The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-03-02
FASHION LEADERS
| DEFY DOWDY QUEEN
Refuse to Follow Her Lead
in Matters of Dress
DEGREES RESENTED
Miss Muriel Wilson Told the Queen
Through Lady-in-W Waiting That
She Would Wear What
She Pleased
DEGREES RESENTED
BY LADY MARY

siderable time past there has been brew
ing among many of the most modishly
attired women in English society a spirit
| of discomfort against following the lead
in fashions set by Queen Mary, and in a
lesser way by various members of the
royal family, and now certain section
and very influential section are avow-
edly ignoring the royal example and
wishes in this matter.
| Among those who are in revolt against
the autocracy of Queen Mary in the mat
ter of dress are Mrs. Leopold de Roths-
child, Lady Cunard, the Duchess of West
minister and several Americans, including
Mrs. Adair
| The fact is that the ladies of the Eng
| lish royal family have always been guided
| in matters of dress solely by ther own
taste and have as far as possible ignored
prevailing modes.
But in the late reign Queen Alexander
nevertheless remained the leader of ia sh-
ion and her example of the whole was
generally followed by the wealthiest
and smartest women, but there was a
| twofold reason for this.
King Edward wished Queen Alexander
| to be the generally recognized leader in
all matters of fashion and among that
Influential section of society which is
now in revolt against this royal author
ity in question of dress, King Edward $
least wish was absolute law Therefore.
when King Edward desired that Queen
Alexandra should be generally recognized
as the leader of fashion the women folk
| of the Speyer, Rothschild Sasoon and
other wealthy and influential families
readily accorded such recognition to her
majesty.
| King Edward, however, with character
istic tact conttived that Queen Alexan-
ara should always lend sufficient encour-
agement to the latest modes to Justify the
ladies mentioned in freely following them.
But King George has not at all the
same Influence among the particular sec
ton of society mentioned as had the late
king, and those ladies who habitually
have been attired in the latest modes are
no longer following the example of Queen
Mary who avowedly and frankly dislilzes
to be seen attired in anything approach
ing what the best dressed people would
describe as smart or modish
| At the house party at Welbeck Abbey,
at which the king and queen We're pres
ent little while ago, there were two
| ladies present whose evening attire was
good deal more scanty about the shoul-
ders than Queen Mary likes it to be;
and to one of them-Muriel Wilson-hel
| majesty through one of her ladies in
waking conveyed an intimation that her
evening attire did not meet with the
| royal approval Mauriel Wilson'S reply
to the royal ambassadress was regarded
as unsatisfactory" plain English, il
was rather rude, conveying as it did the
lady's very firm determination to dress
as she jolly well pleased.
| Now it so happened that this lady was
among the guests who had been invited to
a Forthcoming royal gathering at Chats
worth, but the Duchess of Devonshire
had subsequently to inform her that she
could not ask her to meet the queen.
This might not have been of much con-
! sequence had the lady been content TO
accept the duchesss intimation quietly,
but instead of doing SO she kicked up a
tremendous fuss over the matter, and the
story is that her majesty informed the
Duchess of Devonshire that She would
desire to have the party put off alto
gether. Anyway, it was put off. Had it
taken place it is certain that both Mrs
Leopold de Rothschild and another lady,
| who was to have been present would
have assented themselves as they re-
! garded the lady mentioned as having
been treated quite too automatically h.'
| Queen Mary in a matter that her maj
esty had no good reason for interfer-
| ing with.
| Outside court functions Queen Mary
| power to decree what must or must
not be worn depends altogether ON the
Willingness of ladies of social impor-
tance to bow to her majesty's wishes in
such matters. OF course certain great
ladies who are connected with the royal
household, and who habitually move in
the royal encourage do so--among these
ladies are the Duchess of Devonshre,
the Duches of Norfolk and Lady Eva
Dugdale, but these ladies, high though
their rank, and great their social influ-
ence, are not regarded by society in
general as leaders of fashion-as a mat
ter of fact, the most smartly attired peo-
pie in England society do not, as they
did in the late reign, belong to what is
known as the court circle"
| In the court circle itself. there are,
| especially among the younger women,
several who do not regard the "dowdy-
| ISM which they are supposed to cultivate