THE SIN AND SCANDAL OF THE " SMART SET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7923, 30 January 1904, Page 3

THE SIN AND SCANDAL OF THE " SMART SET.

Its Eztravagancos. (By RITA, in the " Gentlewoman.") If the "Smart' woman is to the fore in anything, she must be gowned in a manner befitting, not the occasion, bufc the paragraphist whose duty it is to describe her toilette. "I' can't be described as wearing the same gown twice," she says, and so she orders another. This habit, applied to varying social functions throughout a season, mounts up to a total that is somewhat alarming. Gowns, hats, silk and lace underskirt's, shoes, gloves, laces, and fripperies to match, cost unany. hundreds — all very well if you can and do pay for them. Multiplied and varied so as to suit dinners, dances, garden parties, Ranelagh or Hurlingham, a; houseboat at Henley, a race meeting at Ascot or Goodwood 1 , or a yachting party at Cowes, it is small wonder that the day of reckoning is far from pleasant. Olivette, Victorine, and other celebrated modistes have a business habit of sending in bills afc the close of the season. And sometimes the modiste is imperative as well as expensive. The demand note is, in fact, as peremptory as it- is polite. Madame the Modiste has her own staff to pay, ber own expenses to meet. She, too, cannot always obtain credit. The travellers, the big shops! the high-class Paris firms, the workgirls,?she cutters, fitters and all the rest of the exclusive establishment which bears the name and fame of " et Cie.," have to be reckoned with, and accordingly the account goes in, and; if ignored unpleasant consequences sometimes result. There are, however, observant minds to watch, and note, and ponder these things. There are men and women who still rule the great world wisely, with the dignity and grace of an assured position, the prestige of the true aristocrat. And' these people cannot but deplore, the shallow ] pretences of "Smartness" of the absolutely undignified, wholly senseless, arid ruinously extravaganb habits of the women who are i making modern socity a by-word, if not an absolute disgrace! i ' . . The sins ,of extravagance are .also sins of cruelty. For the "Smart" woman is always on the look-out for novelty in some I form or shape, whether it is the hanging of an animal's head and feet to her furs, or the wearing of a complete bird's plumage on her hat. As she defies the laws of ; Nature in her own person, she can- scarcely be expected to observe them in that of the brute creation. Her horses must. en. dure the torture of the bearing-rein because it is " Smart " ; her dogs the fooleries of adornment, clipping, shaving, and can. me "toilettes," because it is the fashion of the day to have one's pets as "Smart" as oneself. She sends these same pets to the purgatory, of shows and exhibitions, regardless of their sufferings, their terrors, and the risks of neglect from careless attendants. Why? Not because she values their value, but because it's "the thing to do," and a certain Duchess has taken a jprize and sh* wants to do the feame,. an<i

have it paragraphed in "Tlie Daily PeepShe bets on pigeon matches-, and* follows the " guns" ; she buys a fire-screen made of white owls, or a lamp hanging from the beak of a flamingo, or a humming bird .or her hair, or an osprey for her toque, not because they are useful or necessary, or even beautiful, but because they cost money, and so it's chic to buy them lbe same principle holds good with the thousand and one extravagances of her lue ana set. To outvie, outshine, out-sensational-, ise each other is the ambition of their hearts. That there is no use to themselves or the world at large in any on e of their occupations, any sense in their costly whims, any grace or beauty in their hves any benefit in their example, they neither think nor care ! They must be seen, must be known, must be advertised, must be notorious m some shape or form. , So through every phase of her social existence the curse of "beeping up m the swim," of false appearances, false pretences, follows the "Smart" mondaine, and points relentlessly to a day of reckoning The craze for notoriety has led to vbe craze for " Smartness," that, in its turn, to an unpardonable extravagance. From thence to ruin may be a long lane (thanks to obliging friends, or patient creditors), -but, all the same, it is a lane which has no turning of safety or of peace of mind. And the "Smart" knows of that lace, and its length, and its meaning, even as her heedless feet trip gaily along its first be•guilmg miie.