Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-12-07
Eugenies' Old Cl0'-AnnuaI Sale of
the Cast of Wardrobe of the French
Rr.nroxa

Eugenies' Old ClO'-AnnuaI Sale OF
the Cast of Wardrobe of the French
Empress.
Empress Eugene, who sets the fashions
Of the civilized world, has sale of cast
of dresses every year, and as she rarely
wears dress twice, the number sold is
slwsys very great. A Paris letter writer
gives a graphic account of a sale just
terminated. He says that the custom
was established by the royal families OF
the Tuileries long before the great Revo-
luton, acceded to by the Empress jose
phine, continued under the Restoration,
maintained by the Princess of the House
Of Orleans, and kept up with great spirit
under the present reign. A long gallery,
which runs along the basement story of
the palace, looking into the garden just
opposite the Prince Impsrials Winter
walk, IS fitted up from one end to the
other with oak wsrdrobes. This is called
the De Froque of the palace. 1t is here
that the refuse dresses and the cast off
apparel of the royal and imperial ladies,
who have succeeded each other for the
last hundred years in their occupation of
the Tuileries, are invariably borne, when
rejected from the floor above.
These wardrobe cupboards, numerous
and extensive as they are, get generally
we'll filled during the year, and when the
four seasons are considered thoroughly
over, a sale is made of the whole, where
every article is priced beforehand, and
visitors are admitted to view and pur-
chase without the observance of further
ceremony than the presentation of an in
vitation card from one of Her Msjesty's
attendants, to whom the privilege OF
granting them belongs. The sale of the
regal wardrobe of the Tuileries is con-
structed on the strictest principle Of
equity. The shutters of the long gallery
are closed, and it is lighted from one
end to the other with lamps and candele-
bra, 90 that the light is stronger than it
would be were daylight admitted, as the
ceiling is low, and the windows sunk
deep into the wall. Every article is
ticketed, and, of course, no deviation
from the original decision can possibly
be allowed: .f
A long line of stretchers are placed all
down the middle of the gallery, the doors
of the wardrobes on either side are flung
open, and the visitor, walking slowly
down on one side and returning on the
other, makes choice of what may suit
her taste, and inscribing the number 1t
bears upon q card, hands the latter to
the attendant in waiting at the door, and
departs. The stretchers are occupied by
the shawls, the wardrobe by the dresses,
the shelves by under-linen, while sort
of cou inter- at the further end of the gal
lery is filled with the champignons, on
which are exhibited the bonnets and
bead-dresses. The white satin dress,
most splendidly embroidered in silver,
with the tunic of bulonce gauze and
silver mouches, confined by bands Of
ponceau velvet, in which her Mejesty
went to the opera with the King Consort
of Spain, was not quoted higher than
the nankeen colored dress and jacket,
braided with green, which was recog-
nized as the uniform invented by the
Empress for the drive at Fontainblesu.
To be sure, the buttons were of mals-
chite, and set in gold, but the material of
the dress could scarcely be considered ss
bearing any value whatever. The shawls
were principally of French manufacture,
and mostly for summer wear; the cloaks
and mantles, deprived of their lace fur,
unattractive. The utmost exsggeration
seems to exist in the prices put upon the
bennets. In the first place, the article
itself is out of fashion almost as soon as
seen; in the next, it possesses no re-
sources whatever, and, above all, it is
liable to greater deterioration than the
dress. The habit of leaning back in the
which has become so general,
destroys the bonnet Immediately, and
renders it shabby in form, even while
still bright aud fresh in color. The pro-
ceeds of the sale are generally bought up
by the Wallets and women of the ward
robe, who dispose of what remains unsold
to the great dealers in Paris, who again
sell them to their customers at immense
prices.