Omaha daily bee., 1907-06-16
RULERS OF FASHION
Keen Rivalry in Paris for Place Of
Arbiter of This Realm.
DESCENDANTS OF WORTH CLEVER
Give the Paquins Close Race for
Leadership in Capital.
GAINED POSITION BY DEGREES
French Wine Growers Revolt is Most
Peculiar Movement
GAINED POSITION BY DEGREES
BATTLING THOSE WHO STUDY r
Many Believe that AduItcratIOn of
Product, First Caused by Poor
Yield, is Real Reason of
the Trouble.

PARIS, June 16-(special )-Anythina
which concerns the kings of fashion inter-
ests the Partisan public, and one might al
most say the entire world. II the world Is
not governed by the Rue de la Paix II is at
least led by II. The PaQuins, the Worths,
the Doucets, the Beers, the Grunwaldts,
the Davids the Laferrieres and Redferns
dictate to the women. and the latter Of
course are not without their influence upon
the world, Paris has had many kings OF
fashion and arbiters of taste, from Pingat,
who imposed his mantles; Worth, who abol-
ished the crinoline. and Madame Roger,
who held her ground against all rivals in
the days Of the Third Empire and finally
vanqulshed the Maison Aurelly, which had
till then been supreme,
Among the most formidable rivals OF
Paquin are the sons and the grandsons Of
the famous old Worth; NJ. Beer, who still
stubbornly holds out in the southern right
hand corner OF the Place Vendome against
Messrs. Bechoff and David, who have es-
tablished their stronghold in the northern
| left hand corner of the same square;
Doeuillet and Cheruit, who are intrenched
in the remaining available space around
| Napoleon's brass column, and finally NJ.
Doucet, the patriarch among the high
priests OF the temple OF fashion, who has
grown gray in the handling of chiffons.
| NJ Doucet Is as discreet as the third Ma
| poieon and has been as successful as the
| first. There is OF course no st. Helena
| awaiting him, and he will probably to his
dying day remain in possession of his
native haunt at the top of the Rue de la
Paix. He refuses. moreover, to be made
the subject of publicity outside the circle
4 1wrtla lraad a hnr
the history Of his house put II all in one
sentence: Say that 1t was founded In 1915
and that It is standing still"
Descendants object TO Publicity.
| The sons and the grandsons Of the cele-
brated old Worth. who was the first In
| fact TO achieve fame the world over In
his speciality, are more communicative,
though they also object to too much pub
licity. 1he worths never advertise and
never sell their models or designs, They
are IN this respect the most conservative
of the French costumiers. The house Is
nevertheless prosperous. so much so that
they, Ike Paquin. feel the need Of more
room They are seriously considering
plan Just now for adding three more
stories to the building they now occupy at
and Rue de la Paix and where their
father and grandfather established them
selves just forty-eight years ago. They
would like very much to move into the
Champs -Elysees quarter, but how they are
going to induce their supply agents and
merchants of silk to follow them without
advertising is a question. They really de-
pend upon hundreds OF providers of this
description who are centered round the
Rue de la Paix.
The Worth establishment, as is well
known has been inherited by Messrs.
Philip and Gaaton Worth, the sons of the
famous couturier, with whom the grand
sons. M. John and NJ. jacques, the sons
of CASTOR Worth. are also associated.
Charles r. Worth by the way was the son
of a solicitor. He came to Paris without
q penny in his pocket and had had merely
a small experience In London Diapers
shop TO rely upon. Yet strangely enough
this Englishman came In very short time
TO be the dictator OF fashion, not only IN
Paris but the world over. He died COM
paratively speaking, at an early age in
1896, and his sons and grandsons have
maintained the credit of the house. To
this day It Is diflcult for all rivals to
match them. much less oust them from the
vantage which they possess.
They employ any number OF premierers,
that Is, bodice fltters, skirt filters. wrap
makers, tailors, lingerie ladies and a host
OF needle workers. Their object is not so
much to supply a great number as dis
tingushed set OF customers and In this
they have certainly succeeded. A visit to
their fitting rooms reminds one OF some
of Jean Berauds famous pictures for not
only have they a wonderfully distinguished
clientele, but their models look down upon
all other models. To be a model at Worths
Is the acme Of q young as.d pretty girls
ambition. Indeed one ssps tSem walk a
queen. bedecked with real Ee,e and jewels
and imagining themHsIYss dHchesses and
countesses for the moment.
Reasons for Wine Growers Revolt.
Experts are still trying to find the real
reason OF the wine crisis in the south.
The question seems to be bafiingly com
plicated. Adulteration may be one cause;
but who began III Here is an authority
afirminE that the worst offenders have
been the southern wine growers them
selves II is claimed that when the
phylloxera destroyed their vines they
planted American vines and prospered only
too we'll They planted twice as many
vines as they had before and crushed
large quantities Of wine. but the wine
proved TO be OF poor quality. One year 1t
was so poor that the experts themselves
ueclhFe0 IL TO De no DelleT tnan artinc-
tally made wine. That was the growers
undoing, II the quality were the same
why trouble only to press the grape and
why not manufacture wine also? In 1908
many districts OF the south are quoted
as having trebled their output OF wine
by adulteration. From one estate which
produces 1900 hectolitres naturally, ac-
tually 1900 hectolitres OF alleged wine
were sold. The south now cries,
Death TO fraud" but t was itself
aduiterating furiously four years
ago. Some OF the former worst
Offenders are said 70 be among the fore
most champions OF the pure wine cam
paigns Of today. The results OF the glut
OF the wine are shown by a single typical
detail In southern garrison towns troopers
are not charged by the glass. but by time,
and at the amazing rate OF cents per hour.
For that price and during that time each
trooper can nut down a. much wine a. h.