CLOTHING OF THE RICH

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8178, 20 July 1912, Page 10

CLOTHING OF THE RICH

SOME STORIES BY A FASHIONABLE LONDON TAILOR. Borne very rich customers of mine, says a West End tailor in a London exchange, have excessively strange fads and fancies in the matter of clothes. One -of the wealthiest men in the city, and probably in the world, who has been a customer of mine for years, has all his coats aud waistcoats LINED WITH DRIED TOBACCO LEAVES. The leaves,' of course, are inserted underneath the Ordinary lining. Aly customer believes this is a sure method of guarding against tho attacks of infectious disease, and he certainly has not had an illness of any sort during the past thirtyfive or forty years. There is a superstition in one of the wealthiest titled families in England that it would bring tho head of the family ILL-LUCK TO WEAR AN ENTIRELY NEW SUIT of clothes. . , So whenever the head of this family—who is a very well-known peer—conies to me to order a ilew suit of clothes, he always Brings me- the buttons from an old.one 10. sew on the new, and in this way AVOIDS THE DANGER that threatens him if he puts OH an entirely new suit. ' 'The buttons, by the, way, that some wealthy gentlemen have on their clothes cost a big lot of money. The Earl of Lonsdale has a set of buttons which he wears on a driving-coat-that are worth five pounds apiece, or perhaps more. Eacn button is about the size of a five-shilling-piece; the face of the button is made of mother-of-pearl, -and iaoncased in ivory. Liach button has a niiutengraved- on .it, the engraving being of-the finest workmanship.. \ I have a customer—a well-known politician —who wears a set Of antique gold buttons oil one of his fancy, waistcoats; there are half-a-dozen of them, and I know he was OFFERED TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS FOR THE SET by a wealthy collector. Many ricn customers send their clothes to me to be pressed and .cleanto at regular intervals. Borne send as many as a dozen suits of clothes a ween, 1 have occasionally found some very valuable possessions in the pockets of my customers' clotnes. A iitt,e wnile ago, a yollng officer, who is heir to an immense fortune,.sent me some suits of clothes to be ironed. In tne waistcoat pocket ot one were three Bank of England notes forJisoo each. , ; - lu the inside breast-pocket of a loungecoat belonging lo an Aim-fi- an millionaire, who was then living in London, ,1 found a bank draft for Wll.OOO; and in a coat belonging to a famous scientist 1 found a letter from the late King, asking the owner of the coat to c luo to lunch at tho Alarlborough Club. I make it a rule to examine personally all the pockets of any custn.mrs’ clothes when they are sent .in to le ironed and pressed,. and return anything of value that I may find at once to the owners. Wealthy people vary considerably in THEIR METHODS OP FAYING fot their clothes. I have one customer, for example, who will never pay me until his account exceeds a thousand guineas; that would be about, in his case, a thfee years’ account, though, of course, many rich men spend a good deal more on their clothes than this individual. I have anotner customer, on the’other hand, who is also an enormously rich man, who PAYS AIE CASH FOR EVERY SUIT-HE BUYS. Some years ago a well-known financier offered -to pay me a lump sum of £S>>MI down if I would supply him with the clothes he required for ihe rest of his life free of charge, but I did not accept the offer. The usual price I charge for an ordinary walking-suit is eight guineas, but, I have one customer who, by special arrangement, pays me TWELVE GUINEAS A SUIT. At this-figure I have often to make hin on approval perhaps as many as twenty suits, out of which he will keep at the outside only a dozen, and I have to take back the others without charging him for them, and sell them off as misfits. But for the fact that he is a very influential customer, and has introduced many Wealthy people to me, this arrangement would not pay me at all. Recommendation is, indeed, a large part of my business, for I depend greatiy upon the word of customers for the widening circle of my connection. It would never do for me to advertise, for that would offend aristocratic patrons.