WHERE ACTRESSES GET THEIR DRESSES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5760, 2 January 1897, Page 3

WHERE ACTRESSES GET THEIR DRESSES.

(Piill Mall Gazette.)

Of course, the actress who is Avealthy, orders her goAvns from Paris, and pays more for tho style of tho articles than for the value of both Avork and materials returned to her ; or else she patronises the London shops in Regent, Bond and Oxford Streets, or buys her material and has tho frocks made up by somo of the various court dressmakers. But there is another source from Avhich stage dresses come — a cheap source, known to a select number of our leading actresses and singers, and patronised by them to a great extent. Wild horses could uot drag trom me the names of the ladies Avho are in tho know, nor Avill I mention addresses, and so put a premium on the goods they are uoav obtaining so cheaply. The " source "is not a hundred miles from Oxford Street, in a mosfc picturesque apartment, a place Avhich would delight many a lover of fine architecture, and Avhich, for \ r arious reasons, has been kept closed to the average common or garden man since its erection somo hundreds of years ago.

You must go along a dark passage to find the door, and pull an old-fashioned bell-cord vigorously in order to get an answer. The head of an old Avoman will then appear at a sliding panel, and the pass-AVord is tho mention of a customer's name. This being satisfactory, the bolts of the door aro shot back, and it is opened Avido enough to admit; you, then bolted again. You are conducted into a Avide but dark sitting-room laden with the finest of Dresden china, old porcelain, bronze statuettes and marble vases. Tho curtains are of the finest lace, the portieres of heavy silk ; fche furniture is of most delightful antique patterns, ancl there is a profusion of inlaid work in tables and stands, while tho pictures are Avorth a small fortune. And the mystery deepens as you find your bearings, for the face of the old woman is honest and comely, bufc she has abjufc as much idea of the' value of the things by Avhich she is surrounded as a child would have.

"My grandmother lived here after she avus married," she will tell you. " Sho were a lady's maid, and the Countess of A gave her those " (pointing to tho marble vases) " when sho Avere married. Those curtains came from Windsor Castle many a year ago — given to my aunt, aa'lio Avas a servant in the 'ousehold, and she passed them on to my grandmother. When grandmother died my mother came hero to live with my father, and as she Avas a lady's maid she had many things given to her — not as all of them Avas good. These Dresdens were cracked, but Aye patched them up with glue, and uoav they aro quite good. The statuettes Avere given to my sister by Lady D Avhen she 1 ef fc for India — she said she were tired of them. I was maid to several ladies and they gave me a great deal of the stuff, and my daughter, who is noAv with them, sends mo no end of things."

" You could realiso a small fortune on what you have here," I suggested, but she shook her head.

" I make enough on the dresses to give me all I want, and Avhat Avould I do with more? Them things Avill go to my daughter just as they came to me. Do you suppose rich folks are the only ones to have heirlooms ? Noav Avhat kind of a dress do you Avanfc. I never keep them outside, because my lady actresses don'fc want things that the rest of them have seen. Noav I Avill tell you. I have a dress like the one Miss C woro at the Blank Theatre — just off the Strand. I have her picture signed," and she showed me a picture of one of our leading actresses. " She gave me two tickets to go and see her in the dress, and I took ten shillings off the price. Nine out of every ten dresses that Mdme. V Avears Avhen she sings at Albert Hall come from me. She is the same height as Lady X . Tho dresses do not have to be altered, except to put a little change of colour hero arid thero with ribbons or chiffons, so as to alter tho appearance a little. Ifc is this way : My sisters are ladies' maids, and they have friends in their oAvnlmeof business. When their ladies get through Avith dresses they give them to the maids, and the maids sell them to me."

"And do the ladies know where their dresses go ? " I asked.

"Kiioav? Bless me, they don't care. Lady B never wears a dress but tAvice, and then she gives it to her maid ; tho. dress, perhaps, has cosfc fifty guineas. I buy ifc at a fair price and sell it for ten. Sometimes you couldn't tell whether they

had been worn or not — you would think not. Lady C wears her dresses longer, bufc they are quite good, and can bo worn a long time as they are ; while tho dresses of Mrs Blank-Blank, though they may be a bit frayed at the edges, can tie sent to the cleaner's, and done up, or they can be turned and made over. When an actress cannot afford to pay ten guineas for a dress she buys one of Mrs Blank-Blank's at three guineas, and pays a pound to her dressmaker to do it up fresh. In this way for four guineas she has a stage dress that cost thirty guineas, and ifc usually looks better on tho actress than it did on its purchaser — they have audi fine figures, you know, and they show off a thing so well. Most of them give me tickets and I see all the new plays — mo and my daughter. I have a lovely teagown, green cashmere ; ifc is lived throughout; Avith rustling white silk, and has a looso front of crape that cost thirty shillings a yard. The gown never cost a penny less than forty pounds, and you can have it for five. You can tell by the belt that ifc came from Busllo and Eusfclo in Bond Street, and ifc belonged to Lady B , who, as I told you, never wears anything more than twice. Now, would you believe it, I have one or two customers who are not actresses, but society ladies, and they buy up Lady B 's dresses, make them over, and go to the samo houses where she goes, dressed ill her cast-off frocks. Poverty makes ladies very clever with fcheir fingers. I have hats here — dainty hats, that cost ever so much money. Ladies in reduced circumstances buy them, and change the feathers, say, from Mrs C 's hat to Mrs D 's bonnet, and look well in it. Of course no ono but me is tho wiser, and I know enough to keep my lips closed. Gloves I havo in plenty, and when they are very good I sell them at 4s a dozen pairs. Boots I don't have so often, but sometimes I have evening slippers of satin and kid — made to order at 25s or 30s a pair, and 1 sell them for 5s a pair. I havo silk petticoats, stockings, flowers, and all sorts of linen, and sometimes stylish walkingcostunies, or carriage gowns, and opera cloaks. I'll show you some things, but you mustn't tell Mrs Z ," the name that had gained admittance for mo. " Yes, you may toll her ; say that I have a heliotrope that will just suit her part in the new play — she has worn tho red quite long enough."

Sliding back the doors afc ono side of tho sitting-room, she took doAvu several costumes and spread them over tho chairs. A heavy grey silk thafc Avas embroidered Avifch cut steel beads she offered for two pounds ten ; a watered silk of green, trimmed Avith imitation pearls, could bo had for three pounds ; Avhile a green velvet Avith gold beads was valued afc tAveuty guineas. White brocaded silks, unspotted, could be had for the cosfc of their linings ; and other frocks, that boro the stamp of the best houses in London, ranged in price from five to ten pounds each. " I've nothing that Avould fit you, except the green tea-gOAvn," sho said regretfully. " I Avish I had. Not that lam particularly anxious to sell to you, because I can sell more than I can obtain, but dress makes a lot of difference in a lady's appearance." This was significant, and I promptly assured her that my friends wouldn't recognise mo as anything but an advertisement for misfits if I attempted to look stylish. " Come to me again," she said, disdaining my humble shilling tip. "Lady S 's clothes would just fit you, aud as she lives in Wanvickshire. no oue Avould suspect thafc her dress wasn't made for you. Sho has a dark blue and a grey coafc and skirt that she has Avorn quite long enough, and they Avill soon be handed over to me. You Avill look as if you had just been turned out of a Bond Street tailor's shop, and it will only cosfc you a couple of pounds."