Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-07-01
NJ. WORTH INTERVIEWED.
The Dress Of the Women OF To-Day an
Indescribable Mixture,


Indescribable Mixture.
PARIS. June 9-After several visits
to Nj. and Nine. Worth's establish.
ment in the Rue de la Paix succeeded
In obtaining an audience OF Nj. CASTOR
Worth. In reply to my wish that he
would tell me all about the Paris fash
ions he said: at is extremely diff
cult to say anything precise on the
character of the fashions now, because
there Is no fashion at all. There are
so many dressmakers, each one hav-
ing her own ideas, that the result Is
a sort of salmagundi which prevents
the fashion from having any definite
character, such rs IL HAD in former CEN
turtles. The reason why there have
been so many mixtures of every kind
is because communication between ma
tions is now so easy and rapid that a
new fashion has not time to be worn
by everybody before another one comes.
I'm reality there are very few ladies
who dress absolutely according to the
existing fashion. Women will not ac.
cept "A fashion when it is first shown
to them; they prefer to have
what they have been accustomed tn
for years past, and 1t is rather difficult
to make them understand that they
must try TO change their hahits.
will give you an example. We once
made long cloak, with gathering
around the neck and on the back open
ing at the side and back, and with
about ten flounces. The first season
we only made two or three of these
cloaks. What peculiar thing II is,
said each lady when she saw 1t for the
first time; Il shall never wear cloak
like that but the next season we
sold from two to three hundred of
them, and three years later every
woman you saw in the street had one,
aad the second-rate establishments put
these cloaks forward as novelties.
"rhen again, ii is the fashion to dress
in gray at the present time, but there
are many ladies who would not wear
that color. 1t is also fashionable To
ders; but, would You believe it, we in.
ago. 1t was found that when the seam
Oh the shoulder was too high or toe
low, according ~ the cloth had beer
cut. a crease formed which caused a
lump when the lady held up her arm.
NV llltlt uTtSStS MtTt
made with an intentional lumr
until it became the fashion to have tn.
shoulders of the dress high. So you
see how fashions are made. But IL is
not possible to say what is going to bt
worn. you 20 into any place o.
amusement or fashionable salon you
will ask yourself if some of the women
you see are not 200 or 800 years old
What they wear makes them look like
a composition of Old Mother Hubbard
a lady of the time of Louis XIV, OF
any other lady of any other period yol
eau mention.
THE fashion of to-day Is indescrib
able. 1t is not Greek. nor Roman, MOI
medieval, nor renaissance-and, mine
you, there is the same decadence IL
dress AS in painting or architecture-ii
has no definite character; il is mix
ture. salad. For the painters of til,
future it will be a very difficult matter
indeed to decide the period to whicl
the women of the present time be
longed."
Thus did NJ. Worth, Jr., calmly de
scribe the nondescript character of the
lady of the period in the matter o
dress, speaking almost uninterrupted
~, just ~ though he had been deliver
ing lecture before the members of
dress reform association. Whether h
would have spoken his mind so freel,
had some representative of the weake
sex been present is question not Ia
/ e decided here. "Who creates thu
fashions, then?n j asked. "Wh,
conceives those wonderful combina
tons of form and color and material
Am right in surprising that there ar
artists or designers who devote theil
time and talents to the invention OF
new styles of Dress"
"Weil, II great many new fashions
have first seen the light in this estab
lishment,n replied NJ. CASTOR Worth
IN. Worth, senior, created them. w,
have IA large staff of ladies who do /,
great deal, but NJ. Worth himself
makes our fashions. There are no artist
OF designers at all-nothing in tn,
shape of design; because if there wer,
designers it would be very often i'm
possible to make in cloth what ha'
been drawn upon paper howeve
/ beautiful it might be-" How man,
people do you employ in sour work
rooms?" inquired. I'VE have abou
700 workmen, comprising cutters
| iiXers, trimmers, emproiderers, Skin
makers, sleeve makers, 400 In tn
house and 800 outside. Then there ar
trimming makers, etc, who work In
directly for u.s.
In conclusion NJ. CASTOR Worth sale
IL would be q great relief to the dress
makers not to have so many styles
which heavily handicap some of tn
smaller establishments. The success.
of the fashion makers art depend
upon the variety of forms and the CON
paratively low price, which allo,
the merchant to realize reason
able profit. Naturally, the per
sons who buy the cloth, sill
trimmings and lace must be thor
oughly competent judges. 1t is of
combination of all these articles upol
roughly cut ont patti I'm in musli
that are born those wonderful dresse
so much sought after by our lady con
patriots. When the Paris season
closes, a quantity of clothing Away
remains. which is sold at reduce
price and shipped to South America
where it is sold again as a novelty til