The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-11-10
MANNEQUlNS OF PARIS.
INTERESTING FEATURE of THE
GREAT DREssMAKING EsTAB-
LISHMENTs.

Gently and Ride in Their own
Carriages-One of the Old French
Nobility Is Mannequin-Many
English Women Serve in This Ca
pacity-Head Mannequin in One
House Is Virginia Girl From the
United States.
An interesting branch of the service
in the great coutouriers' establishments
in Paris is that of the mannequins.
A mannequin is not little man, as
one might be disposed to believe; she
is a woman, generally young and beau
tiful, and always nearly perfect. ar
ustically, in figure and STYLE" 1t is
her duty to appear in the "salle d'ex-
position" or showing-off room, wear
ing the latest style of costumes ap-
propriate to different society func-
tons and parading before the GUS
toners. Also, she sometimes serves as
a "trying-on" machine, wearing be-
fore them the unfinished robe, so that
alterations of detail may be made Ut
to the last minute.
These mannequins are exceedingly
we'll paid, and as they are always
dressed in the most ultra chic fashions,
the position is much sought after. AT
the great coutouriers' some of the
"mannequins" have been unsuccessful
actresses, young women who had taken
to the stage on the strength of their
fine figures or stately carriage. In
point of earnings, if not in point of
o. lnrxY hnxy hox To
those who have succeeded on the stage.
Some of them arrive every morning al
their shop" in as brilliant a carriage
and-pair' as whirls a great tragedienne
to the theater.
At one establishment the manager
told me as a dead secret that among
their mannequins was a real, live mar
quise. This lady belongs to one of the
old noble families of France; her an
cerstral name was renowned in the
court records of the seventeenth CEN
fury; her brother is still owner of
what was once a splendid chateau in
the Landes of Gascony. By the decay
Of the noble house, as the RESULT of
the political upheavals which have so
often altered the face of French So
ciety life, the chateau had to be
closed and the family to go into inn
poveriShed exile. This courageous wo-
man finally decided to Ego into bust
ness" She is very beautiful, reproduc-
ing the traits and figure of a famous
ancestress. a beauty of the court of
Louis XIV, whose portrait hangs in
the Louvre. Her handsome salary as A
mannequin is helping to restore the
chateau in Gascony, and with it the
social prestige of her family. For bust
ness purposes she is known as Mad
emoiselle Annette" and the American
ladies before whom she parades have
little idea that they are being served
by a member of the old nobility of
France. "Mademoiselle Annette" be-
comes again in the evening Madam
Ia Marquise de v" and in her tiny
apartment off the Faubourg Saint Ger
main receives the representatives of
the royaliSts aristocracy. They over
look her %disgraceful connection with
trade" for the sake of her ancient name
and her wit and beauty.
'Mademoiselle Annette" is, however
startling exception to the general run
OF the mannequins in point of birth
Most of her colleagues are girls whose
beauty and grace have raised then
suddenly from the utmost obscurity
One day a week the managers of the
big establishments open their doors tc
prospective mannequins, for they are
always in search of attractive young
"demoiselles." Sometimes girls who
come in the morning in pitiful poverty
stricken attire leave the place in the
evening robed like princesses. In
several of the Paris dress-makine
houses there are English speaking
mannequins in one the mannequin-in-
chief is an American girl, a Virginian.
Besides these living clothes pegs, ii
the expression be not too brutal where
there is so much beauty and chic there
are hundreds of women and girls en-
ployed in a big coutourier's place, in
one no less than 900. They work al
cutting, stitching and bordering in
great atcliers, lofty and cheerful, and
the whole immense establishment is
filed with the hum of their attic.
The young Parisienne is naturally the
merriest of human beings, and these
500 girls have special reason to be
cheerful. They work under exception
ally pleasant conditions at one of the
best trades for women, since Paris
fashions prevail everywhere. In their
surroundings they are well off and
their faces and costumes seem to tell
of happy general conditions.
A good many of these girls are for
eigners, who work in the ateliers of the
noted Partisan houses by way of quail
ASHlS lOi Ills ute Oh pupil OF worth,
or pupil of Paquin," in their own coun-
tries. They are earning, so to speak,
their Paris diploma, the better to ex-
plot their home public, in America
or England. And it is only fair to say
that even though they have not ex-
actly the right to the proud title of
pupil, they necessarily acquire consid-
cradle skill by working, however hum
bly,, in these famous establishments.
The big prices paid to the great cou-
tcuriers represent the clients absolute
certainty of having the best possible
workm' neh'p; and the simplest sew
ing woman of the staff has got to give
that or to "get out" Many modistes in
the large American cities owe the be-
ginning of their vogue and success to
the severe and highly skilled training
they received during their year or two
under Paris task masters eye.
IF" said the manager, 1--WE got a
commission on the bushes of all the
girls whose prosperous career COM
menced in these ateliers we could go
out of business at once millionaires
And" he added mot a little of our
income from this source would come
to us from the United States"