The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1910-05-05
STEALING THE STYLES
London Millinery Pirates and
Their Methods.
TRICKS OF SMART o N

Use Their Position to Get a Look at
the Advance Models and Then Sell
Their Information In 5erlin-one
Case Where There Was a Slip.
The object of the modern millinery
pirate is by some means to get hold
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 notification of seeing his novelty
anticipated by some firm of infinitely
less Importance than his OWL
Last spring the proprietor of one of
the smartest shops in the west end of
London noticed a lady walking in the
park attired in a dress almost an eX-
act copy of a brand new model of his
own, a model which not half a dozen
people had seen besides its inventor
and himself. The design had been reg
istered, but the copy was just sufi-
GENTLY altered to steer clear of legal
difficulties.
A nos searching inquiry revealed
the fact that the culprit was a lady
who had always been considered one
Of the firms smartest and best custom
erS.
Her birth and position were less i'm
peachable than the state of her
finances, and she had accepted the
offer of q Berlin firm to dress her on
condition that she supplied it with the
very latest creations that found their
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
fidence in her to draw its designs from
memory and post them to Berlin.
The London firm had no legal rem
edy whatever. All 1t could do was
when the autumn styles were due and
the lady called again to inform her
that her patronage was no longer de-
sired.
Another lady detected In a similar
trick by the manager of q Regent
street firm was very cleverly punished.
Upon her mex 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 up
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 ct n
smart seaside 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. filled with
envy. did their best to find out who
was her d~ressmaker.
But. though she frequently boosted
that the people were perfect treasures
and that her bills amounted to next to
nothing, she steadfastly refused to dis
close the name.
One day. however. she accidentally
dropped an envelope inclOsing a bill
from the mysterious d~ressmaker. a bill
artfully faxed" so as to show prices
of startling cheapness. Within a week
the firm that employed this clever lady
welcomed a dozen new customers.
Hotels, too. find the lady tout most
useful. Last autumn a very pretty
girl arrived at a certain Scotch health
resort establishment with her mother.
She was smart. well dressed. a clever
m~usician-just the sort of girl to be
thoroughly popular with both X
At once she became the center Of a
large coterie of admirers.
Then after a few days her vivacious
expression gave place to a look of un-
boredom. Il can't stand this
place. It's so deadly dull" she said
over and over again. Finally
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
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
tirand Magazine.