HOW LONDON “SOCIETY” WOMEN DRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11644, 4 May 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

HOW LONDON “SOCIETY” WOMEN DRESS.

BY A WEST END DRESSMAKER. [from our. own corkespoxdent.] London, March 22. Within- the last few days a decidedly interesting article, entitled "Women and Diess," has been contributed to a. leading London paper by " A Dressmaker.'' I send you some extracts: — " Extravagance in dress is not so rampant as writers on the subject say it is. Of course 1 know that mine, will be taken as a biassed opinion. What is rampant is a spirit, of irresponsible emulation. This leads a woman who has five hundred a year to dress on to order at the rate of a thou- i sand, finally to lose her self-respect in her desire to be smart, and to resort to the dodges against which we dressmakers have to be on our guard, and by which so many of -us are crippled, and frequently ruined right otic. To dress well is not only right, but a positive duty ; the greater part of the duty, however, is to dress well within your income! If our clients would do that we dressmakers would go on our way rejoicing, busy ourselves, giving employment right and left, for there are few people of the working classes that a big dressmaker does not patronise. lam asked if I will make frocks for cash down for less than for credit. This lam not very keen about doing. My estimates are made out carefully, with proper proporotion for all expenses, and except in the case of a customer who will, 1 am tolerably sure, not pay for three or four years, nothing is added because of the credit given. lam well aware of another dodge on the part of women who dress beyond their incomes. Itis to order to the extent of about £200 and then pay at long intervals sums of from £40 to £50 on account. Invariably soon after the la.st sum on account has been paid —frequently by post-dated cheque—the customer wants another frock, and frequently, so great is the folly of the human dressmaker, she gets it! " A. further dodge—there is no more dignified term to express these methods—is when a customer dee]) in one's books wants a new dress, and knows Iter name to be, on what we call in the trade the black list. She comes in, bewails her unhappy fate, and whines, and finally suggests introducing a very rich woman who will be a. splendid customer. lam never very enthusiastic about these introductions. If they ever come off it is manifest to my practical eye that the r ; '-h woman has been goaded to it at the business end of friendship's lance. On one occasion such an unwilling rich ladywas brought to me by a friend, who tried far more persistently to sell my frocks that I did. At last the spoiled child of fortune said, ' I might take that one, but you know I am sure I could get it cheaper at So-and-so's.' The face of her friend was a study indeed, when I said. ' I have not a doubt, of it, madame; not quite the same, but cheaper, certainly,' and signed to my young ladies to remove the models. The friend came back again soon after, and verbally raided me, and said it was very hard on her, which perhaps it was, but she had only herself to thank.

" I get big prices for dresses£2oo is an unusual figure for a single gown, but 1 have had it. Average prices for very fine Court gowns and ball gowns are from £150 to £170. Many cost over £100. An exceedingly beautiful dress can be turned out, and frequently is, for seventy guineas, and, as a rule, the chief expense is caused by the embroidery. . I have paid £70 out of my own pocket for the embroidery on one dress. From £30 to £50 each are ordinary prices for dinner and ball gowns of rich materials. Girls, of course, get off much less expensively. I have known thousands of pounds' worth of lace put on a dress, but that has belonged to the customer. " Sometimes I am asked to take jewellery when a customer is in straits for money, but this does not suit- me at all, as in my business it is the turnover of money that is important, not locked-up capital. At times, in common with everyone in business, I have my trouble in obtaining a cheque for an amount which has grown too large to reside comfortably on my books. When I get it I am a thankful woman, and trouble no more about the signature than to make sure it is that of a solvent person. I regard this morbid shrinking from facing real circumstances bravely and honestly as the rock upon which nine women out of ten wreck their financial ships. The tenth is the swindler who enjoys her viciousness, and thinks not at all of the rain and unhappiness she causes. The other nine begin with the best intentions—l have many confidantes among my clientsthey get into a little debt and do a little racing, or a little stockjobbing, or play a little bridge, and make enough, one way or the other, to square, accounts. Next time getting into debt is easier, getting out of it harder, and the townhill journey is just tobogganing until those who have started fair have as little tenderness of feeling as those who never had any, and they tire all of that ignoble army of adventuresses, wdiose creed is to get dress and keep in the swim honestly—that is, by gambling— they can, but at all events, to keep in ! " Dressmaking is hard work, demanding the exercise of a special talent, continually calling for tact, every day except Sunday, when it may be deemed Christian charity. Affording a marvellously wide held for the study of feminine humanity, I could commend it to the dramatist. If worry is added—as, alas! it so often is—from the incursions made on capital by unscrupulous customers, then no woman alive is strong enough to cope successfully with a big business. Either she loses heart, and kills it out and out, or it kills her. For those who start without, or with inadequate capital, the end is always in sight. And that is a situation, penury, or the workhouse. All three are hard lines for women ready and willing to work, often possessing special talent. With our credit system, however, capital is the bare necessity of business. Even with it ruin may be wrought by the ignoble army of adventuresses, unless tact, and that freemasonry which exists between us all, and use of our friendly black lists are frequently resorted to. Yet a further dodge, to which I should have alluded earlier, is that of the separate income. Before this was better understood many of us made gowns for customers thinking that their husbands— men—were responsible. Too often, too late, it has been left to us to discover that the husband is not liable, as the wife has a small separate income! A great matrimonial convenience, truly! A little list, however, helps us with this dodge also. The great thing is to have a good balance at one's bank, to be as smart as some customers are smart, and never to be in a position to be tempted to work for doubtful payers. Far better be in a good house on a salary than your own mistress on an inadequate capital, the slave of some and the prey of many."