The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1911-02-17

My Dear Cynthia Grey:
What I'm going to try to tell
you about hats is simply real big
| NEWS right straight from the
largest millinery firms in Broad
way!
millinery district. The Partisan
experts had just returned from
fashion hunting abroad. The
Savoie had just brought them in.
Ten days before, just as they
weer about to sail, they had wired
to their firms in New York this
short message:
Make flowers"
That message set the wheels
tagging. Hundreds of flower fac
tories which had been idle for
months were started immediate
| ly. Thousands and thousands
of flower makers We're called to
work. Today, when the experts
reached New York, they found
flowers being turned out literally
by the TON.
The most remarkable sight
saw was the beautiful array of
sample flowers which the experts
brought across with them from
Paris. Late in the afternoon
these flowers were set out in a
vast and wonderful display. No
flower garden could show so
many colors. There were flowers
of every sort, from sweet heather,
made by the nuns in European
converts, to gigantic purple
chrysanthemums.
The flower makers took sam
pies of these imported flowers,
and within a few days they will
be duplicating them as closely as
they can.
I'VE can't copy the :. French
flowers" said one. The colors
are too exquisite and the work
requires so much patience that
no one in America would attempt
it, when it comes to the smallest
flowers. But the flowers we
make will be beautiful, neyerthe-
less"
The hat ornaments that attract
ed the most attention, as the mil
linery experts gathered about the
boxes, were ropes of moss, dotted
with moss roses of silk.
They're the most beautiful
things France ever sent to us, y
said one man, who had been in
the flower business for twenty
five years. And, indeed, they were
beautiful.
i In the show rooms, where
scores of out-of-town milliners
were gazing at hats on fetching
human models, saw the flower
craze at it's height. There were
hats made solidly of flowers.
saw one of forgetme-nots; an
, other of violets; another OF moss
roses, buried in real moss and
/ grass. Other hats were decorat'
ed with lilies-of-the-valley, in
. pastel colors.
: And, in the midst of all the
flowers, saw, here and there, the
/ very newest fad-THE BUTTER
:, FLY. These butterflies were
: large - sometimes six inches
: across. Some of them were made
of lace, some of ribbon. The
|, most expensive and striking were
made of white feathers. They are
worn on the hats like buckles, and
they set off the flowers-or the
flowers set them on-in splendid
fashion.
The French have got out what
they call a chantecler color, that
isn't a fad over there, but a real
) Established fashion. 1t is a very
deep red, something like the
Iblood-filled comb of rooster.
saw feathers, ribbons, velvets and
laces in this wonderfully deep
} rich blue. The chantecler red is
very similar to the Helen red
which has vogue in America
just now, and which is named aft
er the favorite hue of Helen Taft
as she displayed it in her gowns
land flowers at her coming-out
party.
4 What shall / say about the
Ishapes?" / asked one of the ex-
lperts. :
THE shapes are not fixed upon
yet." he said, "but all hats are
large"
i One Of the experts told me in
confidence that the ding-a-lins
hat last fall played havoc with the
lmilliners.
Everybody was ready to do 6
big bushes in feathers ant
metal decorations, and had laid il
i Printing as good as the best, a