The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-04
n FASHIONS CAPITAL.
DRESS FROM A PARTISAN POINT
OF VIEW.

OF VIEW.
3aris, Real and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
in Artistic Production - Partisan
Prestige Dependent Upon Foreign
Support = French Superiority in
Taste AMI Economy -Extravagant
Americans Mrs. Cleveland's Mo-
diste-"Nothing New Under the Sun"
Even in Paris-Women's Passion for
Change and Variety-some Recent
italian Costumes-A Description OF
the Celebrated Bon Marche.
PARIS, July 23.--There is no more extra
rdmary sight in the world than that pre-
ented by one of the great shops of Paris
I is a small world, which, in the morning
neat and orderly the departments regu-
arlv laid out, stocked, and the goods ar
,anged to attract customers Gradually it
begins to fill; morning customers saunter
leisurely through look, examine, buy at
cheir ease and with elaboration. After IL
c'clock-the hour for dejeuner, or midday
breakfast-the crowd increases, the rush be-
gins. If it Is an occasion" or day, when
prices are marked down in special depart
ulents, and nearly always 1t is an occasion
Of some kind or other, the excitement is
doubled English, French and Americans
iostle each other, the jargon of tongues is
indescribable, the attempts to secure a COW
eted prize, frantic; and attempts to discrim-
mate between the desirable and the undesir-
able, abortlye.
Sometimes dry goods house will have an
o,,tIno. cinn paSSinor Ro,, ffo h. h0
other day, about o'clock in the afternoon,
a crowd of women which extended
the entire length of the front of
the establishment, about New
York block-attracted attention. IL was
composed mainly of the poorer, laboring
classes of women. Hardly one wore bon
net, but all were gesticulating violently
and eagerly pulling apart masses of dress
goods, underwear, made up sacques, blouse
posed outside for sale and marked in
plain figures. The underwear was hand
made, tucked neatly and button-hole
stitched upon the edge of the scant ruffle5.
1t was not fine and iG was not very clean,
and it was done up in bundles of three gar
ments each; but it was we'll made and we'll
cut, the drawers open upon the sides and
drawn in with tapes and casing to the
waist. 1t would wash into very good APP
pearance and be durable, great point with
the poor. The 'pantaloons" were 2
francs'25 confines each as cents. They
were worth as much as that surely to
make; and the chemises and night dresses
were from 2 francs SO confines so cents
to 4 francs 25 centimes (85 cents.
The dress materials were of irregular
lengths and excellent quality, but varied in
kind. There were colored dress flannels,
soft finished serges, fine crepe cloths and
nuns veilings, narrow striped and spotted
woods in black, and excellent shades of color
grey and peacock blue, bronze brown,
dark bottle and olive greens and others.
They were wide, and the prices ranged from
95 confines per meter-several inches more
than a yard-to l franc 95 confines the
meter; the first being 10 cents, the second
SO cents; and other prices intermediate be-
tween these two. They were class of
goods that would range all the way
from 30 cents to 81 25 a yard in
New York; but thay were remnants and
might, therefore, be subject to some reduc-
ton. Still, materials of such quality are
rarely sold in remnants with us, and it must
be remembered that the price was for the
meter, which is considerably more than
our yard, and that in many of these rem
nants was abundant stuff for dress One
could have picked out a hundred pieces
every way desirable, if they could have
been utilized and we quite sympathized
with the crowd and with the women, many
of whom had children hanging to their
skirts, and who, while carefully reckoning
the cost, were testing the softnesS and talk
ing loudly, after the manner of their class
PARIS REAL AND ROMANTIC.
81 never was so disappointed in my life
as in the working women of Paris" re-
marked one lady-an American, of course.
81 had heard SO much about the taste of
Paris that thought even the shop girls and
women in the streets would show it in
superior neatness and style in their clothes;
but they don't look as nice as the working
women we see at home" Another lady
said: 81 am so disappointed; | always
thought OF Paris as sort of glorified city,
where everything would be found that was
most beautiful. l have only been here two
days, it is true, but have been to the Bon
Morche and the shops of the Louvre. and
was not tempted to buy in the least" Nat
urally, two days was not much in which to
discover the beauty of Paris, nor are the
shops of the Bon Morche and the Louvre
the places in which to find the costly novel
ties that confer the prestige of supreme
fashion and taste upon city.
There is, however, an immense difference
between the Paris of to-day and the Paris
OF even ten or fifteen years ago. Then the
working women had not begun to adopt tho
prevailing style. They had neat and
practical dress of their own, not the peasant
dress, but simple in construction and free
from cheap trimming and attempts at
"drapery." Now their dress is cut after
paper pattern modes, is cheaply furbelowed
and soon looks shabby. The trim neatness
and accuracy of cut has given place to
attempts at tinery, which cannot be re-
newed often enough for cleanliness. and
which marks the decline in taste which has
been neglected or not cultivated in the rignt
direction.
There is now little Of originality, for there
Is no one to stimulate. or pay for expert
mental efforts, such as are needed for the
development of original and beautiful ideas,
even in dress. The fit of the French dress
maker is still the best in the world; but it
would cease to be so, if it were not for her
customers. The English, however, are
last acquiring prestige Of their own. If
Their knowledge of form and delicacy of
Touch were equal to their suggestiveness,
Their courage and their originality, they
would quickly obtain supremacy, but the
french have two sources of continued
control; one is, cut which is instinctively
good, which is easy upon the head or tho
ooouy, which does not press or disturb, yet
ntS like glove, shapes the fine outlines of
beautiful form and conceals, more or less,
Tue defects of a poor one. The other is
patience in detail. quantity and thorough
ness OF workmanship, and command OF
Aoor at prices that defy competition.
such work as is put in Paris upon ordi-