AMERICAN EXTRAVAGANCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 286, 27 August 1908, Page 5

AMERICAN EXTRAVAGANCE.

An /Australian paper summarises the statements made by Mr. ..TJpton Sinclair in his new. book, -."The Metropolis," about tho extravagance of New .York's smart' set. One woman has a £50,000 fur coat, but sho is eclipsed by another who owns a coat worth £200,000. This coat is insured for £100,000. It is-made of tho soft plumes of .rare' birds from Hawaii, and it took twenty years to build.. Every feather was crosqent-shaped, and thero were wonderful 'designs in'gold, _ crimson, and black. In this amazing talc, several thousand dollars aro;paid for gowns that ;aro only worn once or twice. Ono' member of the smart sot, who would pay £10,000 for a few' frocks, nover wore.hers more than once. Then her/butler solemnly .cremated' them; as if he were burning tho dead. . • Anothor had just, had fourteen trunks of gown 3 sent up' from, the Custom House. Each one came stuffed, with \tissue paper, and! attached to each was a piece of the material from which the shoemaker would make shoe's or slippers to match.. Thoro were street costumes, tea-' ball and dinner gowns.' Most of th'o latter were to bo • embroiderod with jewellery beforo they were worn,\and imitation gems wore sown on to'show where' the real ones should be placed. Some of these gowns woije so i filmy. that tho women iwlio made them had to sit in damp cellars, becauso the sunlight would' dry tho fine threads, .and they would break;, a'singlo yard of tho lace represented 40 days of labour, and it was so fino that it was hardly , oven rabbitproof. Thoro was a pastel batiste do soie Pompadour robe that had cost £200; there was a hat to go with it that had cost £25, and shoos of grey antelope skin, : buckled with mother-of-pearl, that had cost '£8. Then there was a gorgeous and intricate ball .dress of' pale-green chiffon satin, iwith orchids embroidered in oxidised silver,,; and a' long Coxirt : train studded with diamonds. This, cost £1200, without tho jewels. ■ I v No member of tho .smart set would coni sidcr her wardrobe complete • without coats and opera .wraps of "white unborn baby lamb." The fact tliat tho baby lamb fur' i 3 "unborn" is stressed until the' reader gets tho exhausted sensation. Gold or jewel-led-handled parasols are made to. match, each gown.