| Show i i fr il t v vs s Tl f i H 1 a V I 1 t jf 1 f I. I t r 1 Fashion Fashio h Pi- Pi S 'S 01 of S OJ Tragedy Tragedy o of the e Poor Little Parisian Seamstresses I 1 t Who o Smuggle From rem Ateliers c e fors the e Priceless A Patterns Patterns o of Their Firms Firms' Latest Modes Only Modes Only z f r to Pay in Jail for or t I J z k Trick Trickery ry o of Their I in Romeos 5 i Plotting o t. t t ay ByR R. R S. S Fendrick en ric j ji i f Paris I Beauty Glamour Wealth MAGIC 1 Elegance Clothes Jewels Lights r Romance and Drama I v r Seven Sc o o'clock clod in the he heart of or Parts Paris A procession of or chic stunning marvelously marvel marvel- i. i t dressed girls the seamstresses from i the ateliers of th the great dressmaking shops hops came laughing and dancing from the service exits E. E The needles s that skip like lightning Y i through fine silks all day long had lad all the evening to cat 1 dance sk skate te and andt n t make merry with the beaux waiting for t them along the curb Suddenly in the midst of or the laughing chatte chattering ing voices there was a sharp cry 1 f ya tend find a a. girl Sirl burst into h hysterical St sob sob- bing bang t What have y you ou got of in this package I If 4 r f Rosine the shops shop's detective asked as J r the she tried to pass out Just a soiled rolled apron Monsieur Louis she Ehe laughed nervously Do you ou want f.- f. to see it I am sorry mademoiselle but you ou know the rules rules rules- Before the detective had even commenced com corn k to open the package the pretty young oung Rosine looking like Uke a Princess in ina r a II made home-made outfit that had cost her only 10 for the material but many nights u o of fatigue for her clever little fingers f r commenced to shriek and dashed out aut into the street never to return Opened up her he- package revealed a veritable treasure treasure the the priceless patt pattern rn r of the firms firm's most successful gown sown r. r Rosine could have e sold it to a a. pirate L for lor 50 or a tremendous sum for fori i even a first hand In in an Alan an atelier But f from Irom the moment she fled to escape ac a c 1 3 slashing rebuke she was an outcast from fromi i s her guild It meant that she would be bei i blacklisted by all the great dressmakers r as long as ns she lived and could only as and work among the parasites who prey r en- en the of Dig g houses i ALMOST A every week one hears t ti tie tj tragic stories of or girl seamstresses who have fallen into the hands of or the these c pirates rf and had their careers wrecked by being d per persuaded to try to carry out their I t crooked intrigues These tragedies ate are particularly frequent fre Ire quent at fit this moment midway between the seasons for Lanvin Lelong Beer Chanel Worth Drecoll Jenny Jenny all all that stand for famous Paris fashions fashions are are now showing their spring and summer models to the trade r J I Ever since the end of December professional prow pro pro- w buyers have been flocking to tot t the French capital from all over the they y world to look over The new styles and andr r fo choose a few afternoon frocks evening J. J gowns and other types which they will f have tho the right to reproduce in their own loca ties loca ties Ues It is a a. gigantic bus f running Into to many illions of collars dollars C and employing between and 1 persons in Paris alone and vigorously k S I stimulating the French textile trade The individual buyers buyers the the wealthy women who buy their own personal gowns direct of fl these big ho houses houses follow es follow later k i S S Sk I J. J 4 J t 1 r v h 2 III t. t Ii i f t w J. J i j L l lit 2 T f y r Y ii iii i Y j 1 t i I t i I y JJ l 41 lt g J U. U y 4 V N 4 c 1 1 1 17 7 All autumn and winter inter long the artists and md designers of each house have been working in the deep deepest t secrecy to produce produce pro pro- duce duco a hundred or more outfits A big bighouse bighouse house louse will spend alone in making a L single sample ample of each one of their new hew models A few da days after the new collections are first shown to bu buyers ers a mere handful ol or these hese models perhaps five or ten at most will prove to be great successes All the theether theother theother other ether designs are more or less abandoned The gossip will run like wildfire from atelier atelier atelier ate ate- lier to atelier that a certain new evening gown of one house A house A Kiss in the Night for tor all dresses have hae sweet names nowadays nowa nowa- days lays Ls Is the most stunning thing in town that tha t a certain afternoon frock of another house is the prettiest thin thing of ot its kind The whole dressmaking trade will be buzzing with these tips It is at this point that the pirates appear There are at least a hundred of or these establishments hidden away in cheap streets In Montmartre and elsewhere but being illicit bootlegging affairs they have no sign of or an any sort outside In fact a ap p password sword is often necessary for permission permission permission sion to enter The reason for their existence is that poor little dressmakers all the way from Timbuktu to China are unable or unwilling to pay the big prices dr dr- by the fashionable Paris houses c the right of or reproduction This class of buyers prefer to pay a third or a fourth of or the price for a copy of or the original made up in cheaper materials The pirates pirates' problem is to procure the pa patterns of or the successful new models very ery early in the season TI This s Is not easy It is about as difficult to get into the early trade showings of the big Rue de la laPaix laPaix Paix houses as to break into the gold vault vaults of the Bank of France Even ifa if it ifa ita a spy does see sec the gown he or she wants to copy o of what benefit Is it With a hundred mannequins flitting about how can one remember the details pf Qt a single dress The tales of the tho copyists with a a. photographic mind are untrue The people who try to make an outfit from memory simply make a a. mess of ot it The pirates must have patterns but these are locked up in a safe when they are not being used in the tellers ateliers a Even the s seamstresses stresses who use them art are closely watched watch d and have no opportunity to copy the patterns These patterns arc are not so easy to hide Made of a sort of or heavy canvas of ot ecru color they take L' up consIderable considerable con con- space They are much too large to be carried in handbags or stuffed into 1 i t i 5 A J f W V. V P J er Designers of such a wrap as shown to prevent prevent pre pre- above e take e Cr every precaution vent their I seamstresses from taking out patterns or copies with them when they leave leavo the workrooms It is here that romance and tragedy enter rater into the intrigue The pirates sometimes some- some tunes times men meD sometimes women employ looking good-looking young youn men as Romeos to trick rick the seamstresses into stealing the patterns from Irom their ateliers seamstress call call her Ro Ro- The av average rage seamstress will ine-will will not betray her employer i if the tho business is put up to her in a crude commercial commercial com com- mercial way Even if she is only earn earning In enough Hough to keep body and soul together r she will indignantly scorn any such offer But Georges the pirates' pirates young joung tout scout has hasa hasL a L way of getting around Rosine Knowing Knowing Know Know- ing ng th the cafes where the girls go to get their heir coffee and sandwiches during the noon loon hour he drives up to one of them int In Ina ina a t smart little roadster and orders a drink Within a few minutes he has found a a. pretext to start up a conversation discovered discovered dis dis- covered which dressmaking shop hop they come some from and pick picked d out a a. first hand from the atelier steller who seems impression impression- able ible A little promenade In my car through the he Bois Bols after work this afternoon he whispers finally and and Rosine generally agrees FTER an Intense lightning courtship AFTER lasting two or three days and vague ague talk of marriage Georges comes out inthe in jn inthe the open I am a partner of or Letulle the big biS- pirate dressmaker he confesses Rosine Kosine feels reels a funny little shiver run up and down her back and her intuition tells her that she he had bett better er watch her step She has heard of other young dressmakers dress dress- makers being to steal patterns but Jhc he has a t passion foi fOl Georges for his snappy little car and perhaps forgetting for forgetting getting away from an un un appy home life Ue She is too excited to listen Usten to the little inner voice during a gay round of good dinners prom promenades nades kisses and rosy promises 1 r j j i j S' S 1 1171 nN t. t 1 h 1 i tn C t N r. r r t 1 i f 1 I 1 rw j 1 1 1 11 3 i t r ra a 7 1 lk r. r I f i. f r. r q h r h 1 r rC 4 t 11 C 1 0 f t E. E f. f L tr 1 4 r L r 55 J m r- r i Often when a little is coaxed by a scheming Romeo to steal an original pattern from her employer and let him copy it it she is discovered di discharged and fortunate indeed if she does docs not nol land in jail If we could only get a couple of or good evening gowns Georges sighs the house would clean up millions For me it would be the sweet little wife waiting on the steps of or the twined rose-twined cottage every night Alas how to good pattern Rosine proposes to smuggle one from her workshop but Georges will wili not hear of or it He Ile loves her too deeply to get her into trouble but he hc will permit her to copy one from memory Th They y spend many nights at the pirates pirates' shop creating gowns but in the end Rosines Rosine's effort Is Isa isa a me mess She can cm do nothing without without a pattern pa tern George Georgc who l knew new perfectly well what the result would b be makes males some dis d discouraging remarks about m Rosine Ro Ro- sIne goes to bed with wet eyes that night but starts tarts to work the n next morning with grim de determination She will smuggle a a. pattern out let Georges copy it and then smuggle it back 1 1 i l f rl l it r f Y a Ik 5 1 i into the atelier the next mon morning Marriage Marriage Marriage Mar Mar- or bust Is her motto mottu I And she succeeds What have you got there Rosine the house detective tivo asked as she passed out Just some scraps of or material Madame Germaine gave me she gayly replied and ando o opened her package enough to show some som real scraps wrapped around the pattern The man Va waved ved her past and she rushed to the pirate shop toJla e Georges copy It The next morn morning In the detective asked what she was bringing in Its Us a special bread the doctor ordered mo nto to eat cat st st. explained 1 a id a-id ld td sh showed wed thu end of a a. loaf bar that hac haG the patter wrapped around it With su such h subterfuges Rosine slipped sUpped six patterns out and back but the seventh se time she was caught When she hurried to Georges in tears he told her roughly that she was vas stupid From one viewpoint Wi t y J 1 she was for she had given l him m patt patterns worth hundreds even thousands of dollars dollars dollars dol dol- lars for the flimsiest promises The next day Georges was courting a n. seamstress from another establishment this time Inthe in inthe th the Champs Ely ees while Rosine was waa weeping her rs out wondering ring where hearing her any a she hc would ever get a job an- an family's curses ringing in her ears cars of or the Rosins Rosin take their betrayal S SOME meekly never l letting out a a. squeak to reveal their broken hearts but others have their revenge lc A short time Ume ago there exciting affair of ot was an exceptionally this SO sort it The girl was not the meek sort She was wac not going to allow the pirate and his crew of Romeos to make her walk the plank and then mock her herl A furious denunciation de denunciation denunciation de- de over the telephone one nigh night r. r t 71 1 S a k 9 w t a 5 t Y r l Jd 9 A m Y J c T 7 d k ft 1 I r I r J i f a. a L e a 3 r h hS A R j 1 S. I t t tI S I MIk s 4 r. Jr i u J 3 3 f i Jt J J i and the next morn morning in a a. bailiff a a. police commissioner and representatives of or several several sev sev- eral cral big dressmaking ns- ns houses knocked atthe at atthe atthe the door of or a certain Monsieur Lequin in inthe inthe inthe the Montmartre district and showed search warrants to I warn you ou that you ou arc are all going soing get set into serious erious trouble for this intrusion and that I 1 shall demand heavy damages the pirate pirat-e blustered at first leaded straight to the tha But the partY party- party beaded wardrobes and flung them then open Curses I They had expected to find stolen copies de do la of new robes from the Rue Rife of old Junk fit collection but here was a J. J for a These things are two or three years cars old the police commissioner snort snorted d dis dis- dis smiled the pirate I 1 beg your pardon slyly This is my new v collection and The searchers invaded the cutting would Here surely they sewing ateliers find the stolen robes obes being copied but instead several men and more than fifty about with little scraps fiddling girls were ere and such that dolls cushions of or this and incomprehensible The things It was payroll o of such a house was considerable his the tine director certainly had to keep and his Ills even tes hard at work to cover coer expenses Things were just the same in hi the designing de designing de- de paid men Several highly signing room were fussing over some dusty old sketches But I know that this is a pirate dressmakers dressmakers' house one of or the exclaimed We not only got gota a D. hot bot tip from from froma a a reliable source night but three of our women worren detectives c bought gowns here that were copied from I our latest models smiled You are mistaken tho thol pirate slyly again Some one has pla played ed a joke on you yon Just at this moment the police poUce commissioner commissioner com com- the missioner who was snooping about wardrobes touched a hidden button and the door of or a hidden wardrobe in the back flew open What a sight In thIs secret hiding place were row after row of copies of or the Rue dc do la Paix's newest and finest creations creations creations crea crea- with counterfeit signatures cs o of the makers and everything A further search revealed other damning damnIng damning damn damn- ing evidence Stolen patterns hidden In holes under the floor stolen drawings in chimneys and most interesting of or all aU an nn electric button concealed under a Drug rug ug atthe at atthe t the entrance Suspecting a a. raid th- th doorman had only to p pct Ills his l s foot on this button and alarm bells would ring all through the establishment In a flash every department would hide tilde anything Incriminating and barring bad luck the police would find nothing Copyright lu t-JI i iii ii r 0 f I. 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