The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-03-21
MONEYS WEAR,
What IT Costs to Dress-The Value of Sim
plicity, Economy and Style.


clothes. In the first place they are alb
solutely necessary; in the second, t.
avoid being conspicuous, she must, a:
nearly as possible, dress like othel
! women in the same social circle. Read
ing the dry goods advertisements which
! fill our journals, and the price-card:
ltemptingly displayed in shop-windows,
one, unfamiliar with the subject, is apt
! to imagine that women's wear is by nc
! means expensive. Five cent calicoe>
! and ten cent lawns, it is true, make
pretty and becoming home dresses fol
morning. Yet few men would care to
promenade Chestnut Street or attend a
fashionable reception with a lady so at
tired. For state occasions state at
tire - is obligatory, and this is by nc
means cheap Some time since Jennie
June, in one of her monthly letters,
gave $500 as the minimum yearly sum
on which a woman might make cred
table appearance in New York society
The statement caused howl of horror
from various provincial journals; to
which she replied with list of the
items necessary for woman's ward
robe and their cost few of which items
were extravagant for woman of good
income. Those of us who have attend
edeyen one opening at fashionable fur
nishing store are aware that $3.50
is not an unusual price for a
handsome suit, while imported
dresses are often much higher. Nor
could the same dresses be had much
cheaper by purchasing the materials and
having them made up by fashionable
dressmaker. At one of our leading
stores where the dressmaking depart
ment forms an important branch of the
business and is well patronized, the
price for making silk dress is 1926.
This inclades the necessary Innings, fac
ings, whaleboues, ETC., all of good quail
ity and worth altogether aboutS3. Some
of our Chestnut Street modistes, writ
ing Madame before their names, charge
for the same service $50, and find no
lack of customers. Wealthy women
upon special occasions sometimes in
dulge in unlimited extravaganza. Thus,
a year or two ago, the costumes worn
to the New York Charity Ball by the
ladies-fOur in number-of one family
cost altogether, exclusive of jewelry,
$4,000. The cost of Miss Vanderbilt'S
trousseau, it will be remembered, ex
ceeded $4,000; Nellie Grant had as
part of hers two sets of laces each val
ued at $4,000, and within the past few
months there have been brides in our
own sober city whose trousseaus have
aggregated in cost sum which to a
person of moderate ideas would repre-
sent a comfortable independence for
life. Still every thing is by compari
son. Mrs. HayeS's $500 black silk and
India shawl represent elegant simplici-
ty; Bridget's $50 dress stands for willful
and wicked extravaganza.
SIMPLICITY NOT ALWAYS CHEAP.
Nevertheless there are women who
move in good society and make a cred
liable appearance on half, or even less
than half, of the sum which Mrs. CrOly
assigns. A silk dress costing 800 is by
no means yearly purchase with them,
and when bought is made at home with
the assistance of reliable paper pat
tern, Harper's Bag 6dr, and perhaps
with the aid of dresSmaker who
charges two dollars day Next year
this dress is remodeled at the cost, all
told, of from S15 to S25, and the next
it serves as the basis of silk and cash
mere suit, or of a new grenadine. A
great deal of taste and of ingenuity is
for all this twisting and turn
ing, and the best care must be taken of
the wardrobe which is to come from
such moderate allowance. A bit of lace
now and then lasts for years, and jew
elry is limited item. There are no
silk stockings at fancy prices, no shoes
with cost written in two figures, and
pride is often mortified sorely, in spite
of care and taste To be badly dressed
is to be uncomfortable and awkward,
and the insolent stare which one woman
in costume from Worth can give to
another less handsomely dressed has its
sting, in spite of its rudeness. There
are many'women who, like X. Wilfer,
can never afford every thing at once,
and who make decent appearance
only by carrying over from one year
to another all that can be saved.
That they succeed at all is usually
owing to the fact that they buy
only the best which their means will
compass, and content themselves with
simplicity, never aiming at effects which
they know to be wholly unattainable.
Very few men have any idea how much
women actually suffer, because of the
economy they are forced to practice in
dress, while at the same time they must
associate with those who have plenty of
money. The richest garments are often
not the most snowy, and so men who do
not study these things as women do, are
apt to be mistaken in their estimate of
the cost. Thus, not long since, gen
tleman remarking on the fact that so
few women understand dress as an art
mentioned as proof that the lack of
money had but little to do with this;
that recently at one of our fashionable
places of amusement, where a most
brilliant audience was gathered, the best
dressed woman there was also dressed
simply. - am sure there were others
there whose dresses had cost far MORE"
he said. g She wore black silk and vel
vet, with solitaire earrings, some lace
(Which, from the name of the lady, was
probably the richest point) at her neck,
and L think a black cloak lined with
fur Exquisite taste, certainly, but in
expensive.P Oh, deluded man! what
woman from Maine to Alaska would not
willingly compromise on black silk
combined with Lyons velvet at S1S a
yard, with point lace at neck and wrists,
solitaire diamonds and $500 fur-lined
silk circular?
STYLE ABOVE ALL.
Beyond doubt taste counts for more
than money when the one, with little of
the other, must be part on either side.
But taste, without materials to work on
is utterly helpless. A true artist may
make a striking sketch with charcoal on
a dead wall, but he must have something
to work with-the thought must find
means of expression or it is lost. And
few women understand their own style,
and never sin against themselves in the
becoming When Worth makes dress
the wearer must pose before him while
he studies her figure and face-in short,
masters her stvle: and this is one of the