Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-13
WORTH AND VIROT.
The Prince of Dressmakers and the
Queen of Milliners-Thefr Shops and
IdiOsyncracies.

from all the remote and civilized parts of
the globe and patiently wait audience.
Here are found the great arbiters of
fashion, chief among them Worth and
Virot. Worth occupies the great hotel,
Rue de Ia PaiX. Long corridors lead to-
ward the salons d. dtteRte. Here there is
no attempt at display, the floors are softly
carpeted, there are long mirrors and SUIT
ficiently comfortable chairs. The truly
elegant appointments are the young wo-
men employed and the rich garments
slowed like costly bric-a-brac IN glass
cases.
The is no better amusement, if one has
the run of Worth's, than to sit in the
salon and observe the procession of WO-
men that file through. IL is only then one
feels the sacredness Of dress and the
greatness of its priest. When it is pos
sible thing Worth deludes his visitors
with some one of his satellites. If they
are not acquainted with his personnel he
can easily do this, for when the calm
hammered, easy gentleman appears in
answer to their desire modestlv ex-
pressed, to see Mr.. Worth, they are usu-
ally SO aWe-stricken at the contemplated
interview that it does not occur to them
to doubt his identity. No one could be
more unlike his chief than this usual re-
preventative, so suave, so mild, so self
possessed; all of which Mr.. w orth is not,
since he wears the idiOsyncratic marks OF
genius-that is to say, being short, stout,
and reG-and he Is irritable and bristles
with points.
1t is when the women come whose lives
apparently hang on a personal interview
that one gets a really realizing sense of
the greatness of his power. | have not
seen an ambassadress, a woman accus-
toned to command, weep in the presence
of a number of other women at his refusal
to come out from his secret recesses
where his busy brain Celebrates numer-
GUS and artistic toilets, but have seen her
supplicate and humbly entreat, her eyes
suffused with tears, which only did not
trickle down, and thus give me every Op-
pOrtunity to describe her agony of mind.
This was the occasion of a really re-
markable scene. After a time Worth was
persuaded to appear, and the great lady
dried her eyes. 1t was not one woman
now he had to encounter, but a half
dozen. VINO, If they had net the courage to
drag him forth from his hiding, knew how
to take advantage Of his presNuce. The
ambassadross was a lady of fine personal
presence, a blonde ceHdree. Evidently
with no keen perceptions of dress, she
had arrayed herself in the most distin-
guished toilet her dressmaker had pro-
Yided her with, but one which bore no
possible relation TO her own physical
advantages. \ shudder did not run over
the great man as he contemplated her
while she was making known her desires,
but he shut his eyes, as if the sight were
more than he could quite bear. Then, as
il with great resolution, he opened them
and fixed on her peculiar gaze. 1t was
a look as if attempting TO see her. not as
she was, but as she ought to be. 1t is for
moments such as these one pays Worth
large money. The other women sat by
l.. l. L.
preme act, with concentrated gaze.
Then, with a few rapid words, he sketched
for his client the outline of a toilet for an
occasion such as she desired. They
gathered up his words like precious
jewels; no one else spoke, and all felt the
occasion to be something precious.
When he had finished and was about to
90 a wall Of supplIcatiOu broke forth :
MIR. Worth, you VIII think Ofme,' ''Mr.
Worth, you will do something for
me;' ''Nlr. Worth, give me just one
minute"
At that moment (for it seems Mr..
WOrth's retirement had been genuine
several employees came in eager also to
catch his attention. First one, then an
other asked him hastily some whispered
question; others, trailing samples Of rich
silks, held them inquiringly before his
eyes. Suddenly his face grew purplish
y
closed his eyes and shut tight his hands,
as if in great tension-the gesture of a
man putting with great effort a restraint
upon himself-hOlding himself together,
so to speak.
''They are killing me-" he murmured.
''They are all on my back; they are
weighing me to the earth" The employees
tell back awe-stricken. The wall of the
women ceased, and a dead silence fell on
the room. The moment was really solemn,
for the suffering of the man was too evil
| dent. In a short time he recovered him.
self, said a few words, and left the room.
Without doubt Mr.. Worth is no longer
a strong man. He saves himself, and
everybody in the establishment desires to
save HIM. Many people who take no very
/ high grounds as to their duty to their in
/ dividual shortcomings or good points are
! content to have Worth clothes at the
| least expense Of time and trouble. The
WardrObes are certainly supplied with the
/ largest choice in elegant costumes, and
! different rooms are dedicated to different
/ occasions. The unique feature provided
for such visitors is the multitude of fash
! iOnably dressed women ready to try on
/ the various garments. In most places OF
( the kind the grand divisions of feminine
eluty are recognized blonde, the
brunette, the tall, and the petite. But
here we have the variations of these
species, the blonde cendree, the warm
blonde, and all the garments of tints down
to those of the dusky Oriental. Ugliness
has its place, and not only has deformity
| living model, but the different vicissi-
| tudes of life are provided for.
Worth garments are now too well
known to need comment, but this much
may be said in a general way: they are
marked by simplicity of line and largeness
OF effect. He does not snip and cut and
waste good cloth, and an admirable but
unitentional result is that they make over
well. Shirrings, folds, and fine trimmings
are conspicuous only by their absence.
His strength lies in the grace of his
draperies, in his bold combinations of
color, and al fond in his good sense.
One idi0syncrasy may be added. A
friend of mine was much addicted to the
wearing of YiOlets. She observed that
every time she visited Worth he made
some excuse to avoid seeing her. Finally
she persisted one day for an interview.
He then sent her down word he had no.
ticed that she always wore yiolets and
as their Odor made him i'll, he could only
consent to see her if she would remove her
flowers. As these were the days follow
ing the fall Of the empire, and as viOlets
are the NapOleOnic flower, she readily
cOmprehended how sensitive he had be-
come to their fragrance.
NlrOt, whose spacious rooms are further
down the street, near the Rue Damon,
formerly Rue Neuve st. Augustin, owed
her good fortune directly to the Empress
Eugene. In those early days she was a
little milliner on a back street. She had,
however, a genius for striking effects, and
the Empress driving by caught glimpse
in the window of one of her daring crea-
tiOns. No one could more quickly appre-
ciate an artistic novelty than the Empress
Eugene. She bought the bonnet, affected
Nirot thereafter, and the m1lliner's for
tune was assured.
She is now a great lady and her cabinet
is more thoroughly sealed than that of
Worth. The most curious part of her
clientele is the American milliner. She
comes often from Pennsylvania, Illinois,
and Kansas. Her great difficulty is that
she knows what she wants. She has seen
something in Cleveland, Quincy, or Omaha
that came from NirOts and she wants
something like that, with possibly some
variations IN her own mind that she
strives to make plain. But one does not
go to NirOt to give ideas, but to buy them
for a great price. The elegant young
women who represent Nine. Virot in
several languages dOnOt know what to do
with this impossible person. The inter-
view, however prolonged. usually ends
satisfactorily; the French ladies succeed
in selling the sort of bonnets that they
consider appropriate to these unknown
but presumably uncivilized regions, and
the lady from the West departs happy in