Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-09-14
Anne Rittenhouse
Writes of Extraordi-
nary Gowns That
Have Made Their
Appearance in Paris
During Summer.
BY ANNE RITTENHOUsE.
Of The Star.

80 6SoSIpcu
r. about in Paris except clothes.
L. This Is reversal Of all for
mer conditions. In August
the commercial buyers who are here
from America find 1t necessary to
discuss the apparel that women buy,
as they were here to select hundreds
of gowns from the thousands offered
each week. They have to arrange
to have these copied in America, to
purchase the available amount Of
material in this country for that copy
ing, and to see to such tiresome de-
tails as shipments and passage home;
and the last effort Is the straw to the
cameIs back!
This was their business. Whenever
they can get away from 1t they dis
cuss prices Of food, apparel. taxis, Of
sightseeing motor cars, lodgings,
laundry and even little cakes.
+ \ X \
Nothing is too great or too small to
discuss when it comes to prices. The
subject has become an obsession.
Wherever one sees three people fore
gathered they are comparing expen-
VII III co. lNo OHc UOdSLS dDOuC now
cheap an article is, but how expensive
1t Is. Every one reviles the schedule
of prices in Paris, forgetting that
they are practically the same as ex-
list in New York, Philadelphia and
Chicago. But one always expects to
get anything in Paris at half the
price, of New York, and now that the
prices OF Paris are on par with those
of the great American cities there is
bitter disappointment among Ameri-
cans. who raise an outcry against
the fact.
There is no doubt that the mass of
tourists who expected to come to
Paris this summer would have been
sorely disillusioned had the govern
ment permitted them passports. They
could not have afforded much of a
stay In France unless they brought
a huge letter Of credit or filed their
pockets with bank notes. The vast
array Of working people in America
who have looked forward to q sum-
mer in France as their chief ambition
and who have known something Of
the prices such summers cost before
the war would have gone bankrupt
here In three weeks II they had ar
ranged their proposed expenditures on
the old schedules.
True. you can get a gown for, say,
$10' at Worth's II you buy 1t at the
end Of July when few women want
new clothes, and you buy a model
that has been copied since February.
There are many American women who
DO not care. They like big name in
the gown. But II they go on this
principle they cannot get model that
has chance to serve as fashionable
during the coming season.
4 X 4 i
1t Is difficult to find any standard Of
prices in Paris this summer, especially
In clothes. Each house has its own
price list and these prices are altered
to suit the customer. Nothing is
cheap. It can't be under existing
conditions. Velvet, for instance. Of q
certain weave. has been raised three
times Its pre-war price. Satin Is SO
instead Of IS a yard.
Labor Is as full Of unrest here as
In America and no one will work for
the, salary that existed before 1914.
Naturally the French think that all
the Americans are millionaires; they
thought 30 in other days. but the
strength. resources, equipment and
methods Of spending money shown by
our Army have utterly driven any
idea out Of the French head that q
poor person exists on our continent.
They charge according to this belief.
They will tell you. in a frank man
ner. that they regret the low prices
to Americans in other days. that 1t
took the appearance Of our two mil
lion men and our thousands Of well
rare workers to convince them they
mad charged US one-third what we
deserved. Now we pay for 1t. From
Just point Of view they are right.
The effect that this change will have
on America Is greatly diminished
tourist travel. Millionaires will come
mere and those who are sufficiently
we'll to do to afford an expensive va
cation, but 1t IL wise for the great
class Of people who have a small In :
come In America to know that Paris
Is too great a luxury for them until I
change. The school teach
Or who saved $500 for a summer in ,
Europe. and saw the worth while ,
places. won't get far beyond her land
Nc port these days on that amount. .
x oesenger rate on the steamers y I,