The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-13
HOTEL AND CORRIDOR.

James Waldere Kirk, not a million
aire, neither the idolized hubby of
some beautiful American heiress, but
western commercial traveller. is ranidlv
pushing TO the front as the best
dressed man in America He was at
the Knutsford, and left for the coast
last night on business for his cigar
house. He has succeeded in the more
or less laudable ambition of being
king Of dudes, to the extent of wearing
twenty suits of clothes annually, five
overcots and stacks OF haberdashery.
shoes and hats, all costing him over
$4,000 year Besides this, trading pa
per5 Of the country have devoted col
umns to this fashion plate, and this is
indeed a success. All of Kinks clothes
are made in Kansas City, and this
little burg claims the proud distinc-
ton Of making the first pocketless
overcoat; but it was really originated
in New York
Kirk is a good-looking young man,
hardly 80; trim figure, regular fea-
lures and good complexion. He is a
capable business man, has travelled in
the west a good many years, and is so
we'll known that hotel clerks, porters,
bell hops and hackmen, all the way
from Buffalo to Frisco, call him
Jim
Mr. Kirk has accumulated quite a
fortune, as we'll as a whole storeful of
clothes, being interested in manufac-
turing enterprises and Cripple Greek
stocks. Just before starting for the
coast Kirk had ten new suits and
three overcoats made by Kansas
City tailor, and his arrival is anxious
ly awaited in San Francisco, as the
tailors there will make most of their
spring and summer goods from his
model. Mr.. Kirk is an inventor of gar
ments, as well as business methods,
for he will not wear a suit of clothes
built after those fashioned for other
men. He wisely says that as he must
wear them, so shall he design them,
and he invests enough in them to
warrant something a little different
from the masses. 1t has been Sus-
pected that Kirk has an Interior meth
cd in spending $4,000 year for clothes,
other than to adorn his well-propor-
toned figure, and he has even been
accused of using them for advertising
purposes, and he does not deny the
accusation. He says: That's what |
the people think. Well it won't hurt
them to think So
When Mr.. Kirk is trying on clothes
he does not stand like dummy letting
the tailor tell him what he wants, |
but on the contrary he tells the tailor
where to take in or let out a coat, how
to make it hang properly, how the col |
lar should sit and thousand other lit |
tie details that an ordinary tailor
would never notice.
When seen at the Knutsford yester- |
day Mr.. Kirk was in a happy mood |
and said: at was always fond of
clothes, good clothes. When I was a |
small boy / worked and rustled out of |
school hours to get money to buy the
clothes my father did not think neces-
sary for one of my youth. 1 believe in
the fitness OF clothes for the occasion,
and presumably I'm a stickler for it.
[ think the man who wears a sack
coat in the afternoon and a long frock
in the morning is as guilty of bad
manners as the man who for instance
uses a tooth pick at the table. I am
always on the road or in a ho-
TEL and yet can find time and oppor-
tunity to dress becomingly. If were
settled down and had a home L would
be that much better off.
II have started on my spring and
summer business campaign, and I've
been replenishing my wardrobe in
which 1 have several novelties. had
ny clothes made in Kansas City be-
cause there is as good cutter there
rs anywhere and the fabrics are the
same as those in the New York estab-
ishments. The thing about a tailor is
his. The tailor is an artist and does
his best work for the one he knows
his art best. My tailor and
understand each other perfectly and
work together. I tell him what 1 want
Ind he gets it out, and together we
tut the finishing touches on it. 1 have
low with me only ten suits, three over
oats and their compliments of haber-
lashery, etc, considering this enough
or my short western trip.
This season / have done away with
he tapped and fly front waistcoats