesman for
q pattern he gives it TO him. IT,
may be that he considers his posi-
ton so exalted that he need not
fear rivalry; but, at any rate, he en-
courages poorer work people by
giving them his inventions, and
nobody else does that. Moreover,
he invents bonnets and boots and
hoopskirts and collars, and gives
them TO the people engaged in the
manufacture of these several arti-
eles, and charges them nothing
for them. He has thus been the
fortune of q crowd of poor people,
who look upon him as a sort OF
benefactor. He is alone the inyen-
tor of the greater part of the fash
ions which fashionable ladies
wear in all parts of the world. lie
shapes the forms of wOmankind
the wide world over. Was ever
mortal so omniscient before2 /
Does he get rich2 No, for he is
an artist, u Bohemian, q spend
thrift. He keeps open house at his
country place at Suresnes the year
round, and the champagne flows in
rivers, the pate de .toie gras melts
by the ton. But his partner and
business man takes care of his
money and is rich, and that shows
what kind of business it is to be
the high priest of fashion. 4