The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-09-05
BARGAIN HUNTING ABROAD.
1t Really Matters Little If You Cannot
Wear ForeiGn-Made Clothes.
Philadelphia Record.

Philadelphia Record
Now that the hundred-dollar limit re-
str1cts the feminine globe-trotter to a nom
inal amount of chiffons purchased in her
beloved Paris or London perhaps she may
be brought at last to realize the fact that
she can shop just as well on this side of the
Atlantic as the other
Two articles dear to the soul of the aver
age woman, may be bought cheaper at the
Bon Marche than in Philadelphia or New
York-hats and silk petticoats-but gloves,
corsets, lingerie and all the dainty access
series that go to make up the toilette of a
well-dressed woman cost quite as much
abroad as at home
An experienced shopper who runs over
every year and whose chic gowns are the
envy and the despair of her friends, con-
f1ded a little secret to me a day or two
ago. which is really too good to keep:
What charming little frock," said
from Paris"
A noncommittal smile was the answer to
the nattering comment. and later l was told
that the said frock had been planned and
made by an obscure little dressmaker in
West Philadelphia for the absurdly low sum
Thus, again do we see that "skim milk
masquerades as cream" and that the wom-
an who goes abroad every year does not
necessarily wear imported gowns.
The first time one makes the grand tour
one is sure to come home bankrupt-eVery-
thing is so ridiculously cheap that it seems
a sin not to buy! But what an awakening
awaits the enthusiastic buyer when she is
home again in her lain countree;" the chic
little fichu, the braided Russian blouse, the
double-breasted Elton jacket, the dashing
picture hat, which the novice fondly mag
ined would be unique for at least three
months TO come, are to be seen duplicated
a hundred times on Chestnut street or
Broadway, while in the fashionable shops
on those two thoroughfares the exact coun-
terpart of her dearest possession is on sale
for the same price, or, alas and alas! some
times for trifle less.
There is a fiction too current among
womankind that the English tailor-built
gown is the nonpareil of that chic mode.
But as matter of fact an American wom-
an is rarely satisfied with q frOck made by
a British dressmaker-it is apt to be clumsy
and lacking in curves. almost invariably
giving a woodeny appearance to the figure;
finish and material, to be sure, are ire
proachable, but, after all, the fit's the
thingn
AS for the much-vaunted French corset
that too. is a delusion and snare-for the
slender American woman at least. Gallo
hips are large and the bust noticeably low,
and in spite OF the fact that the overtime
sea customer is built on entirely different
lines, the French model is followed to the
disgust and discomfort of the would-be
There is little, if any. difference in the
price Of good gloves. Cheap and limiting
ones may be bought there as here for go or
IS cents, but the really good quality is rel
atively the same in price.
Leather goods, silver knick-knacks and all
such luxurieS are quite as far beyond the
here. Indeed, silver is more expensive, as
are cut glass and nearly all table appoint
mentS.
So, perhaps the hundred-dollar limit is
not without it's advantages 1t may teach
the feminine shopper that close at hand she
may find the same articles at precisely the
same price the only difference being that
she must sacrifice the prestige OF CHATTER
ing to her London tailor or her Partisan
modiste-a contamination, indeed, devoutly
to be wished