The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-02-17
WHAT IT COSTS TO LIVE UP TO sOCIETY's
DEMANDS.

DEMANDS.
How much should it cost tc live
move and have ones being in ultra
fashionable society?
Is $375 a day too much for wo-
man to spend, even though her tastes
are extravagant and her environments
expensive?
This question was recently raised
by the publicly aired disagreement
between fashionable Mrs. Burke
Roche, of New York, and her father,
wealthy Frank Work.
II allow her." said Mr.. Work,
$4,000 a month"-which is over
$I6o day-"yet she spends $375 a
day, and doesn't find it enough for
her extravagant desires"
This, too, when the father pays all
the household expenses and main
t71s the stable.
It is not often that specific expen-
ses If a wealthy member of the Four
Hunlred-and few remain in those
exclusive ranks who are not rich
are revealed to the world.
Thousands who read daily of doings
in highsociety have little conception
of the aetual money cost to those who
battle continually for social recogni-
ton. maintenance or supremacy iu a
round of sensational and expensive
pleasures
Not long since a careful writer,
who had obtained what he consider
ed accurate basis for his estimates,
summed upthe annual expense of the
family of modern multi million
aire in high social life as reaching
5000 900 year.
This was not given as the average
expenditure Of such families. Some
spend more, others considerably less !;
for even in the most dashing circles
there is manifest now and then, the
restraining touch of that frugality
that was partly responsible for the
owners millions.
But there are many families, it is
asserted who find that they cannot
get along in these high pressure days
under an actual yearly cost of about
5000, 900.
Only few summers ago, we'll
known couple astonished even prodi-
gal Newport by declaring that, al
though the mans income was $780,
600 and the wife over $500, 900, they
could scarcely manage to live on near
ly 81 900 day.
How does the money go? Well,
the fashionable woman's clothing
costs fortune annually.
While the bills of many of these
ranges between 81, 900 and $I2, 900 a
year, some are said to devote $40, 900
exclusively to the demands of the
toilette.
"You can't get a first class gown
from us for less than $500" recently
remarked man who is connected with
one Of the most noted dressmaking es-
adjustments in the world.
"Of fcourse, there are gowns for $3.50
and $500, but really smart woman
would not wear one of these at an I'M
portant function"
This same really smart woman, ne
continued, would need about twenty
gowns for the Newport season alone.
Another authority asserts that, in
order to be comfortable-pleased with
the world and herself-the woman of
fashion requires about sixty new dress
es year.
Five or six of these are tailor-made
suits for street wear, costing from
$3.50 to $3.50 each.
Then, there should be dozen or
more evening gowns and about the
same number of dinner costumes, cost
ing from 5000 to 500 each.
DINNER GOWNS AT $500.
Ofcourse, there must be half doz-
en- fetching little affairs of soft woods
and silks for informal afternoons, and
these are billed at from SIS to $50
each.
From fifteen to twenty summer
dresses of fine French muslin are also
necessary, their price ranging from
$Ioo to 5000.
There are some interesting details
in connection with the making of a
$500 dinner gown. A single yard ol
trimming, for instance, may represent
a weeks work on the part of half g
dozen skillful Swiss or French girls.
First, the pattern, perhaps of leaves
or flowers, must be embroidered ii
silk with the finest stitches.
After this, it must be gone ovel
with tiny transparent beads of differ
ent colors or, sometimes, in gems o
some kind.
AS finishing touch, the veins anC
stems of the leaves must be worked in
one by one, in colored thread.
"How often would such gown b.
worm" the authority was asked.
"Three or four times, as rule
Some women never wear the same
dress twice at really important func
tions."
"Then, what becomes of all this
finery?"
"Some sell their discarded dresses
others give them away. Frequently
one may see a boudoir maid more
handsomely attired than the average
woman of the well-to-do class. Sh'
falls heir to the wardrobe of her mis-
! tresS."
This same man is authority for th
statement that one very rich woman
has all her discarded costumes burned
She does not wish to have any one els
wear them.
But gowns do not complete wo
man S raiment, more than one swal
low makes spring. There are hats
! gloves, lingerie-all the other ad
iuncts of the toilette to be considered
She pays from SO to SIS pair TO
her shoes. There must be pair o
slippers to match each evening or din
| - co~r, To-, e1;o~orc cccf her 81