Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-13

NEW YORK, February II. 1915.
-HE situation in Paris today is
exceedingly interesting. France
is racially dramatic, and she
q has been able to infuse into
what might have been dull times
pepperish condition that has put the
dressmakers of two continents into
a state of irritation She is like an
actress who is constantly before the
public through a clever trick of ad-
vertising that keeps her in the eyes
of the world.
Not for a moment since the war
began has she allowed the American
sartorial system to be quiet. The va
rious artful and altogether stimulat-
ing ways in which she has impressed
herself upon the public have been
taken up too often in the last eight
cen months to be repeated: but the
fact that the dressmaking world of
Paris has never allowed itself to be
pushed aside by the war in either in
terest or activity is a phase of this
world rebuilding that should be in
corporated in it's history.
1t shows that the dressmaking world
of Paris has the innate dramatic IN
stinct. the kind of trait that keeps
your name to the fore. no matter what
other conditions are tumbling down
with a crash that will resound through
the centuries.
When there seemed to be chance
of a stalemate in the dressmaking bat
ties. as there is in the actual battle
line through Flanders and France. the
French syndicate of dressmakers be-
gan a sharp artillery offensive that
sent shells bursting and doing damage
all along 5th avenue and its adjacent
territory.
The syndicate. as you know. reserved
the right to choose and pick among
the American buyers. SO that the bust
ness of importation would be in the
hands of few and not many. The
reasons behind this right of jurisdic-
ton were sound. The French dress
makers felt that something drastic
must be done to protect their original
copying in the United States. Eng
land and Germany, which was done in
a way which did not contribute either
money or prestige to them. They also
were TlSntIy lTTltdtcu al d olSCOSCIS
that the United States sold thousands
of limitations of their models by using
facsimile labels of the great French
houses which are sold in this country.
patience of a far more serene soul
than the French. 1t was forgery and
dishonesty. There is no use mincing
the words. for the two facts have been
established and there are no two opin-
ions about the right and wrong of it.
Many of the best shops stopped to it;
thousands of women bought gowns
bearing labels of the great French
houses, which were made in the upper
floors of American dressmaking estab-
lishments, and for these gowns they
paid the exorbitant prices that are
asked for imported French gowns be-
cause of the duty.
Our dressmakers said they were
driven to do it because American wom-
en- refused to buy American gowns,
but the number of these women is SO
few in comparison with the female
population of this country that the
argument sounded absurd. True, there
are many women who are inclined to
this deception for they will haste a
French label in a homemade gown,
but it can fool no one who knows any
thing about clothes.
The one time when the French label
has no appeal for the American wom-
an is when the ship is nearing Ameri-
can shores. That last day on board
is taken up by the woman passengers,
locked in their staterooms, surrepti-
tiously replacing French labels with
soiied American ones. The first day on
shore they spend doing the work all
over again.
There was good excuse, in the light
of this discovery, for the French
dressmaking soul to ruffie up it's
feathers like a wet hen. And il was
natural that they should make dras-
tic experiments toward stopping both
these practices in American. However.
the experiment they made few weeks
ago brought nothing but a strained
feeling between France and America
and possible disaster.
II was meant we'll and it sounded
we'll on paper but 1t worked badly
from the start Its initial adventure
in boycotting certain American buy
ers resulted in a widespread feeling
over here that personal prejudice was
going to rule the decisions.
When the great house of Callot
withdrew from the syndicate it looked
as though Paris was beginning to get
uneasy under the new rules. as well
America: then. when Premet with
drew with her vast American follow
ing. and. lastly. Jenny, the idol of the
moment, with Lanyin technically ex-
Guiding her millinery from the syndi-
cate rules, and Paquin wavering and
undecided as to whether she would
stay in, the situation broke hopefully
for the American buyers
Today the streets of Paris are
thronged with Americans who are over
there TO bring back the new gowns
hear that everything is SO per cent
more cheerful than 1t has been since