A TITLED SHOPKEEPER

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 14, 7 April 1927, Page 5

A TITLED SHOPKEEPER

LADY FORBES, DRESSMAKER “ TV7HAT first made me think o£ keeping a shop,” said Lady Angela Forbes, as she sat in the showrooms of her dressmaking establishment in Cork Street, London. “Well, the trading spirit got into my bones, and this was intensified after I had been in France and sold cups of tea and bread and butter for pennies. “Looking back, 1 remember that, as a child, my favourite game was playing at shops, so I suppose X just fol-

lowed a natural inclination when I decided to sell things. I was, I believe, one of the very first women of title in England to engage in business. “For a long time my activities were confined to the breeding and selling of livestock. At (liy outset of my real career I ran a farm and furniture workshops at Brentwood. Curiously enough, I am again taking up breeding —dogs this time —as a side line, but I consider it is almost impossible to do this properly unless you live in the country. “Now that this place has grown so tremendously,” said Lady Anegela, waving her hand round the big dress salons, “I have little time to devote to anything else. But my dog, Eva, has just become the mother of five fine Alsatian puppies, which I shall sell.” Then came an interruption in the conversation. The French cutter and fitter wanted to know something about an order, due for dispatch, and the “head of the business” has a say in all matters, both large and small. “I began," Lady Angela resumed, “by making children’s clothes. The idea first came to me when designing tiny garments for my grandchildren; these were made in my own home. Gradually people gave me orders, and so the business grew from a tiny beginning to a full eight-hour day affair. Next I went in for woollies of all sorts and country clothes. “My next important step was to rent a small shop in Beauchamp Place and for quite a long time I stayed there. Then people urged me to go into the West End. At last I was persuaded to launch out, and I took larger temporary premises—still in Beauchamp Place—while I looked out for suitable show-rooms near Bond Street. “Of course, at first I was tremendously handicapped by having practically no capital at all. I found it terribly difficult to compete with others who had thousands of pounds to spend buying models and endless lovely materials. Gradually, however, the business grew, and ever since I took my courage in both hands and launched out here my takings have doubled month by month. “It is strange,” said Lady Angela, almost pensively, “that I should start out with the trading spirit, and now I find I am developing the artistic temperament. To my great surprise, some of my most successful models have been my own designs, although I go very frequently to Paris to buy and look at the models there. “No, I have no fantastic notions about clothes. All mine are on modern lines, with modifications to suit the individuality of the person for whom I am designing. “The fault with so many English designers, especially amateurs, is that they try to be purely original. I, on the other hand, try to adapt existing fashions individually. SUBSTITUTE FOR SMOCKING So many of the little suits and frocks for toddlers are being smocked nowadays that those who cannot spare the time or have not the patience to, devote to this pretty method of trimming may be glad of a simple substitute for smocking which will answer the purpose for children’s everyday clothes. Do a few rows of machine-stitching drawn up as for shirring, then, with a contrasting ingrain cotton, chain-stitch or herringbone right across the rows of machine-stitching. The effect is quite novel and pretty.

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