The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-02
FASHIONS CLEARINGHOUSE.
How Prominent Society Ladies Dis
pose of Elegant Dresses.
From the washington Star.

From the WASHINGTON Star.
"What becomes of themln
"Wel, this is a confidential business,
Monsieur" and she shrugged her shoulder S
high and looked with her head on one
side. Confidential. Monsieur, very con-
fidential," she repeated. She was a dealer
doing private business just around the
corner, you might say, from a very fash
ionable neighborhood. Her place of
business is her private house, a modest lit
tie dwelling, with no sign or other indica-
tion that business of any sort is done
there.
81 am sort Of clearinghouse Of fash
ion, e." she said, after pause. st is an ex-
change business. never buy anything; act
merely as agent. Some of the most fash
ionable ladies' in the city do business through
me. A great deal Of business is done-all
| in a strictly private way. There is cousi-
| able money in some of the transactions
that is considerable considering Now, there
is that handsome dress of Mrs -. OH
no; shan't tell her name That would be
breach But it was magnificent, dress
and sold well A great many magnificent
| dresses come to me-"
"No, | am not dealer in second hand
| clothes. Not in the ordinary sense. One
u
dress Not fashionable lady The more
expensive, the more striking and beautiful,
the sooner it becomes common. A lady in
! fashionable life can't afford to wear dress
until it becomes common. Some dresses
| that attract much attention cannot be worn
more than three or four times. Then the
question is, what shall become OF theme
They must either be laid aside until every
body has forgotten Them and the material
iy-n1 Nvith nj nd do iva
new style, or else they must lie sold All
the good is not got out of 800, $500 or
$500 dress in two or three wearings 1t is a
valuable piece of property after that The
same lady cannot continue wearing such a
dress until it is no longer fit for service, but
another lady, not her personal friend, and
not visiting in her circle of friends, may
wear-a dress just like it, Ladies often say
they won't wear dress again after they see
one just like i'll"
The dealer shrugged her shoulders and
looked as if she might explain this within"
if she did not consider it more prudent to
keep still.
at won't do for a fashionable lady to ap-
pear in ball or reception dress too often,
but the same dress may do good service by
exchange. 1t may appear many times ia
public without exciting remark, if it is not
always worn by the same person and in the
same company"
THE way the thing is done is this: Ladies
who spend thousands of dollars in clio b es,
going constantly into society and alwa Us
appea ing in new gowns, don't generally
feel that they can afford to lose the cost of
a gown entirely after wearing it few
times. Yet they could not be induced to
continue wearing it. They sell off the old
dresses, and the money goes toward getting
the new ones. They are sold for very much
less than they are worth, but the lady gets
some rebate on them, and the purchasers
get good dresses for very much less than
they are worth. They get dresses that are
just as good as new, and can wear them
without any danger of appearing to wear
secondhand clothes Then they, in turn,
sell them to some one else. These sales
could never be made directly between the
principals to the transaction. They must
be made through an agent, and both the
purchaser and the seller remain unknown
They are very particular about this. No
one knows who buys or who sells. They
must have confidence in the discretion of
the agent before they will deal in any way
with her. They have their confidants in
these matters. There are number of agents
in the city. Some are the dressmakers who
go in the houses to sew. Offers, like my
self, do Just the exchange business. Some
of my patrons both buy and sell through
me. Some sell only. / must be very dis
Greet 1t would not do for me to exhibit
dress for sale to the friend of the lady who
last wore it.
Il must be well acquainted with all my
patrons, and know ali their society associa-
tions. See? / do not buy dresses. They
are leftwith me.to sell. If sell them, get
paid for it. If l fail TO find purchaser
l return the garments. 1t is generally easy
to sell good dress but, of course, one must
have wide circle of acquaintance to do
the business.
at is an extensive business here in Wash
ington, and quite number, mostly colored
women, are engaged in it. Some very fine
dresses are bought and sold, the prices fall
ing rapidly at each transfer A dress does
full service in this way, and wears out its
value. Many of the dresses seen in fashion
able asse nblages have been worn by some
one else than their then wearer. Rich peo-
pie even do not buy clothes to throw away
before they have shown a fold from wear;
and the fact that dress has been worn by
another at some time does not condemn it
to retirement, if it does not show the wear.
AS soon as a dress begins to show its service
in the least its sale in the upper circles is
lost. 1t goes rapidly down and is soon worn
by some well-to-do colored person. Second
hand clothes ultimately find their way on
to the backs of colored people, but they are
not the only ones who wear clothes not
new"
Neither Poetical Nor Reverent.
Eb,ou, me pot.o oe,,jJlo Go-effe