Arizona weekly citizen., 1891-01-03
A POPULAR FALLACY.
London Fashions and Where They
 Originate.
The Notion That Royalty Sets the Styles in Dress in the English Capital Said to Be Erroneous-Prlnce AL
 bert'a TaiIors.

Within the narrow limits of the West end are set the fashions for nearly all the rest of the world, says London correspondent of the Clothier and Furnisher. It is not the Prince of
 Wales who does it, either, with all due
 respect to the multitude of writers who
 industriously propagate the fallacy that Albert Edward, the great, is sort of
 walking fashion-plate for the universe.
 No people more ridicule this idea than
 the very furnishers who serve the jolly
 Prince and his manly sons. His Royal
 HighnesS gives less time to the contem-
 plation of his wardrobe than two-thirds
 of the most ordinary dressers in London.
 He merely possesses the best of taste
 and studiously refrains from patronizing
 fashion that is not well grounded be-
 fore it reaches him. When the Prince
 of Wales requires an article of dress his
 measure, if on hand, is sent to the tailor
 or other happy mortal destined for the
 honor, and the article demanded is made
 and then submitted for alterations in person. The tradesman called to Marl-
 borough house to undergo the trying or deal of taking e royal order gets from three to five minutes audience only, and must be as expeditions and careful in his measurements as to be absolutely exact in the result, without which his services are not likely to be asked for a second time. The Prince does not pre-
 tend to know what will be worn in ad- vance, but makes his selections of cloth ing from existing fabrics and fashions as submitted and advised by personal as- sociates and his tailor. If royalty can be made to put on ''startler" of any description for the purpose of astonish- ing the natives, it is probable i, the person of Prince Albert Victor, the new ly fledged Duke of Clarence, who is so obliging in disposition that his august parent has had in past years to make a Roman holiday of several furnishers who have started styles on Eddie" of a highly sensational character.
 The Duke of Fife, accompanied by his royal bride, makes no bones of going to his tailors or furnishers on foot of an afternoons; and is good customer though a modest dresser. The Dukes tailor, re- gently interviewed, says that he has about dozen suits in constant use, never wearing the same suit twice in any one week. His trousers are kept on shelves, each marked with the day of the week, and are the constant care of his valet, as the Duke will not brook creases. As an example of what the | complete wardrobe of a man of rank. | wealth and fashion consists of on the | average the Duke of Flies outfit for the | present summer may be taken. It con- tains three light and one dark tweed | suit, one blue flannel, one black serge, | one melton cutaway, one pepper-ani- | salt cutaway, two trock coats and two | full-dress suits, besides special garments | for travelling, riding, hunting, shooting | and dcer-stalking, as well as half a | dozen uniforms. The Prince of Wales | wardrobe contains over thirty of the | latter alone.
 The great ambition of all London | tradesmen is, of course, royal patronage, | and to this end favor is very widely | distributed, as the wardrobes of the | royal Princes are recruited from count | less sources, the equerries and valcts of | the household being the principal pur- chasers and suggestcrs to their masters | of seaso1able novelties. The coveted | warrant, which conveys the right to put the royal or other arms over the mer- chants door, is not to be obtained un- less some actual service has been done and a certain standing of years is DOS sessed by the firm; but they are not un- as the profusely gilded en- over every third shon-front in the West end will attest.