THE COST OF SMART CLOTHES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIV, Issue XXIII, 9 June 1900, Page 1088

THE COST OF SMART CLOTHES.

Many women, with the opening of the London season, are confronted with the problem of how to make each £lOO of their allowance do duty for twice as much. Nor do “special terms’* at one’s dressmaker, tailor and milliner. in return for “introductions,” by any means solve the knotty question. A ball dress which is really well made and “new” at one of those shops which one's pride and social position compels one to deal at, will cost anything from £2O (for a girl's party frock) to 100 guineas for a really effective gown for one’s self. Then riding habits, of which one must have two or three, at least, cost from 20 guineas to £3O; but when you remember that the “cutter” who makes a garment into which you appear to have been poured in a molten state, so exquisite is the fit, receives the salary of an Under-Secretary of Slate for hi* sartorial and anatomical knowledge, your wonder ceases at the price. Coming to more intimate garments, corsets to measure at two guineas each are. I admit, not unknown at even smart shops. But I have never been able, myself, to resist the “so much superior” eharms of those in satin, silk coutille or brocade, at about twice the price. This is further expanded to tlie dimensions of a £lO note, or even more by the addition of “suspenders” of ribbon, or jarretieres, and a silk petticoat en suite. If one goes into society much, two pairs of evening stays, two for riding, and at least three pairs for ordinary wear an absolutely necessary: and now that very slender waists are to be the fashion. most really smart women are following in the wake of Parisiennes.

and having a night corset—practically a deep, stiffened belt—added to their outfit. Fifty pounds will scarcely cover these items. Lingerie each year seems to become more and more elaborate, and, consequently, more expensive. Special fabrics are manufactured for it. and real lace is applied to the trimming to an extent which would have staggered our grandmothers. One is obliged to be “all through alike,” and a thirty-five guinea frock often hides silken, or fine batiste, or gossamer underwear, of which the chemise may have cost from six to eight guineas, the knickers two-thirds as much, and the petticoat a third as much as the dress itself. Add to this a corset costing five guineas, garters at two guineas, a lace petticoat at eight guineas. stockings at a guinea a pair, shoes at thirty shillings, and one becomes aware that a really well-dressed woman is an expensive luxury. Even if one is “rationally” inclined (as few really dainty women are) and dispenses with the lingerie and the lace petticoat, the result is not so materially different. She probably substitutes silk tight-fitting combinations, trimmed with narrow real Valenciennes. at five guineas a pair, and her “rational” knickers of satin or silk brocade will run her in for six or eight guineas if bought at her usual shop. The silk petticoat, of course, remains absolutely necessary, as without it her frock would hang like a rag. Then there are gloves, which are a very extravagant item. In a year a woman of any pretensions to smartness will require not far from a hundred pairs for ordinary wear, at say, 5/11 a pair: thirty pairs of evening ones at, say. 6/11 to 9/11 a pair, according to make and length, and probably a dozen pairs of sporting gloves.

at an average eost of five or six shillings. Not much will be left of £75 for this item. It will be gathered from these figures that women are, in dress matters, somewhat the victims of circumstance. The saying of the American girl that "smartness was the most expensive article she knew” is strictly and literally true.