Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1884-07-30
THE JUNIOR WORTH
Tells Something About the Fashions
of Paris.
Wonderful Creations q M. Worth,
Sr.-HlOw styles Are Introduced
aud Fashions Established
The Novelties.
Paris Cor, PalI Mall Gazette. ]

After several visits to Worths establish
ment, succeeded i'm obtaining an audience i
NJ CASTOR Worth. In reply to my wish that
he would tell me "all about" the Paris fash
ions. he said: ut is extremely difficult to
say ANYTHING precise on the character OF the
fashions now, because there is no fashion at
all There are SO many dress naksrs, each
one having her own IDEAS that the result Is a
sort of salmagundi which prevents the fash
ion from having any definite character,
such as it had in former centuries.
The reason why there have been 50
many mixtures of every kind is because
communication between nations is now
50 easy and rapid that new fashion has not
time TO he worn by everybody before another
one comes. In reality, there are very few
ladies who dress absolutely according to the
existing fashion. Women will not accept a
fashion Just when it is shown 10 them; they
prefer to have what they have been accus-
TONED to for years past, and IT is rather dlri-
cult to make them understand that they must
try to change their habits. ] will give you an
example We once made a long cloak, with
gathering round the neck and on the back,
open at the sides and back, and with about
ten fiounces The first season we only made
two or three of these cloaks What pc
culiar thing il is said each lady when she
saw it for the first time; i shall neyei
wear a cloak like that But the next season
we sold from $50 to 800 of them, and three
years later every woman you saw iii the
street had ono. and the second rat. establish
ments put thesa cloaks forward as novelties!
Then again it is the fashion to dress IN gray
at the present time, but there are many ladies
who would not wear that color. IL Is also
the fashion To have dress very high at the
shoulders but would YOU believe 1t! We IN
tIoduced that style about six years ago Ii
was found that when the seam on the Shout
ders was too high or too low, according as
the cloth had been cut, a crease formed
which caused a lump when the ledy held M
her arm Little by little dresses were made
with an Intentional hump until it became the
fashion TO have the shoulders Of the dress
high. So you see how fashions are made.
"But il is not possible TO say what is going
TO I've worm If you go into any place OF
amusement or fashionable salon You will ask
yourself if some of the women you see arc
not 200 or 800 years old What they wcai
makes them look like a composition OF oid
Mother Hubbard, u lady of the time of Louis
XIV, or any other lady of any other period
YOU can mention. The fashion of to-day i
indescribable 1t is not Greek, nor Roman
nor medieval, nor renaissance-and, nind
YOU there is the same decadence III dress as
in paintings or architecture-it has nc
definite character; it Is a mixture, salad.
For the painters Of the future 1t VIII be .
very difficult matter, indeed, to decide the
period to which the women Of the present
time belong
Thus did NJ Worth. Jr., calmly describe
the nondescript character of the lady of the
period in the matter Of dress, speaking al
most uninterruptedly, just rs though he had
been delivering lecture before the members
of a dress reform association. Whether hC
would have spoken his mind 50 freely had
some representative of the weaker sex been
present is a question not 10 be decided here
"Who creates the fashions then" 1 asked
'Who conceives those wonderful comblna
tons of form and color and material! Am
right in surprising that there are artists o'
designers who devote their time am
talents to the invention of new style:
of dressgn ''Well great many new
fashions have just seen the light IN tins
establishment" replied NJ. CASTOR Worth
m Worth senior created them We have ;
large staff Of ladies who do great deal, but
NJ. Worth himself makes our fashions. Thci'
are no artists or designers ut all-nothing II
the shape of design; because if there were de
signers il would be very often impossible t.
make in cloth what had been drawn upon pa
Der, however beautiful it might be-" ''Hov
many people do you employ IN your work
roomsr' | inquired. I'VE have about '0l
workwomen, comprising cutters, fixers. trim
mers. cmbroiderers skirt makers, sleeve
makers, 400 in the house aud 800 outside
Then there are trimming makers, etc. who
work indirectly for u.s. In conclusion II
Castor Worth said it would be n great relie
To the dress-makers not to have SO many
STYLES, which heavily handicap some OF th'
smaller establishments The success of th'
fashion makers art depends upon the variety
| of forms and the comparatively low prize
which allows the merchant TO realize rea
sonable profit. Naturally, the persons wh'
| buy the cloth, silk, trimmings, and lace mus
be thoroughly competent judges. 1t is of ;
combination of all these articles upon /
| roughly cut-out pattern in muslin that ar
born those wonderful dresses so mucl
sought after by our lady compatriots. Whei
the Paris season closes quantity of clothin;
always remains. which is sold at reduce
price and shipped 20 South America, wher
! it is sold again as novelty the following
1