Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-12-19
DISCARDED FINERY.
Anew York Reporter Tells What
Becomes of It.
Some of the Ways in which the Cast-OA
Clothing of Rich Ladies' Is Used
How Actresses Manage to Keep
Up with the FASHIONS


Up with the Fashions.
"What do the fashionable and wealthy
women of New York do with their discarded
garmentsl" This question is suggested by
one who says: s.To be in the swim these
ladies must have cords and cords of clothes
TO cast OF, entirely too many for supply
OF their poor relations. Do they sell themi
Do they invite the old clo' men to their
housesg They can not give 'em to their
servants. What do they do with 'eml''
Looking this subject up, New York Sun
reporter learned that the ladies of New
York have various WAYS Of disposing of
their discarded garments, and instead of
being at all embarrassed TO do so, they could
dispose of many more. It is certain that
none of them are thrown into the street.
That many of them are sold is obvious from
the fact that in second hand clothing stores
OF the better class there are always TO be
found rich garments that have besn but lit
tie worn. There is quite as much difference
between second hand stores as there is
between stores where only new goods are
sold. There are plenty of secondhand
stores where only goods OF first quality
are sold; whore very nice silks, satins, lace,
upholstery and bric-a-brac are always to be
found, and whore the prices are kept quite
above the reach of ordinary people, although
lar below first-hand prices for such goods
1t need not be inferred that all these goods
are brought directly from first owners In
many cases they are bought of second
owners, who have received them as gifts
from the first owners, who discard every
thing the moment that it goes ont of fashion
Yet there are rich ladies who sell every
thing OF this kind, not so much for the
money as Tor the convenience of it, They
do not like the bother of doing out gifts.
OF course they do not call in the ordinary
old clo' man. They would not for the world
exchange a word with the contentious Junk
men who are so anxious TO exchange
crockery for old garments. They deal with
quiet, nice people, who make business of
going to dwelling houses by appointment to
appraise and purchase such goods. The ad-
vertisements of these 'upper-class'' dealers
may always be found in the newspapers.
The fact that the business is profitable is
apparent from the fact that such advertise
ments do constantly appear, and such gar
ments may always be found in secondhand
stores.
One very capacious outlet for such goods
is found in the aid societies of the various
churches. and the rapacious demands of
ladies' fairs. Much rich clothing get cut I'D
to make crazy quilts, pin cushions, and the
million kuich-knacks that 90 to fill a ladies'
fair. The Undertaking Is easily seized by
the benevolent ladies for distribution among
the poor, to whom rich outer garments
would be an inappropriate gift.
Some rich ladies' do not scruple to use up
all their old silk or SAITH dresses as lining
for new garments. These silk and satin
Innings are not only elegant and stylish, but
they are very comfortable and convenient.
They are lighter than ordinary Innings.
But the poor relations are not forgotten.
There are many of them in New York. Most
of the rich families have come ND from pov
erty by long course of hard work and
active business. Very few have been able
TO bring up all their relations with them.
The poor relations have daughters who
must be made presentable when they visit
the rich houses, and they are not only not
ashamed to accept gifts of clothing, but are
very glad to get it. There are also MANY
poor women in New York who have once
been rich, whose husbands or fathers have
failed in business or died with embarrassed
estates, and who rely upon old associates
among the rich for suitable clothing to keep
up respectable appearance
Speaking on this subject with a benevo-
lent lady of excellent family, and one who
spends much of her time in looking after
unfortunate women in prison, the reporter
asked what was her experience, and she
said she believed that very few ladies of
wealth sell their clothing directly; that she
knew that many such ladies' gave their
clothing to benevolent solicitors with the
knowledge that it was to be sold and the
proceeds applied to charity.
As to the leading actresses, who have
large and expensive wardrobes, they do
not need to give away or sell much cloth
I owl Of l.at,.
quire large quantities of material TO pro-
vide costumes for various parts, and their
good dresses are made over and over again,
and reappear in various forms, are inter
changed, mixed, and mingled, so that the
original shape is unrecogniZable. There is
no end to the use that expert costumers
can make of good material, which, whether
the property of the rich or the professional,
need never so a begging. Much of the dis
carded clothing of the rich ladies does find
its way to the stage costumer and reap
pears in the court-trains, the ballroom
robes, and other wonders of the toilet that
grace the fair forms Of walking ladies, and
astound the unthinking female in the audi
ence at the lavish expenditure which the
manager has made.
Much of the best material of the dis
carded dresses of rich ladies finds its way
to the dye-house, and there assumes some
more marketable or fashionable color, or
gets done in black, which is equally the
taste of the grave and gay, the lively and
severe. And thus, in many ways, the old
dresses of rich l.dies are conserved, and
contribute their mite to illustrate that
triumph of civilization that is approaching
when nothing goes to waste. The refuse of
the gas-house is made into the most gor-
geous aniline dyes, and applied to faded
rich materials, to again reappear in those
delightful forms that ever fascinate the
gaze of man, and absorb so much of the
time and thoughts Of women Thus, ever
the old is transformed into the new, in the
alembic of time and through the genius
and invention of man and woman.