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Show Early Buying Is Not Best Policy New York. The trade, which means the vast multitude of people engaged in the making and selling of women's apparel, ap-parel, has at last sounded a warning to those who buy too far ahead of the seasons, advises a well-known fashion correspondent. The public has deplored this condition. condi-tion. It hits been well known for several sev-eral seasons that the average woman did not care to buy a straw hat In February and n velvet hat in July, or to have all her autumn clothes offered to her the first "of September with the assurance that they were the fashions' that would rule throughout the winter. She has been often betrayed, and that betrayal has not soothed her irritation against those who sold her the clothes. It is the fact also that the trade in turn has found itself caught in a net that tangled and involved it, and compelled each Individual to struggle for success in n manner contrary to the dictates of reason and sobriety. Through this web of circumstances everyone has come to a feeling that something must be done in the creation crea-tion of new fashions long before the season for which they are to be worn, and that the public must follow the lines laid down by the trade competitors. competi-tors. Right here lies the extraordinary gamble to women in buying clothes early In the season. Right here lies one of the greatest sources of money wastage. Thousands of women, who have no way of knowing what the fashions will be as the season advances, ad-vances, buy what Is saiil to be new as the season demands a change. What they buy in September has prohabjy been bought by the shop In June. To keep up with the rising tide of forehandedness, the manufacturers make the clothes earlier and earlier, and the ready-to-wear shops and department de-partment stores, as a rule, buy these clothes as early as the manufacturers make them, and get them out at the very moment there is a slight demand for them. What happens? In October and In April the real fashions come out for each season. Hundreds of women nay, thousands are faced with the fact that they have bought gowns, or wraps, or hats that nre not in keeping with the new clothes. They have bought clothes arranged ar-ranged six months before the authentic authen-tic exhibitions of new and seasonable apparel. What happens next? The woman who can possibly scrape up enough money to buy a new outfit does so, and she niso spends extra money on a seamstress or little dressmaker dress-maker to have her other clothes remodeled. re-modeled. Therefore, she spends twice her allowance on clothes. Panic Has Produced Careless Buying. Many of the traders in apparel realize real-ize that panic and a form of commercial commer-cial hysteria have resulted In a large amount of early buying, which is not fair either to the individual or to commerce. com-merce. Every shopper has shared the same experience this last year of being be-ing told that it is wise to buy at once the articles needed, because they might not be obtainable at a later day. This has resulted In a certain measure meas-ure of hoarding, which the government does not allow in food. It has already resulted in severe waste of individual money. Women, feeling the press of this panic, have gotten clothes iu advance ad-vance of the seasou, and they now find that there are Just as many to be had as six months ago, and that the shape and texture have changed. It would be a far wiser method of spending one's money to buy a little, at the necessary time, representing the best there is at that moment. There will always be material of some kind. Even if the world Is reduced re-duced to whole garments of sewn fig-leaves, fig-leaves, there is no reason why any one woman should wish herself out of the picture. Let her go along with the momentum of the hour and, buy and wear garnients of fig leaves. The public is beginning to see the wisdom of buying a small amount at the moment It is needed. It should be preached In every possible form of propaganda that tills is the wise way to live during war time. Rest assured that if the public buys up all the stock of one i thing from a store, that store will be replenished the moment its supply sup-ply is exhausted. Of course, there are women who always al-ways demand quality. They prefer to have a badly cut gown, made in a past fashion, if they are sure that every thread is silk or wool, as the case may be. But the majority of women are not inclined toward accepting that system sys-tem of dress. Therefore, let us start out in a new measure of reform, as soon as this month is over, and face September with no ilea of rushing into shops and buying everything that Is offered because be-cause it is labeled "New." Maybe it Is and maybe it isn't. But a feeling ol panic among buyers that now is the only chance to get enough clothes to carry one through the winter, results in the very thing that the government desires most to see avoided reckless spending of money. So buy shrewdiy and not for hoarding. If there is to be economy in clothes let it begin this week. It is at this time, between the seasons, that a woman wom-an can take thought of her wardrobe and twist and turn it according to prevailing pre-vailing fashion, in a way that will serv her until styles are more settled. Then, when she has to buy much, she will buy wisely and well. Help in Remodeling Clothes. Here are some prophecies that maj help you to be economical and wise, One of them sounds like the first eld to an injured wardrobe. It comes direct di-rect from Paris. It is that checks, stripes and mosaic blocks are widely worn in whole suits and parts of suits. Can you imagine any piece of news more gratefully received than that which gives a woman a chance to maka a new coat to an old skirt, or the other way around? There are colored stripes on a whits background, made of heavy woolen material ma-terial and built into a skirt to be worn with any slip-on cuirass or short Jacket Jack-et of colored cloth or velvet. Skirts are narrow. As the government govern-ment will allow shoes to be 8 inches from the ground, the skirts need not be lengthened. For the present they remain moderately short. What the near future will bring out no one can say. (Copyright, 1918, by the McClure Newspaper Newspa-per Syndicate.) |
