Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-02-16

Elegance! CLONES! JeWelS!
"HA Lights! Romance-and Drama!
Seven o'clock in the heart Of
Parisl A procession of chic,
stunning marvelouSly dressed girls, the seam
stresses from the akeliers of the great dress
making shops, came laughing and dancing from
the service exits.
The needles that skip like lightning through
fine silks all day long had all the evening to
eat dance skate and make merry with the
beaux waiting for them along the curb.
Suddenly. in the midst Of the laughing, chat
tering voices there was sharp cry and girl
burst into hysterical sobbing.
What have you got in this package, RoSlne?"
the shops detective asked as she tried to pass
cut.
9Just soiled apron. NJ. Louis" she laughed
nervously. do you want to see it?"
IT am sorry, mademoisene, but you know
the rules"
Before the detective had even commenced
to open the package. the pretty young Rosine,
looking like q princess in homemade outfit
that cost her only SO for the material but
many nights of fatigue for her clever little nm
gers commenced to shrek and dashed out into
the street. never to return.
Opened up, her package revealed veritable
treasure-the priceless pattern OF the nrms
most successful gown. Rosine could have sold
it to pirate for $50 or 500, tremendous
sum for even "fMst hand" in an atelier. But
from the moment she fed to escape a Slashing
rebuke she was an outcast from her guild. 1t
meant that she would be blacklisted by all the
great dressmakers as long as she lived and
could only find work among the parasites who
prey on the big houses.
ALMOST every week one heaB these tragic
stories of girl seamstresses who have fallen
into the hands Of these pirates and had their
careers wrecked by being persuaded to try TO
carry out their crooked mtrigueS. A.
fraer II q
this moment, midway between the seasons, for
Patou Lanvin, Lelong, Paquin, Vionnet. Beer,
Chanel, Worth Drecoll, Jenny-an that stand
for famous Paris fashions-are now showing
their Spring and Summer models to the trade.
Ever since the end Of December professional
buyers have been focking TO the French capital
from all over the world to look over the new
styles and choose few afternoon frocks, eve
ming gowns and other types which they WIN
have the right to reproduce in their own locali-
ties. It Is q gigantic business, running into
many millions of dollars and employing be-
tween 400 600 and 500, 900 persons In Paris
alone, and vigorously stimulating the French
textile trade. The individual buyers - the
wealthy women who buy their own personal
gowns direct from these big houses-follow
later.
All Autumn and Winter long the artists and
designers Of each house have been working In
the deepest secrecy to produce q hundred or
more outfits. A big house will spend 100000
their new models.
A few days after the new collections are first
shown to buyers q mere handful Of these mod
els, perhaps five or ten at most, will prove to
be great successes. All the other designs are
more or less abandoned. The gossip viii run
like wildfire from atelier to atelier that a GER
tain new evening gown Of one houSe-"A Kiss
in the Night" for all dresses have sweet names
nowadays-is the most stunning thing in town;
that certain afternoon frock Of another house
o. tie kfV11 NH
dressmaking trade win be buzzing with these
tips.
1t is at this point that the pirates appear.
There are at least q hundred of these estab-
ments hidden away in cheap streets in Mont
martre and elsewhere, but being Illicit, boot
logging affairs, they have no sign of any sort
outside. In fact, password Is often necessary
for permission to enter. The reason for their
existence is that poor little dresSmakers and
buyers from cheap department stores, all the
way from Timbuktu to China, are unable or
unwilling. to pay the big prices demanded by the
fashionable Paris houses for the right Of repro
duction. This class Of buyers prefer TO pay q
third or fourth Of the price for q copy of the
original made up In cheaper materials.
The pirates problem Is to procure the pat
terms of the successful new models very early
IN the season. This is not easy. 1t is about as
difficult to get into the early trade showings
Of the big Rue de Ia Paix houses as to break
into the gold vaults Of the Bank Of France
Even II spy does see the gown he or she wants
TO copy, Of what benefit is it? With hundred
mannequins fitting about how can one remem-
Der the details Of . single dress? The tales Of
the copyists with q Photographic mind are un-
true. The people who try to make an outfit
From memory simply make a mess of it.
The pirates must have patterns, but these
Ere locked up in a safe when they are not being
aSed In the ateliers Even the seamStresseS who
nse them are closely watched and have no OPP
portunity to copy the patterns. These patterns
are not so easy to hide. Made Of sort Of heavy
canvas of ecru color they take nm considerable