The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-02-07
IhE MAN pREssMAkER.
How = Gotham Belle Dresses . In Mode
and Keeps Within Her Allowance.

displaying her trousseau to a fashion writ
er, affirmed that the tailor made gown has
disappeared from Paris yet the man dress
maker continues TO multiply and grow
rich in Gotham But many OF the richest
and most fashionable society women, with
the economic shrewdness of their French
sisters, have long since divided their allie
glance between the imported and the home
trained tailor.
Redfern, the famous English man dress
maker, occupies a five story brownstone
front In close proximity to Delmonico's-
Emblazoned In letters Of gold on the high
steps that lead to the Fifth avenue en-
trance is q legend not without awe to un-
travelled democracy, Court Dressmaker
to Her Majesty the Queen, n. r. n.
Prince OF Wales, the Empress Of Russia"
Similar legends, together with the English
and Russian coat Of arms, decorate the ex-
terror walls Of both the Fifth avenue and
Broadway sides. A servant in livery opens
the door.
On entering the lofty ceiled salon, once
familiar with the wit and beauty Of
Knickerbocker days, q young English
woman meets the visitor with the ques-
ton, HAS madam an appointment
Divinely tall, divinely fair, her waist
was wasplike, her bust a Hogarth line.
-
good to look upon, and restful was her
low, resonant voice.
She wore black cloth gown. The front
of the skirt and the bodice were embroid-
cred in tan colored braid, while the train
of black velvet seemed to begin and end
nowhere, SO gracefully did it yield to ev-
cry movement of the superb figure. This
room is lined with shelves and cases, with
mirrored doors. The shelves reach to the
ceiling and are piled with huge rolls of
cloth Of varied color and texture, prod
ucts, for the most part of English looms.
The establishment has a large force of
saleswomen, designers and modistes i'm
ported from England. Some have long
been apprenticed to Redfern, the elder,
while others are gathered yearly as the
theatrical managers make up an opera
chorus.
All the saleswomen have the wasplike
waists with which fashion plates have IA
miliarized US. Despite physical culture
authorities, however, these waists do not
prevent them from handling the great
rolls of cloth with the agility Of slight
weights"
If they are laced" says Redfern,
could they toss such rolls of stuff"
If not laced, is the mental reservation
of the beholder, where does Redfern find
women of this mold?
Various wire forms bedecked in gowns
and jackets were on every side, at table sat
two swagger girls examining fashion
plates while a saleswoman in a gown of
blue cloth rich in sable tail trimming in
terposed now and then n professional sug-
gestion. The gown of every employee be-
speaks the house After a dress has been
copied two or three times it is donned by
the saleswoman best adapted to display it.
In the upper rooms customers are meas
ured and fitted. a man measures for the
pattern, q woman adjusts the lining, slip
ping on, If necessary, a series of pads
strung together on rubber ribbons 1t sug-
gests an anatomical museum. Pads under
the arms, pads in the hollows of shoulders
or neck-every spot nature has defrauded
the man tailor redeems with cotton.
Dressmakers acknowledge their indebt-
edness to the ingenuity of the man tailor.
The bodice fastened on the customer, the
man tailor returns to the sacred precinct
and deftly takes in or let's out the appar-
emily infinitesimal bits SO essential to the
perfection of the whole.
The chief decoration Of these apartments
are signs, Payment After First Fitting"
''Alas," sighed the proprietor, "a gown
is often worn out before we receive our
money"
Rest assured, only women of unques-
tionable wealth are INDUCED to that ex-
tent by the English autocrat.
Taste for Redfern gown is not unlike
that for olives. If one has it not instinc-
lively, it must be cultivated. A gown Of
plaiDest stuff costs $95. while cloth may
be had for $125, the lowest possible figure.
Redfern's private exhibition rooms are
rarely without artists making sketches of
his latest creations for fashion journals or
the great dailies.
49, Rr1. Fl,
economize after the extravaganza of a
Redfern creation, she patronizes tailor
in upper Second avenue, the neighborhood
of green groceries, Chinese laundries and
dirty babies. He may be found in one Of
a bedizened row of old time residences.
The basement is occupied by Hope Lee
and a troop of Celestials. On the post of
the high steps that lead to the house proper
swings a signboard. One side bears ap
impressionistic landscape, with damsel in
springy attire outlined against an indigo
sky. The other side of the sign partakes
of the winters chill q tailor made girl
is Drawing Above, in weather beaten let
tiers, is the sign, Ladies' Fashionable Tai
lori A pretty Jewess opens the door and
ushers the customer into the presence of
the proprietor. He is a short, chubby man,
with an amiable face. A skullcap con-
ceals caul. On the first finger of his left
hand he wears huge opal ring. His bow
is courtly, his manners winning. His
natty attire distills the odor of question
able Havana The room is stuffy. A long
line of gowns in various stages Of fashion
ing hang the length of the room. Through
half opened door one may catch glimpse
of some 80 girls and boys operating as
many machines. The air is dense with
tobacco smoke and redolent Of garlic. A
portion of the front room facing the street
is cut off by portiere, within which are
a mirror and a divan.
The customer to be fitted is the optical
victim of whoever chances TO be within
the Enclosure. There seems to be a roll call
of the establishment when the old gentle
man steps behind the portiere, carrying a
bodice or coat to be fitted. The whole is
very Dickenesque. Chic damsels, with
violin or guitar case, accompanied by their
maids; bedrabbled variety actresses or
chorus girls; fat, greasy Jewesscs, we'll
groomed; fashionably attired women of
breeding and refinement, nursery maids,
demimonde, the tag ends of creation, are