High Luxury Spending is 1936 Pastime in Sydney

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 288, 5 December 1936, Page 9

High Luxury Spending is 1936 Pastime in Sydney

CAES AT £3OOO EACH, OPALS AT £BOO, PYJAMAS AT £7 7S. High-powered spending is marking me return of tne luxury ago to Sydney. Business men art) .wearing eighteen guinea suits again, loung men in society cheerfully pay _„o guineas ior ciigagement mugs. buper-cars at mole tuuu £SUOu each otiijve a note ox magmiicence on the roaus. fashionable women pay £lO for then aura, and £oU lor their gowns, and hbb guineas xur tueir mrs and are. almost iiteraiiy arraying tnemsulves in gold. xNot. since xyiL uas mere been so much quality speuuing in the State, be far as luxuries are concerned, JNew boutn w ales definitely has turned the corner. (jewellers' suops qn-ovido a faithful barometer of economic trends. To-day Lucy aro selling engagement rings at between fUO auu hUu guineas, ana bracelets bring, tno same price, f inest diamonds and blacK opals are being 1 oxxcred at as hign as 3.OUU and are adding ouyers.

The best sapphires are being bought at ioUO a stone.

Uut at Lightning ltidge the opal miners who live' line troglodytes 111 homes burrowed into the sheer cliff, are working with a will, because tney Know tnoio is aieady sale for the gems in bydney. Unly recently a black opal was sold in byunoy for £3UH.. Others, if available, could be disposed,of at that price.

Tne prejudice against the opar has gone, and gem lovers, particularly American tourists, do not mind paying any price so long as they can buy them. High-class tailors, those pontiffs of the sartorial are wno refuse to clothe a man under lifteon guineas, repeat neuvy business. Those aro only some of the orders boohed during tne last few weeks by the head of one of the city’s most exclusive' tailoring linns: Five suits and two overcoats to one \ customer at an average of litlecn guineas each. .Nine suits to another customer —15 guineas each. Three suits and two overcoats to two other customers at 15 guineas each. "This firm charges as liign as £lB 18s, and even 20 guineas, for its suits, andl nowadays it has no difficulty in getting orders. Full tails lor dress suits are made for 22 guineas, and they aro populate ven-at that price. It is the same with mercery. Men with the money to do it are spending on their backs what would be- a- fortuno to tho basic wage earner, They aro paying 12s (id for ties, £2 2s each for silk shirts, 57s dd for hats and £3 3s for shoes.

Some arc so fastidious that they even wear seven-guinea pyjamas when the.; go to bed. And £lO 10s is. being paid to-day for summer, suits, Some of these suits ( weigh' only eight ounces—thus they

cost £2 2s an ounco. But while the cost of replenishing the depleted wardrobes of wealthy males ift high, it is much higher in the case of women. To-day they aro paying at least £IU 10s for their shoes, and often buy half-a-dozen pairs at a time. Their top-coats, with silver fox- collars, cost £SO, and sheer silk stockings about £2 2s a pair.