The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-08
DEALERS GETTING
 SPRINGTiME HATS
.Milliners Busy with Models
 Made in Paris
New York Now Fashions More Than Half of \ F. What It Sells

Hundreds of hats came into New York yesterday on the steamship Kali eerin Auguste Victoria. Consigned to millinery importers. they are the aa- vance samples of creations which will adorn the marcelled waves of New lTcrk-cf all America. for that matter.
 Of course. the hats came from Paris. The French capital is the seat of the Aat market. just as New York is the iseat of the stock market. The sue cessful hat-buyer. too. must nave that Characteristic of the Wall Street opera tor. No Iayman can hope to ant1ci- pate the caprices of popular favor as must the buyer of hats.
 How does he go to work? He trav- >els to Paris He does not visit at once i<he shops of Raboux and Marie Guy. land Comille Roget. and all the others with whose names milliners con1ufe. He spends a ieisurely time walking around the Champs Elysees and the Bois and the Rue Castiglione to see what the people are actually wearing. Then he goes to the shops to- see the models
 But merely from Paris models and fer what styles will be popular on this { side of the Atlantic For at Auteuil are seen styles that would not suit Saratoga. and if the truth must be rold-there are hats worn on Fifth Av- enue that Parisienne would not wear fin the dark
 So the buyer must know America American psychology in general and the caprices of American women's taste in particular. This knowledge is not to be obtained from books. but only from years of experience.
 The difficulty" said a buyer of thir- ty-flve years standing to-day. "is not what to buy. but what not to buy. In the gorr~-usly decorated salon or a French milliner. the ugliest model is bewitching. Many a man has bought a hat because it looked we'll on one of the shQp-girls. and has realized Ia ter. to his cost. that the girl was pret- ty and not the hat.
 Few people know where hats come from They know that they are dis tributed from Paris. and that's all. But really the hat crop is raised all over Europe. Straw comes in plaits from stable. in England. Tulle. used SC much for evening wear. is shipped uI from Lyons. in southern France Black velvet for winter hats comes from Lyons. too. though some of the poorer qualities; are imported from Crefeld and Dusseldorf. in Germany Silk beavers and felts come mostly from France. Just now there is g craze for Austrian hats-those cockJ little green felt ones. with the feath- ers-r
 This is a busy month for the import CTS Spring importations are coming by every steamship. Not only is there the trouble of clearing the imports through the customs. but also there is all the business connected with the wholesale trade. for in January and February. buyers from Portland and Seattle and Mexico and Toronto, gath. CT in New York and besiege the doors of the importers to get the first chof. ceS of the models.
 It is a mistake to consider Paris the only place where a hat is designed.
 Paris. to be. sure'' said one of the leading milliners on Fifth Avenue. 'i; the creator of hat fashion. It has helC that position more than a century, ,anG it will continue to hold it. But more and more hats every year are being designed and made in New York. We have our own designers and trimmers who take the Paris idea and expres: it in many different forms to suit tht American taste. More than half o the best hats are now made here.
 Most Of our trade this month i: wholesale. though a few women bu! hats to take south. For the next foul months after that we shall be busy with the retail trade. July and Au gust are the months for sales. Tn Au gust. on the return of the summer buyers from Europe. comes another wholesale period again; then retail again. ending with more sales aftel the horse show"