Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-08
THE CORSET WAIST MAN
STAYS BUILT TO SHOW OFF MAS.
CULINE FIGURE.
Big Business Now at the French Cant.
tai and Plenty Orders From
the United States.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.


PARIS. August So 1900.
1t is strange. but none the less true. that
Paris is no longer the firing room for wo-
men only. Husbands and brothers are here
shopping with an energy that formerly wo-
men only expended on the business of get
ting wardrobes. The explanation is not. far
to seek. With highly commendable tact and
cleverness the French manufacturers have
Of late years been turning their attention
and machinery to the business of weaving
wonderful hosiery. handkerchiefs. cravat
silks. underwear. linen and shirtings that
could not fail to interest and attract the
masculine visitor. and though London and
New York tailors may be greatly In adj
vance of their Partisan brothers. the Lon
don and New York handles find II a pleas
ant thing to patronize the Partisan haber-
dasher for all the small and dainty details
of dress.
Continental men have come to regard q
yearly trip to Paris as a sartorial necessity,
and the German, Russian and French mill
tary swell Is perhaps responsible for the
brisk trade in mems corsets that has of
late years grown up in the gay capital.
While the continentals inspired the corset
traffic, 1t is perfectly true that Englishmen
and Americans have no small influence in
swelling the volume of this special trade
The American man used to scorn age and
ton of his figure. but of late years he has
come to think that a tidy round slim waist
is a commendable addition to his appear
ance. and the mans corset maker In Paris
says he has book full of waist measures
and names that hall from the other side OF
the Atlantic
MY wife is a well-known corsetiere for
ladies'" said the staymaker, land when We
compare notes 1 find that my patrons are
as fearful of losing their good lines as hers.
and almost as willing to struggle for :e-
newal of the youthful contours. American
men begin very early In life to chicken at
the waist, because their way OF life. their
rich food and their long office hours are
conducive to weakness of the abdominal
muscles. A young man one year out OF
Parvard fcLnd he could not button h'3
frock coat across his middle. so evil had
been the effects of his office labors. and he
came to me for a compressor. You see, IN
college. with his hard athletic training. he
had had figure to be proud of and he
didn't want to lose 1t. Fix me up until
polo and then 1 will be all right lie said.
"Well We fitted him to a corset belt. 1t
consists of a broad belt made of three stout
wide linen bands. whaleboned in 'front.' back
and at the sides and lacing in the rea~.
With that we pulled him back into the Inn
its of his college waist line, and the effect
was magical.
THAT is the stay that most OF the Ameri-
can and English men wear who come 20
us. while for actors, for continentals and
British officers. and for the young gentlr-
men In one OF your American military
academies We make a regular gcntlemans
stay. lacing like woman's IN the rear, ex-
tending high over the body, back and from,
and curved to compress the waist. An
English colonel designed this stay, 80 We
call IL the Carleton, and there are more
men who wear it under their evening dress
than you know.
There is a famous American actor who
never goes on the stage without his stays
in order to make his Bond street frock and
evening coats fit with exquisite nicely. He
used naturally to possess a twenty-eight-
ders, was a wonder, and now that years Of
flesh have come upon him he depends upon
his strong close-laced corsets to remedy
the defect.
"A pair of handsome evening stays cost
as much as eighteen to twenty dollars. for
1t Is far more difficult to build a corset for
stay is an accepted fact. while with man
we must shape his figure on natural, youth
full. slender lines and have the observer
not only doubtful. but really incredulous of
the presence of the corset Then too wo-
mems l1.gs and feminine philosophy and
acceptance of the trammels of clothes are
such that she Is not hard to fit while the
men, and especially the Americans.'-here
the Frenchman threw up his hands with a
gesture of despair-"well, they want a
miracle. with no suffering and resignation
or comfort to pay. Still. L am willing to
confess the men are learning the force of
our old French saying that one must suffer
to be beautiful, and | make ten pairs of
stays today where formerly / made one
BEAIT RPI-NNJrT