London Fashion Notes. MORE ABOUT BRITISH SILKS.

Evening Post, Volume LXIII, Issue 87, 12 April 1902, Page 2 (Supplement)

London Fashion Notes. MORE ABOUT BRITISH SILKS.

(VVrittou*speeially for the Evening Post.) LONDON, 21st Fobruaiy. Last week I ntevred at soiuo length to tho expressed desire of lier Majesty, mtulo known many months ago, that ho far as feasible, Hiitish materials and Biit:vli -\\oikinuuhhip alono bhould churaotori.so the dress for this \ear at any rate, the object being, of course, to endeuvour to ro-establish tho silk industry, which formerly Mas c.vtremely nourishing, but which for many years past has been practically dead. Looms had fallon into disrepair and grown out of dato through long disuse. Tho industry in this country grew and prospered aud enjoyed the patronage of the Court and of nobility from its inception until the year 1825, at which date I believe there were in London alone, some 24,000 looms, which gave employment to more than 60,000 workers. The crash came some thirtyfive years later, namely, in 1860, when the protective duties wore abolished, with tho result that a rapid decline followed, looms were practically all silenced, their owners no longer bestowed any care in the production of designs and colourings, and in the end tho craftsmen dispersed. Such is the brief outline, from the zenith to Mie decline, of the silk industry in this country. Its revival has been very gradual, and has been brought about mainly by individual efforts, the late Duchess of Teck, mother of the Princess of Wales, being among tho first to aid materially its, restoration, and in the years 1886 and 1894 exhibitions were held of silk of national manufacture, and at tho latter a spocial object of much interest was the wedding dress of our present Princess of Wales, which its Royal owner lent for the occasion as a specimen of British-made silk. Of late years, too, the public generally have realised the many advantages resulting from the manufacture of silk in this country ; and so, surely, if steadily, the industry has been reviving, until it has reached its present encouraging stage, and people would gladly patronise their own country's work if they could be sure of obtaining it in sufficient quantities, and quickly enough to bB ready for each respective season. And that is where the difficulty hitherto has lain. It is common knowledge that the English manufacturer— in whatever branch of trade— has the reputation of being not the most enterprising or the smartest men in the world, with the inevitable result that orders for nearly every class of goods have constantly to be placed abroad for things that cannot be got at Home, owing to the sluggishness of those concarned. No doubt they do have many difficulties to contend aguinst; but wouldbe purchasers cannot be expected to take into consideration that phase of the matter j theyi can get their orders executed abroad, therefore why should it not be possible for tho same things to be obtainable at Homo in tho same time and at tho same or more reasonable rates? To take the case of silk manufacture especially. This is what the silk buyer —a very important individual who occupies a highly responsible and often difficult position in each big London drapery establishment— of one of the biggest shops in the West End, said to me recently, on the subject of British manu-factures-—"The position is this : The season is short, and the demand during that short time is very great, and we must be able to Keep up our supplies and repeat favourite patterns and colours and .qualities of silk as they ar« required. A month ago I bought from a British manufacturer 60,000 yards of a spocial kind of silk, and soon we saw that this quantity would not be nearly equal to the demand. So soon as this discovery was made, urgent communication was at once sent repenting the • order, and the reply receivedi was to the effect that the order could not be taken, unless delivery, in June would be soon enough, for his looms were then all engaged, and would be for some time to oome. Now, of course, by June the season will be at its height, and at that time of the year it would be much too late to sell that particular silk in profitable quantities. So we have no choice now but to place the order abroad, and in the course of a very few weeks we shall havo the supply we re* quire. That is where the British manufacturer shows his lack of enterprise ; he is contend to jog along in a small way, and so lets orders slip away from him, merely because he has not the energy to bother to arrange to set up more looms and engage more workers, as every sensible and business-seeking man on the Continent does. We cannot afford to humour the langorous caprices of our fel-low-countryman by awaiting his pleasure when it means heavy loss to ourselves, and consequently we have no choice but to place our orders where we can rely O a getting them fulfilled in our own time. Naturally, of course, wo should greatly prefer to patronise our own people, but you see, in the present state of things, this is not always possible. If they wish for our custom they must bo prepared to fulfil our orders in the same time as foreigners aro only too eager to do, without any fuss or demur. Until British manufacturers realise tho importance of this, we shall be absolutely compelled to have business dealings on a large scale with manufacturers out of our own country. As to the superior quality of British-made silks, there can be no two opinions hold by those who know what they are talking about, but as things are, we cannot satisfactorily, cither to ourselves or our customers, conline our orders solely to this country. Patriotism and that sort of thing are all very well, but must go to the winds when it is possible to be better served abroad than at Home. "We are looking forward, however," my informant continued, "for tho time to approach when the present state' of things may be reversed ; when that time comes we shall be all the better pleased. But what would be the use to us to mention one instanco only— of the 60,000 yards of silk delivered in June, which should be on the spot in leadiness for the beginning of the season— particularly thi* year, when wo are looking forward to a season a good deal .earlier rJian usuni?" In these remarks there is much force, but it is plain to see that things have an improving tendenoy, and several of the big shops now are advertising special shows of silk and othor materials guaranteeded to bo of "British make." Stripes seem to characterise a great many of the new silks — and stripes, it may be remembered, were somewhat at a discount last year «t this time ; the now stripes vary in width aud ni arrangehiont, of course, but they seem to bo noticeable everywhere in some form or othor. In many cases the material i« not only striped, but otherwise patterned as well ; this is noticeable specially in many brocades, which often aro heavily striped in addition to their otherwise characteristic design. There is an extremely taking new ! silk called the "serpentine," which may ;be had in many colours. It is a silk which has a moderately wide satin s trine running through its length, and this stripe waves slightly, so that it catches the light in different ways, with the result of an almost crocodile effect ; it is a thin and soft make of silk. The new dress materials include a new make of poplin, with a much finer rib than was the rule with that onco favourite material, which, by the way, is surely gaining favour again as a consequence of its being taken up once more in high quarters. The new variety is called "mousseline poplin" on account of it* lighter make, and in tho silken variety it i» a decidedly pleasing fabric, and should make exceedingly «f<

feclivo and useful chesses; it-! colourings i«uige from vxtieinoly ileiic«U« evening tones to \ory luelul dark tones. Vor bilks and velvet;, the "Coronation rod" is one of tho lending shades, and it remains to be seen how it will take-— except, of couihe, lor the Court trains at the Coronation, -when, in velvet, it will bo compulsory. As I explained last week, it is a tono which has it d«"h of magenta in it. One authority y.uU, when I asked if ho expected there would be much demand for this particular colour. "Well, if wo don't hull it thh year, wo shan't be able to gel, rid of it at all. But wo are obliged to stock it, and wo expect a demand for it. But, honestly, it is not a good soiling colour, and ordinarily wo should nevor be asked for it ; but it is oertaiuly to ha one of the 'fashionable' tones as a result of tho Coronation, and therefore we are obliged to stook it. And when anything has the reputation of | being 'fashionable,' you know the result. I Tho same colour, as nearly as it oun bo produced, will characterise a great many of the cloths tuid friezes for spring wear. It would be useless to pretend that the 'Coronation red' is a generally becoming colour ; for it is oxaclly the reverse ; but, of course, it is essential that wo should btock plenty ,«f it, and I hope that none will be left on our hands, for, as I havo sum, at ordinary times it would bo the most unselling of colours. Purple is pretty certain to be largely worn as well as Royal blue, so those who aim at being 'fashionable' need not feel out of it if they are not wearing the orthodox 'red.' " Really one sees more and more that there is a good deal of truth in the saying that women are "a flock of sheep" whore fashions are concerned, the majority buying and wearing anything and everything, becoming or the reverse, so long as they are assured of tho all-im-portant fact that its hall-mark is: "Fashionable." "Coronation year" is to be the .excuse for a groat deal of needless extravagance in dress, if one can beliovo the statements now so common. Why people should feel obliged to spend lavishly in "Coronation" y«ar than in any other, seems unaccountable to persons with a few grains of com-mon-sense but all tho same, needless and reckless purchases are sure to be the rule. Trade, of course, profits considerably when circumstances occur to justify a more than ordinarily lavish expenditure, and this in itself is considered a sufficient answer to the query: — Could there be any better excuse for expenditure now than this, the Coronation year? Of course, the possibilities for feminine extravagance are greater now than they have been for years, and, tit is remarked, "what an excellent state of affairs thin is in view of the many opportunities of displaying extravagance which the coming food and gracious season is to provide." wonder how many prominent people will be head over heels in debt by the end of the year? More, I expect, than will generally be imagined I