The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-11-02
By PAUL PoIRET.

In His Last interview Before Sailing for Europe
THE present modes in America extra7.
agant and yet monotonous to aston.
ishing extent. l find women's clothes
r this country, ornate. so e1travagant in
an ordinary manner, that tho very simplicity
Of my designs make people who are ignorant
call hem odd. freakish. bizarre. The plain.
the. simple. is bizarre. but the extrav
agant ornamertaton CT tho present day is
always so. Simplicity IL the highest note in
art. High art dies WHARF over-elaboraton
comes In This is true in dress and aa we'll as
in architecture.
The ,tels throughout the country and tho
homes | have seen. are witress to this love OF
nordinate display. Americans must have
everything they possess covered with decora.
t!on. Tut decoration tina. Is ordinary. that
lacks the elegance OF the Renaissance
Look at these rooms-everything. the walls,
the ceilings. the carpets, even the electric
light holders are covered with figures that
mean nothing. Everywhere look see figures
lowers. fantastic twistings that only irrtate
my sense OF the beautiful and my nerves too
II these concentrations had a meaning. or a
USE then | would say. very good. But be-
cause they meaningless. useless. they
binary. Just the feathers and the high
foolish ,corations womens hats are mean
ngess and ordinary
Let me explain. Ny wife goes into the hotel
dining wearing q perfectly plain. close
fitting hat OF white felt. 1t is becoming in
shape, it comes down her ears. There Is
no decoration of any kind it. 1t is of the
highest simplicity. All the American women
in the room turn. look at her and say. How
treakish. how very 3izarre! But just like
Poiret." How absurd! II is they who are
freakish, with their black velvet hats all made
alike. and their high feather plumes and fan.
tastes waving IN the air do not know which
is more foolish, the feathers or the stiff ribbon
bows. which rival the feathers in popularity.
have just returned from trip through
your Middle West. When left New York
said to myself. Perhaps in ST. Louis. in Chi
cago, l may see the woman who is daring
enough 20 be original But no! There saw
hundreds, thousands OF these same hats, all
alike nothing individual about them. See.
draw one. What does it look like? Like
poole frire-a frying pan. as you would say
with its handle attached at grotesque angle.
A hat is a head covering, nothing more nor
less. 1t should be absolutely simple in out
line, not caricatured by being made flower
garden, a barnyard fowl. bird of the air.
My wife's hat OF plain felt is artistic. The
iph her
house gowns artistic. But the woman of
America looks at her, and says, How freak.
ish!"
Her attitude is due to the fact that she has
no idea Of values, no sense of balance. She
cannot stand it to look at plain surface to
wear plain garment or an untrimmed hat.
To the american woman. ornamentation is the
breath OF life. She must be ornate, although.
In being so, she displays lack Of good taste
and vast ignorance Of the elegances of life.
Elegance is not dependent on wealth. 1t is
dependent culture, a cultivated or an
inherent good taste. woman may spend
$4,000 yearly On her wardrobe and not achieve
elegance. only vulgar Or uneducated show.
But can see that the American woman Is
going to get away from her present standards
Perhaps | should say, her past, for 1t was
during her recent past that this desire for
snow became SO apparent. 1t began, / think,
with the growth Of your great fortunes after
the discovery Of gold in the Vests It has al.
ready reached its height, and l can see that
the It'd will run strongly the other way. This