Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-10-18
man who originated the |
new slogan. Made in Ameri- |
ca" has hit upon a clever and
popular phrase. 1t may be

"dE man WHO oiiS iHdtcu ZIG
new slogan, Made in Ameri-
ca" has hit upon clever and
popular phrase. 1t may be
that this continent soon will
live I'D to the suggestion. Possibly the
users of things American made may
look for that label with as much en-
thusiasm as they now do for the foreign
labels that so far have been to the aver
age mind a hallmark of worth.
AS far as this movement relates to
dress, the world of women is quite IA
miliar with the battle for and against
the idea. There has never been any
strong or genuine impulse toward
American fashions; they have been
sporadic-"Hamlet!" with amlet left
out To be more explicit, the reform
ers reckoned without the women. The
unquiet sex did not want to experiment
with the products of amateurs; nor did
they want to wear something that the
rest of the world knew nothing about;
so they chung close to Paris ideas. al
though 1t was not possible Tor any put
the few to wear Paris-made clothes
No one has doubted the excellence OF
the workmanship in America, or any
lack of variety, or timeliness- What
women have objected to is that people
have tried to persuade them into ma
tional dress, as it were: some form of
raiment that was not adopted by the
fashionable women of the leading cities
in the rest of the world. The theorists
could not quite understand why women
resented it: and yet any business man
would laugh at the idea of trying to
produce form of currency in the
financial world that was unknown be-
yond our oceans and not marketable in
any of the bourses of other continents.
As long as Paris gave the ideas to the
whole world. the American women had
intention of being left out, which Is
an entirely laudable and ambitious
viewpoint. They did not ask their men
to institute a form of dress that was
not accepted by the other men of the |
world; they did not insist that they |
should formulate code of apparel that |
was not in keeping with the universal |
code. So they took little notice of the |
requests made by men for different |
clothes, and the American women have |
gone on steadily wearing the newest
thing in fashion as suggested by Paris,
modified here and there by herself or
her dressmaker to suit her comfort or
her social opportunities 1t is probably
tiresome to discuss a subject that has
been so constantly thrashed out among
those who were interested in the re-
FORM but it has it's bearing on the vital
question of today, which is the threat
ened invasion of New York by the
French dressmakerS.
French Invasion of America.
This is logical movement and was to
be expected. America is the sartorial
white hope of the world. Its women
are the only ones who have the money,
or desire. to buy clothes. If Paris has
not the industrial activity necessary to
produce clothes because all her working
men have gone to war. fighting for or
against France, then what more natural
than for the creative powers of Paris to
bring their brains to the United States |
At the outbreak of hostilities in Europe
several dressmaking firms fled to Lon
don and did a rushing business there
among the Americans who wanted to buy
Paris clothes while waiting for ships that
would take them home. Worth was one
of these: Mime. Paquin was another, the
Boue sisters were there, and even the
Callot sisters were exhibiting gowns Lon
don was then the natural market because
transportation of clothes to America was '
impossible, and no French dressmaker I
wanted to risk the voyage. New York I
was long way from Paris at the be- I