The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-10
the suhiect ID dress would lay out

1OLdI 0UU
The contrast between the expenditure
OF the American woman and the Eng
lish woman is striking. How can it
be accounted for?
To a considerable extent the tailor
so at least maintain the fashion experts
consulted yesterday-is responsible for
the comparative economy of the Eng
lish society woman. Sixteen or eighteen
guineas-that is, $50 or $9O-buys per-
fectly cut, well made gown which does
rot soon pail on the wearer and this
the English woman will wear in the
morning, when the American considers
an expensive toilette essential. Nor
does any one expect the social leaders
in London to wear toilette fresh from
the hands of Worth or Paquin every
time they appear in public.
In the country Paris gowns are
thought out of place, and on the river
the English woman wears a simple
linen or flannel suit, costing about $50
or SIS, shady straw hat for which
she pays about $780, and a summer
shirt such as can be bought for $40 or
so. The American, when in England,
at any rate, sacrifices a $3.50 toilette
to the Thames.
In the quantity of clothes, too, the
English woman effects a saving. Not
OlllN are american WOIlGIl UulIlOuSly
extraVagant in the price they pay, but
it is no unsual thing to discard gown
after wearing it two or three times. In
England elaborate dressing is more or
less reserved for certain set functions,
hut in America the carnival of clothes
continues morning, noon and night
each day and all DAYS.
mo English society woman ever
dreams of laying in a big stock of
o Q
American women regularly do. The
English buyer has to be content with
fewer of these very expensive dresses"
pointed out another court dressmaker.
1.-The $4,000 frocks spoken of are
generally fictitious, though very costly
court dresses have been worn by Eng
llsh ladies. Ten thousand dollars has
been paid for court dress. but more
than half the value has been repre-
scented in the lace. Duchesses have
worn dresses, but they have been
American Duchesses."
Nor has any English bride had $780,
900 expended on her trousseau, as had
the American bride of an English peer.
Neither does any English lady run
through $4,000 worth of evening frocks
in one season.
The big dressmakers bills of the
American woman have been attributed
to the long credit allowed by the
American modiste. AS an actual fact
equally long credit is insisted upon by
women in English society. Between
Fifth avenue and Bond street there is
little to choose. In both cases the mo-
diste has 10 wait couple of years or
more for the settlement of her account,
and the accounts of $4,000 standing in
the name of American women have
many parallels in London.
Love of the novel does not reduce the
English buyer to the same excessive
extravaganza as her transatlantic sis
ter In Bond street shop last week
the price of a handkerchief richly
trimmed with Brussels point was asked
by an English woman.
Seventeen guineas $500"
every pretty" said the lady, and she
ordered a dozen handkerchiefs, with a
Countesses' coronet embroidered in the
corner for $17.50 A few minutes later
the fiimsy square of lace attracted the
fancy of an American shopper and
straightway the seventeen guinea
handkerchief changed hands.