Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1910-06-04
STEALING THE STYLES
London Millinery Pirates and
Their Methods.
TRICKS OF SMART woHEa.

Use Their Position 20 Get . Look al
the Advance Models and Then Sell
Their information In Berlin-one
Case Where There Was a Slip.
The object OF the modern millinery
pirate is by some means to get bold
of the new fashions well in advance
Of the coming season, and. however
jealousy guarded the new models are.
she-most pirates are women-very
often succeeds. and the real owner has
the modification Of seeing his novelty
anticipated by some irm Of Infinitely
less importance han his own
Last spring the proprietor of n ot
the smartest shops in the west end OF
London noticed a lady walking In the
park attired in a dress almost an eS
act copy of q brand new model of his
own. a model which not half q dozen
people had seen besides its inventor
and himself. The design had been reg
istered, but the cop was just sufh-
GENTLY altered to steer clear of legal
difficulties.
A most searching inquiry revealed
the fact that The culprit was a lady
who had always been considered one
of the firms sInartest and best custom
ers.
Her birth and position were less im
peachable THAI the state OF her
finances, and she had accepted the
offer of a Berlin firm TO dress her OF
condition that. she supplied it with TIE
very latest creations that found theiI
way from Paris to London.
Having the entree of the innermost
sanctum of the London firm referred
TO, she had taken advantage of its con
idence in her to draw its designs frem
memory and post them to Berlin.
The London firm had no legal rem
edy whatever. All it could do was
when the autumn styles were due and
the lady called again to inform her
that her patronage was no longer DC
sired.
Another lady detected in q similar
trick by the manager of a Regent
street firm was very %cleveriy punished
Upon her next visit she was received
with the same cordially as ever and
taken into the showroom. where the
latest models were usually displayed
She never suspected until too late
that the room had been specially ar
ranged for her reception. The models
exhibited were anything but new, and
the too smart firm which employed her
was put to vast expense TO Work VI
dresses from patterns resurrected from
those of years before which proved
absolutely unstable.
1t is by no means exclusively for the
purpose of stealing other peoples orig
inal designs that pushing" firms en-
list the services OF well dressed re
cruits.
Last summer a lady arrived at 2
smart sea side hotel. the sort of place
where people stay for the whole sea
son. She was pretty. smart and per
fectly turned out-so well dressed. IN
fact, that other women. filed will
envy. did their best to find out mhe
was her d~ressmaker.
But. though she frequently boosted
that the people were perfect treasures
and that her bills amounted to next &c
nothing. she steadfastiy refused TO diS
close the name.
One day. however, she accidentally
dropped an envelope inclosing a blk
from the mysterious dressmaker, q Bill
artfully faxed" so as to show prices
of startling ~cheapness. Within a weel
the tlrm that employed this clever laty
. 1-.-A - a,rrfAVnANc
~.iotels. too, 6nd the lady tout most
useful. Last autumn a very pretty
grit arrived at a certain Scotch healtl
resort establishment with her mother
She was smart, well dressed. a cseveI
musician-just the sort of girl to 10
thoroughly popular with both sexes
At once she became the center Of a
large coterie of admirers.
Then after a few days her vivacfous
expression gave place to a look of en-
utterable boredom. II can't stand this
place. It's so deadly dull" she saAd
over and over again. Finally one
evening she announced that she could
not endure it an hour longer. She
was going.
"Where?' was the question.
Back to Blitherington," was the de
cided answer. ut may be a little
dearer. but you get your moneys
worth there. One has such a good
time there!"
Next day she left. and before the
week was out a large proportion of
her friends had followed her.-London
Grand Magazine.