Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-14

capital OF fashion: yet here is Mrs. LIE
Gallienne with clientele Of some of the
best dressed women Of America and Eng
land. Mrs. George Vanderbilt. Mrs. Leigh
Hunt. whose husband has the great cot
ton plantation in Egypt; Mrs. William
Faversham, who is the beautiful Julie
Opp of the stage; Mrs. Anthony Hope. a
lovely and stylish young woman of TWEEN
,y-three, and Mrs. Booth Harrington. one
of the beauties CT the American colony in
Paris
OF course there is a secret to it. Hats
are becoming serious problem. even for
the well-to-do in Paris: and Anglo-SaXon
ladies have become particularly eAasper-
ated by American prices from witch
they cannot escape. Coteries of wealthy
women have proposed giving all their
trade to this or that great modiste on
condition of enjoying Paris prices" All
in vain. american prices are the apple
of the eye to rue de la Paix dressmakers
and milliners. and Englishwomen suffer
from them only less than ours.
Moreover. hats are becoming q serious
problem, even for the well-to-do i'm Paris.
The great modistes are now issuing three
styles per season-t4elve styles per year:
Apart from priceS-which have doubled,
even for Observation-Disclosures of filing
lead TO a thousand disappointments. Thus.
to know "a private place where you can
get rue de la Paix hats at half price" be-
comes a valuable secret.
Mrs Leigh Hunt comes through Mrs.
Wacott of New York and Mrs. Harry
Knighton Strive comes through Mrs.
Leigh Hunt. Next Mrs. Strive will send
some friend to whom she wants to do a
favor. and SO the word goes round. Mrs.
lie Gallienne does not pretend to do more
than one thing. She furnishes rue de la
PaiX hats to special clientele.
x
She has no show windows. no adver
Using signs. II is up three flights o.
stairs. on a quiet street beside the Garden
OF the Luxembourg 1t is refined lady
parlor-full of hats that would seem to
have come from Lewis. earlier. Georgette
Reboux or Esther Meyer, but they do not
why have hats become so DEAR" l
asked Mrs. lie Galiienne.
Materials have doubled in price in the
last five years. she answered. Soft
Paradise aigrets have doubled in two
years. One tiny spray now costs 40 cents
retail. and YOU can make no pretty eff
feet with less than thirty to fifty sprays
Big hats require from fifty to eighty
sprays: so that you must count $40 for a
hat with beautiful soft Paradise
why have they gone up so?'
.Dyeing and coloring have reached such
a high point that the manufacturers have
sent off all but their most artistic work
men. The feather or rose that cost 20
cents to dye five years ago, would cost
from so centss to 81 for its dyeing
today. There are twenty tints of blues
and green's, so subtle and refined that five
years ago they were impossible. I have
pulled out threads of old tapestry, and
asked the dyer can you copy that
THE results are beautiful, but ex-
pensive,' continued the art critic turned
modiste. There is a dyer who makes
roses for me of such charming faded
tones. so delicately graded toward their
centers that they are objects of art.
Now you can buy a pretty pink rose
for ~ cents: but the modern dyeing of
the same rose may run it up to one dol
lar and half, or two dollars"
1T is the same with marabou feath-
ers. They have doubled in price in
single year. She showed me white