The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-10
NOT COPIED FROM EUROPE
Association of Tailors Settles the
 Styles.
Proposed Changes and sassestions Are Made at the Annual Exhibitions of the saiiors--Out of This Comes the Home Pros
 
 duet Styles.

New York Jan. 9.-While the de- elgning of new styles and the sale of patterns showing the correct Iasnioh in women's gowns is a business or tre- mendous extent and the methods Dy which 1t is carried on are fairiy well known to most persons. the subject ot fashions in mems clothes remains as It has long been an impenetrapie mystery 10 99s out of every thousand men. The styles in mems apparel are just as in- exorable as are those that determine 2 women's wear although not so great in variety and subject to less frequent and radical changes. Men who make a habit of correct dressing know that their coats should be made longer or shorter, more full or more closely ht- ting this season than last as the case nav be but why this is so 1t would be impossible for them to tell. Most of them get the information from their tailors or from observing other men IT pressed to account for the decrees which are put forth from season to season and which they follow unques- tionably they probably would hazard vague guess that the styles "came from London" or else that they were the work of some mysterious and invisible individual like the man higher up" In the graft investigations that occasion ally take place in various cities.
 It Is obvious that the styles to be followed by well-dressed men do not .just grow" in imitation of the iun- mortal Topsy. Neither are there rec ognized leaders of fashion among men whose ideas on the subject of dress set the standard for the rest of the fash aonable world, as is to an extent true of women's gowns and as was the case with men in the days of Beau Brum- mel and other famous dandies of gen. erations past. Why is it, then, that we wear our waistcoats buttoned high one season and cut low another year? Why do we display braid on some kinds of suits and not on others? Who tells us to wear certain garments on certan oc- casions and why do we obey?
 < The answer is really, very simple al- though 1t doubtless would trouble the ordinary man to give 1t correctly. There is a very general impression that Fashions in mems dress follow the styles of London and Paris. This was kthe case in the early days of the coun- stry but 1t has been growing less and Jess true for the past twenty five years and at the present time Ameri- cans are as independent of foreign countries in the matter of clothes as they are in their form of government. Some Americans still have their suits made in London but they are chiefly members of the rapidly dwindling class of AnglomaniacS which Is far less Aifl- fuential now than 1t was twenty years ago. Many of the fashionable tailors in New York and other large cities make a habit of going to Europe ev- cry summer and pick up occasional ideas as to cut and fabric from their observations, but these influences af- feet only the minor details of mems garments. Experience has shown that garments and styles adapted to Eng fish habits and to English weather are less suitable to conditions oA thls side of the Atlantic. Americans never have accepted as a business costume the frock coat and top hat to which the Englishman Is still almost completely subservient Nor have they taken Kindly to the variety of top coats that flourish so luxuriantly in King Ed wards domain. The influence of Pa Tisian customs on the dress of Ameri- cans is practically nil and as Germans have no distinctive styles of their own in dress the United States is practi- cally free from foreign domination in this matter.
 Wearers Determine Them.
 Broadly speaking the styles of gar ments which Americans shall wear are determined by the wearers them selves. Comfort and conservatism are
 
 United States. After he emerges from Inc college boy stage of extremes and Rffectations, the American Is slow to accept changes in his costume. He Is far less conventional in the matter of what he shall wear than is either the Briton or the Frenchman, but he is also far more conservative. Attempts have been made again and again to induce men to adopt colors for even ing wear or to look favorably upon this or that garment new to their scheme of daylight dress, but these attempts invariably have failed.
 Since fashions do change, however, and these changes are adopted with more or less uniformly among we'll dressed men in all parts of the coun- try it follows that there must be some court, congress or other law making body to decide what changes shall be accepted in the cut and fabric of mems garments from year to year and likewise to frown down attempted Innovations that do not recommend themselves as based in sound sense of conforming to the requirements of American tastes and conditions. There is such a body and 1t does its work very effectively. but so quietly that few people, outside of those who are connected with the business of supply ing mems wants in the matter of clothes, know even of it's existence.
 This body which decides from year to year what we are to weHr ia made up of the tailors of the country. or at least of the leading members of this ancient and honorable profession who are banded together under tbe name of the Merchant Tailors Protec-