The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-01-05
COST OF CLOTHES FOR WOMEN IS
 STILL SOARING
Demand For Furs Still In creasing Despite High
 Prices.


 New York, Jan. 1.-The mother of an 1S-year-old New York girl who for several years has kept an account of the cost of her daughters ward robe, in a letter to local news paper, recently complained about the prices of clothing, shoes, gloves, hats etc.
 Some interesting figures on what it costs to outfit a young woman to- day, as compared with five years ago, are afforded by quotations from number of average priced local shops, as follows:
 1s14-shoes, $500. 1s1s-s12 to
 1914-stockings (silk) $1.25 to s1- 50. 1919-s3.50 and up.
 1914-Underwear, $3.50 to $500. 1919-S10.0O and up.
 1s14-silk bloomers. $2.5o a pair. 1919-s6.50 a pair.
 1914-Undervest, s1.Oo to s1.5o. 1919-s3.5O to $4.0O.
 Petticoat (silk) s4.00 to $500. 1919-s12.O0 to s15.O0. 1s1s-Waist (georgette) s1O.Oo to $15.OO. 1919-$25.00 and up. 1s14-suit (woolen) s75.oo. 1919 -$150. and up.
 1s1s-Hat, $500. 1s1s-s25.Oo and 1914 - Fur neckpiece, $S5.O0 to s5o.0o. 1s1s-$125 and up. 1914-Muf, $5O.O0. 1919-s100 and up.
 1914 - Gloves, $1.5o. 1s1s-$4.oo and up.
 1s14-Tota1 s1ss.75 to s217. 1919 ] l-$476.00 to $4S6.00 and ur. l The foregoing applies to what the l shopkeepers regard as a ''1noderate'' wardrobe. Serges, formerly the l cheapest and most common dress material and which, before the war, ! could be bought for $1 to s125 a 1 for the same quality. l Velveteens, another popular dress 1 material, could be bought five years l ago for s1 to SIPS yard and now ] are bringing s4.50 to $50. The big gest advances, dealers say, have been ', in cotton and wool and not so much l in silk.
 | Babies bucksl1in shoes which nor
 nally old at $3.5o are now priced at l $7 to $9 pair.
 Many women of means, the retail 1 CTS say, are paying as much as S25O i and up for pair of silk stockings but these are beaded with pearls and are decorated with fine hand em- broidery. The public demand for furs, in spite of the advance of 50 to 75 per cent. since Spring, dealers say, is fifty per cent. greater this winter than last season. Fur coats costing many thousands of dollars are more in evidence than ever before ir New York.
 
 paper recently sketched a coat, suit and dress at a local factory. the com
 bfned wholesale price of which was $975 The coat, a coarse wool fab. ric, was marked $375, the georgette
 dress at $275 and the suit at $325 Here were three garments which
 sold at retail, would cost the buyer
 at least $1,500, it was said. Such instances in Fifth Avenue
 shops ofh ow the high -cost-of-Ii
 has hit the rich are by no mean:
 rare. One window displays a rost
 white blouse for s3,5oo. ) ''Unto1d millions are being invested : in furs this year by American wo
 men," said J. W. Argenbright, Brooklyn importer, "and the demand ts less exclusive and more widespread
 than ever before, showing that pros
 perity is general Coats costing iron
 S50,000 to sS5,O00 are uncommo,
 but they are being bought. America is not only importing tn, , finest Russian sables but is produc : ing the best specimens of the bIacl : and silver fox, mink, seal, otter, beav
 CT, fisher, wolverine, bear, lynx, bad
 ger. skunk, raccoon and muskrat Al
 these and many others, in hundred l of varieties, from the richest an,
 costliest to the moderately priced ar
 domestic products" f Reports that wealthy American } had representatives abroad buying u so-cal1ed N"royal' furs were dismissea F as nonsensical by MT. Argenbright
 For 75 years, he said, there had beel
 no such thing as "crown'' saoles e Ermine also is less popular than eve l in the history of the trade.
 "It is an old and mistaken idea, he said, that the finest Russian sab
 les are not shipped outside of tha ! market, these skins being supposed t , be the former Crown Russian sabIes I In former years, when Russian sable ? were not so expensive, natives in tn interior used to pay their taxes wit r. belts.
 In those days the enterprising fu e collector had not penetrated tn 2 wi1ds of the Siberian forests. It wa e the custom of the trappers to dispos {; of their seasons catch to the Russia : government but since sab1es have be $ come so much in demand and tn 1 prices are so high, the natives hay ] found they can do much better sell
 ing directly to the collectors wh
 come from all parts of America an l Europe"
 NIINUCIA, VESTAL VIRGIN.