The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-06-29

TINS sort Of work Is rarely to be met with.
lie must be an artist, a mechanic, and
we'll vorscd i'm colors and stuns.
Art window dressing in this country
never had a beginning. II Is simply
growth, the outcome Of struggle for
novelty and to excel ones ncighbor aud
competitor. A few years ago there were
in New York city but three or four large
dry goods houses. These had the name,
the famo and the trade Then there
were hundreds Of small stores and shops.
For the advancement Of any one of these
the public oyo must be attracted TO it.
And 1t was very largely window display
that accomplished this. that built up
rivals 20 the old establishments. who had
attempted little of that sort of thing. At
first in those small shops it was some
clever and artstically inclined man from
behind the counter who spent part OF
bis time in arranging the window.
As the business grew the window be-
came the more important, and i'm the
newer and larger stores of the new con-
Germs entering with success into cOmpc-
titi0n with the old establishments, win
dows were built specifically for show
purposes. and window dressing became
department Of itself. Window dress
ers began 10 be sent for from London
and Paris. bat the most of them COM
menced behind the counter. and in al
their window work have kept pace i'm
their ideas with the growing demands
Of their concerns. Some say that there
arc only q dozen first class window
dresscrs both in New York and Brook
Ism; others claim that there are not half
that number Just what constitutes
good window dressing it is difficult to
find out, unless 1t is simply the power Of
attracting the public eye Professional
jealousy seems to be largely in existence
about another mans possession of that
power
II can't explain how l dress win
dow" said one of the best of the craft
the other day; "my experience tells me
how to display goods and get certain
effects, and that is all there is Of it.
There arc no rules about it, although a
q window dresser told me once YOU could
learn 10 an out of book. But you can't
10 is matter of long experience. BY
study and practice YOU gain ideas to be
/ followed out. OF course, YOU must know
how To put c0lors and stuiIs together
All the really good men at it have been
IN the business fifteen or twenty years,
/ abroad and here; man must have it in
him at the start, and then he must begin
as boy. He should have been behind
the counter, and know just how to han
die and display goods. But there's no
rule about it, Every man in the bust
ness goes to work differently"
I'm most Of the large stores the win
dow dresser is autocrat in his depart
mcnt. and has his own private room for
the keeping Of his framework and mate
rials. In Brooklyn this is especially the
case. There the stores are newer the
windows larger, and the display in gen
eral more elaborate. I'm the window
drcssors room e q store which displays
picture designs as well as goods, there is
much to be seen. A carpenters bench
for he is his own arpentcr-frame-
work Of wood, pastob0ard and brass
everywhere, standards for the draping
/ of dress goods, drawers and cabinets full
/ of stuns, mems clothing and wax heads.
In tho making up Of dummies used
only the heads are bought, and stock
/ of those are accumulated.
The bodies mclothcd are curious of-
+ fairs-a wooden frame 2Xli feet square
and q couple of inches thick, slightly
rmqed and covered with white cloth,
! with two sticks to serve as lower limbs
and entirely without upper ones; a short
niece Of wood upon which the waVcn
head and nccl, is placed. Upon this
framework is the figure, by a Judicious
shifting built. "Wc iit the man 10 tho
clothes" remarked asdocr Of it, "not the
CLOTHES 20 the man. I'm making up q
voman's figure no actually made dresses
are used. A consultation with the head
Of the dressmaking department deter
mines Just what patterns shall be shown.
Dress lengths of these are cut out and
DRAINED upon the forms. Thus even the
Goods worn by the lay figures may be
eold directly from the window, and 1t
often happens that buyer VIII want
inst exactly what she had seen there.
There arc tv0schOols of window dress
inc. One believes It's object mcrcly-th
displaying Of the goods themselves, The
other tho attracting OF attention TO tho
concern. The latter class arc those who
make use Of picture designs and wax
figures. - dainty display Of goods,
,tov saw. "a clever blending OF colors,
will quickly catch a womaws eye. Hut
f ,be AVERAGE man will never give II mo-
n,ont's look. Now our windows arc TO
/ attract everybody. Put in 1t group a
Goure an odd design, and tho men viii
/ take immediate notice OF IT, The goods
/ ..iu be displayed all the same. Now,
/ man ooinr home from his business catches
n glimpse of our store front. As he site
/ down 10 the tea table he says TO his WIG,
Have Won seen that new group IN ----- :
Window II is SO and SO.
Whore are no doubt a good many mar
riod women about the city VINO haven't
I .een that window. Some OF these, we
colculate. will come 10 the store the next
morning. Had there been merely an ar
rapoenent Of silks or ribbons, the man
would hardly have given Il glance and
never a second thought.
at is not good" say the experts, 10
ncket-thnt is, price mark goods in tho
,indow. Ii IS too common, shey say.
The arrangement there is calculated to
~ 40 very attractive that should any
1,;nc strike lilo fancy OF the passing wo-
nan She il bound TO come IN and ask
,be salesman, "How much Is that