Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-03-14
A CHAT WITH WORTH.
HOW HE CREATES FASHIONS BY
 DRAPlNG LIVING MODELS.

Tho Man Milliner Who Regulates the Tournures of the World d-lGbstinate~I Ladies and Those Who -Afe Wise-Te1e- .-Saapkir 8rders-Prices-Good Taste.
 Today called on man who can do what Bismarck or the pope would attempt in vain that is, regulate the tournures of the world. MT. Worth boasts neither crown nor scepter but the feminine world cries "Amen" to whatever he may say As entered his es- tablishment he was busy with some thew creation,n explaining it to half dozen fair ladies dressed like so many expresses. Worth himself wore a short embroidered jacket, capacious trousers, white flannel shirt fastened at the throat with a loosely knotted scarf and a brown Tam O'Shanter cap. Taking me into private room, he submitted to an interview most graciously.
 ''Those ladies?' he said, in reply to my question. 'sThey are some of our dress parade' models. We have about ninety ill all who do nothing. from morning till night but try on fine clothes for the benefit of customers You see, more than half the time ladies who come here think they know what they want, when they really do not. There is where our saleswomen show their
 
 lady comes in, sees certain gown and inn 1nediately goes into raptures over it. T want one exactly like that, she will say. Perhaps she is told that the shade is unsuitable, that her hair or complexion require something quite different, that she could never wear SO large pattern, etc.. and as crowning ob- jection, the wished for gown is put on a model somewhat resembling herself. This last argument is generally conclusive. But sometimes these obstinate ladies persist, and we have to make up an unbecoming costume
 LADIES WHO ARE WISE.
 !. "You ask if green is a difficult color to handle Oh, no; no color is especially diff cult if it is chosen in the proper shade and with proper trimmings. However, that choice is not always easy to make, and those ladies are wisest who leave it entirely in our hands. By so doing they are always better pleased in the end, and the reputation of the house is sustained. Curiously enough the persons who realize this fact most clearly al . precisely those whom you might fancy the most difficult to please. For example, @ tele- gram comes from the empress of Russia: Send l.. timer dress Nothing more. We are left absolute freedom as to style and material
 "Of course it is difficult to get up at one time so many dresses and make them all diff ferent. remember last winter receiving letters from: two New York society ladies who were angry because we had chanced to send them both the same dress for the same event. It was swell ball-perhaps 600 ladies present-and in that number we had fur nished certainly sixty dresses. Only think ot it-sixty state dresses, all to be made at | short order and each one to be absolutely | unique"
 G koI. %<G &olo | graphic orders?'
 "Why, we usually want week, but, if 1 necessary, we can finish a costume in twenty | four hours. We have had French ladies order dress in the morning and dance in ii | at night. 1 remember once making a gown | for tho Empress Eugenie in three hours and a half. Of course such rapidity would be | impossible if elaborate work was required It often takes weeks to complete an embroid cred gown. At the time of the coronation of the present emperor of Russia we had girls working night and day for six weeks on court train for the empress, which was covered with magnificent embroidery in req | silver. That train alone cost 25 ,0O0 francs and will be preserved in the state museum as historical curiosity Some years age | Peruvian heiress paid us 120, ,000 francs fol a single gown, ,OOO francs being the cost
 
 a cloak for 45 ,OOO francs, of which 1000 went for the fur.
 l THE MAN MILLINER'S PATRONS.
 ''Oh, yes; we count among our patrons the ladies of all the courts ill the civilized world that is, all with single exception. Queer | Victoria has never honored us with her pat ronage. During the busy seasons we turr out about 800 gowns and 150 cloaks week l We count two busy seasons year, iron Feb 15 to July, and from Aug. 15 to Decem Der. August, September and November are the great American months, particularly September. We set great store by our Amer ican trade, although your countrywomen ars not always the easiest to please.
 ''Yes, there are very decided differences i1 taste in different cities of the United States This depends on many things, the part o1 the country, the climate the character o1 the people, etc. My sons have travelec all over America, familiarizing themselve. with it's varying conditions, so as to be able to adapt our work to them. What would bt suitable in California would be out of place in Ohio. Society women in New York would not be satisfied with the greater simplicity which pleases Bostonians, and so on."
 1T suppose your great superiority lies ir the skill with which you use these materials after you have got them," I threw in.
 "Well,'' replied MT. Worth, laughing, "we think so. Do you know how we make oul styless There is no designing in paper O, wood, and there are no drawings. You must have a living, breathing woman under the cloth in order to get any good result. We simply take pieces of muslin and drape them about the models, turning and changing the folds for hours until we have worked out something new. This something is mode of the future-that is, if it takes For merly, when we had the Empress Eugenie | and the court ladies as marked leaders o1 | fashion, it was comparatively easy to intro duce change. Now it takes longer. About ten years ago, when we created gowns witl puffed sleeves, the first season we sold only three or four of them, the second we sold 2,0O0, and the third they were manufactured by the magasins du Louvre, and we were obliged to stop selling them."-Cle veland 1 Moffett's Paris Letter.
 l The Latest Thing in Blinds. English Venetian blinds are becoming very fashionable in this country. Outside Venetian shades have always been in use particularly to keep out the hot rays of tht l summers sun The English Venetian blind,