What It Costs to Be in Fashion.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue XX, 14 November 1903, Page 63

What It Costs to Be in Fashion.

With many people dressing “like a duke” is synonymous with dressing like a lunatic. The duke of the penny novelette and the fashion plate spends £2,000 a year on his eoats, invests half that sum with his shirt-maker, has a pair of boots and a new top-hat for every- day in the year, a dozen or so wardrobes stocked with sleeping-suits, and smoking-coats of the finest silk. With a view of ascertaining how far the garments of the duke of fiction corresponded with those worn by the dukes of real life. 1 made a pilgrimage the other day to the establishments of some of the smartest tailors, shirtmakers, and bootmakers in London. A duke’s tailor is almost as difficult to find as the duke himself. At an almost dingy-looking shop in Belgravia I found a tailor patronised by no fewer than three dukes. “£2OOO a year on coats!” exclaimed the ducal tailor. ‘‘My dear sir. you may take my word for it that the yearly tailor’s bill of all the dukes in the peerage doesn’t amount to that sum. You will, of course, not mention their names, but 1 will show you the orders I received last year from the ducal portion of my customers, and you will see they don’t run to very much more than your own tailor's bill.” 1 felt a thrill of pride as 1 handled the august ledgers which contained the orders of three live dukes, but there was nothing very thrilling about the contents. No. 1 duke’s order for the year consisted of three frock-coats, four morning - coats, six pairs of trousers, five lounge suits, and one great-coat. Dukes 2 and 3 consumed about the same number of clothes. "You see.” said my friend the tailor, "except the Duke of Marlborough and the Duke of Leinster, none of the dukes are young men: they are mostly old or middle-aged, which may account for their want of enthusiasm about dress, taking a frock-coat and waistcoat at £lO. a lounge-suit at £7, and a greatcoat at £lO, those orders I showed you come to about £ 1.50 each, or about a fourth of what a very smart young commoner would spend on his dress.” A bootmaker in the Burlington Arcade, to whom next I wended my way. replied, like Mr Dan Leno. "You surprise me!” when 1 gave him my estim ate of a ducal boot bill. "I suppose I’ve ‘booted as many dukes as any man in London, and if each of them bought

365 pairs a year I should have made my fortune long ago. Twenty pairs is much nearer the mark. Most' of them, in addition to what they get from me. order, I daresay, three or four pairs from some local bootmaker near theii country houses, but the sum total doesn’t run to more than twenty-five pairs at the outside, and in the ease ot the Duke of Devonshire or the Duke of Norfolk, a dozen pairs is nearer the figure. What does a duke pay for his boots’ Just the same as any other man who buys the best article—three guineas for ordinary walking-boots, and about ten pounds for his huntingboots."