Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-07

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
NEW YORK, January 6, 1899.
II is said that vomen's dress is this
winter more 6xtravasant than ever before.
Tho anne assertion has been made with
equal sincerity about every year since the
beginning of the world.
In support of the claim you are referred
to me boxes Of the Metropolitan Opera
HOUSE and TO the costumes seen at full
dress dinners at the Fashionable restaurants
and on any and every other occasion when
the world OF v ealth is on view. If disposed
10 controvers! you point out that even at
the opera house or at restaurant dinner,
imported from London. many women who
would he discousolate if a thread or fieck
OF dust married the spotlessness of street
urTs,rG appear quite at ease in tum1led
evening gowns
Nevertheless it may he admitted that
material. cut and decoration Of the season 5
costumes are all of a sort to call for a
scale of expense not to be characterized
except as lavish.
II Is not a hard matter to put $500 into
the velvet Of 4 costume If the velvet is
embroidered the amount may be indefinitely
increased. In known cases it has been
quajruTled- If to the velvet is added Il
tuuic Of real lace. made in one piece TO fit
the figure, the money represented by the
lace alone may amount to a fortune. We
have been accustomed for q year or two TO
IN" Use Of precious or semi-precious stones
in eTnbrgi .i.TV. but not until this winter
have W. heard much of real gold or silver
fringe as a dress decoration. or of strings
Of matched pearls for shoulder straps. The
costly tu- cut up for trimmings is another
expensive item.
Cost of Construction.
TIE making of dress may or may not
le among the largest items of its cost
Saur dresses Of great price are turned out
L.
moIest figures. women the secret of whose
existence II carefully guarded by their
pauoaes<eS, lest they obtain a following
and become able to put up their charges.
IN most businesses of reputable sort
satisfied customer is an advertisement, but
tn" contrary holds, among certain folks, in
dTJ -Smaklng.
Recently. while travelling in the south a
woman of my acquaintance was enabled to
he of considerable service to a young girl
taken i'll way from home. Three weeks of
careful nursing met with their reward. The
coHValescent when sufficiently recovered to
understand the debt of gratitude she owed
was prnfusc in thanks. and proof of her
sense OF obligation offered her New York
Gr-S~nakcr's street and number.
Pint" she added. ''ynu mustn't let my
mother or sister know Ttcv wouldn't for
give ne: We never tell. She's a genius hut
50 few people know her that, if she didn't
tak what We pay. she'd have to go back as
hand in store"
The m0distc who charges what seems an
enormous figure. ana who is found sporting
shopping bag or some more extensive ar
t.ele lined with / er customers silk al
though never a scrap was available to send
home has been a familiar enough figure
hut The 9th side OF the question is less Of
ten pr-sented-the selfishness of women
which does its best to prevent talent from
Wui King its way to Il reward.
Het,er OF Than Others.
Many ana scarlet as are the sins of the
dreS-makcrs. We fare better in one respect
'han EnsHshwomen. In dressmaking ad-
TertiScEl"uts in London. when a special bid
i made for trade. there may occur the
phrase. Ladies own material made up
Tho making up of ladies own materials
being an act of grace not to be taken for
granted.
In ordering of a fashionable dressmaker
or tailor who has succeeded in becoming
fashionable the cost Of material is apt to
be thu smallest item in the expense Of an
outfit. though the prestige of certain tailors
has received blow from the agitation at
tending the unsuccessful tailors' strike.
Fashionable leaders have become Indignant
- beng charged huge sums for dresses
the actual labor on which is performed by
mis"rdbiy und-cpaid tenement house work
erS. Ihere Is likely to be il New York be
fore long 1 movement similar to the Con