Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-20
BY ANNE RITTENHoUSE,

YELL, we are settled as far as
NV the fashions go. The de-
v, " signers have done their
work; now arises the time
for us to do our work. The public in
sists that, It has the harder job. or at
least that is the conclusion one
reaches after hearing the discussions
of countless women for and against
the purchase of a single garment.
1t is not easy to buy clothes in war
time, when the slogan of judicious
spending echoes and re-echoes from
every point Of the compass. Even
poverty has rarely impressed upon us
with such drastic emphasis the need
to spend wisely and well.
Apparel is not the only branch Of in
dustry that demands judgment and
caution in spending. We have somer-
- saulted from a nation of extravagant
individuals to one of thrift and
shrewdness. t'
There has been story current for
two decades among the French de-
signers that the American women are
not helpful to them, except through
their money power for the reason that
they do not approach the choosing and
purchasing of clothes with that watch
full discriminatory displayed by the
cause it is in fashion. or because 1t
is the kind of thing their menfolk
like, or because they have seen 1T on
some excessively smart woman at a
restaurant.
X X
No French woman buys for any of
these reasons. She does not take the
purchasing of clothes lightly. 1t is
not to be a casual thing to be sand
WICKED in between a committee meet
ing and a card party. She makes en-
appointment, she arrives on time, she
Is closeted with as many of those in
authority at the dressmaking house
as her purse and prestige command
She accepts several fittings and is not
impatient, rebellious or cross Will
they, occur. She bargains for the price
sunlight and electric light the quality
Of the material she has chosen, she de-
bates, discusses, tries out and finally
agrees upon ma design that Is pscTl1asly
and her social opportunities
- The American Woman's quick COM
mont Is that she wouldn't take that
much time for anything as trivial as
OF time She orders half dozen gowns
While the French woman orders one.
and usually she finds that five out of
the six chosen In that haphazard man
ner are wrong. She quarrels with the
dressmaker. she hates the clothes, she
gives them away to her poor relations
or she sells them to a theatrical house.
justment of finance, who is the better
buyer? She who regards the expendi-
ture of 800 as something to be seri-
ously considered and worked out to
happy result. or she who considers
the expenditure Of thousand dollars
of SO little Importance that she frets
because the designer asks her to stand
still and try out different colors?
If some doctrine could only be burnt
into a woman's consciousness which
would compel her to spend money
wisely! She is handling funds, and
usually they are the funds Of another
party. and she has no right to, toss
them into the Golfers of the Dress
maker. the grocer, the interior deco
rator or the butcher.
snce the first of July the French and
American designers have worked un-
der conditions that have never before
arisen, and under the pressure of an
ranxiety and nervousness that it was
impossible to assuage.
America was trying to stand on her
own feet in designing, while she held
on with both hands to France, to
whom she must always look for
steadiness and support, and to whose
be greatful, or she will prove herself
Unworthy Of the name that France
has given to this country in the last
year.
The dye situation was puzzling and
insecure. The labor deficit caused by
the draft threatened shipwreck to
many Industries in women's apparel.
In France the sewing girls went to
munition factories, and the colorists
were dead or in the trenches.
X
Mile. Bertha, as the French call the
big German gun, was dropping explo-
sives uncomfortably near the great
designers houses on the Place Ven
dome and the Rue de la Paix. At the
house Of Premet. on the Place Ven
dome, as an example, Mile. Bertha
sent an enormous explosive at the mo-
ment that the mannequins were pa
b. rad!ng in the new gowns before a
handful Of American buyers. Glass
Smashed around the place, buildings
shook, ambulances ratified, but no one
moved, and the young mannequins did
not even swerve from that accentu-
ated French walk which is part and
parcel Of their trade.
y xuap nnder thoSo ma nifO1d cOndf.