Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 20 September 1905, page 5


SHOPPING IN PARIS.

(BY MRS. JOHN VAN WORST, IN THE "PALL MALL

MAGAZINE.")

There is nothing haphazard about the disposition of goods in the state of the humblest Paris boutique Haberdashery Ilka Charvet pay an immense salary to the window decorator, who produces -veritable works of art in his harmonious combinations of scarves and handkerchiefs and hosiery' The large plate-glass reflects each day a new series varying in size from the boldness of the modern impressionist to the soft aesthetic tints of the renaissance painters

At the novelty stores, the 'artists,' as they are called, remain late on Saturday nights, perfecting then exhibitions for Monday morning Even such dull and practical supplies as dog biscuit and garden seeds are made to produce their effect in the windows of the shops where they are sold Somewhat like the prestidigitateur who forces cards on a determined victim, the French commis persuades his customers that his will is theirs

This insinuating skill is. like everything else in France, a matter of tradition, handed down from father to son for business in the Paris houses has been carried on in the same families for generations The smart American, quite the opposite of his French brothers, has but one idea to get on to something better than keeping store," to boom the business by advertising, and When it is successful, to sell out ' This Invention takes from his methods their personal character His idea is not to cajole a few individuals into forming a faithful clientele, but to attract the public at large, Lue great anonymous American public, whose eyes are ever uplifted scanning advertisements in search of something new After

a short time in business, the American has either squandered his output or made a fortune The Frenchman meanwhile goes on his quiet way He regards his shop as a hearthstone, the centre of his family Very often associated with him? is his wife perhaps his daughtei-which feminine ele-ment also furthers the subtle draperies of too customer The woman has her own especial way of divining the purchasers desires and of urging upon him what he wants does not

want"

Even in the large stores, where the family methods cannot be applied the personal interest of each clerk is enlisted by a system of rolling on commission At the Louvre, the Printemps, tho i rose Quarters the salesmen and women have a percentage given them on the total amount of trading done by them in a day This prompts an assiduity which is markedly absent in the manners of the Amer-can at times scarcely polite-who works on a fixed salary

At the Bon Marche the co-operative plan has been successfully carried out, the employees, after a number of years become Stockholders The firemen, some of them, receive as much wages and revenue included as two thousand pounds a year

These magazine de nouveaux are run on a cash basis Each object sold must be paid for on delivery What the receipts are daily hourly, one can imagine by considering an item such as this, in the yearly expenditure of the Bon Marche Fifty t thousand francs every twelve months for string to do up par-

cels!

Just how are the fashions set?

This is a question often put since the Re-public has done away with a Court Many pretend that the styles come from England and are Parisianlsed in the Rue de la Paix Certain it is that there is no one woman in Paris who, like a Queen or an Dmpress, can take the lead in matters of mode So, in order that there may not be a discord too disconcerting the principal dressmakers bold half-yearly meetings at which, on general lines, the questions of fulness and length, colour and texture, are determined for the coming season

Each house creates its "models," which are shown to the customers desiring to buy

The stealing of models has become an occupation Float Germany and Switzerland women, with every appearance of being prosperous gentlewomen, descend upon the shops in the Rue de la Paix with no other idea than that of copying the gowns which they ask to see, quite as though it were their intention to buy These clever "thieves" are sometimes signalled at the frontier, and prevented from going as far as Paris

An even more tragic form of dishonesty Is that whereby certain women (whose diminished fortunes make it impossible for them to dress as their positions require that they should) buy at Doucet s or Worth s a model which immediately they pass on to one of the large stores, whose directors pay the cost of the gown in order to keep it a few hours as a copy This insidious form of theft has been more than once detected amongst women whom the world would little suspect

For the 'shopper," or Even the weary sightseer, afternoon tea, which a few years ago was unknown in Paris, has come to be a veritable function The quantities of cal

changes lined up before Rnmploiuayor s, the Ritz, of Colombia s, testify to this fact. But while the healthy mundane can eat without risk the rich patisserie the lees, the sandwiches, the buns, so temptingly proposed, the more unfortunate who are victims to dyspepsia, or to the dread of increasing their avoirdupois, have found care necessary The Paris shopkeeper, over ready for the caprices of the fashion, has met this recent modern demand At Cuvllliers, in the Rue de la Fait, between five and six, one meets a group of ascetics pal taking, at a sort of lady-Ill e bar, of dry port and biscuit . . sugarless mixtures which can comepromise neither health nor figured

Every Monday morning all the year round there is a big sale at each of the department stores Doubtless the directors of these corporations have discovered that, deeprooted in a woman's soul is the love of a bargain

How many things at these sales are bought merely because they are cheap' It is impossible to scan the lists in Sunday papers without at once creating a number of fictitious needs which only these advertised batgains can rest

The spirit of the woman hunting bargains is that of one out to buy The Storekeeper faites full advantage of this fact To the casual observer nothing is noticeable In the displays offered at the stores, except a general desire to make the shop look attractive To tell the truth all In arranged with a definite plan of campaign Near the door one finds the Irresistible articles of wear-ing apparel, such as scarves boas garden hats, embroidered collars, and the like, at a ridiculously low cost And so it goes, if you have come in search of a useful object, a 'fitchen utensils a trunk, a bed, or even household linen you are led into a thousand temptations before reaching the topmost floor, where the practical articles are relegate d And not only are they relegated to the top-most stage, but find if you can, the life of the stairway In the Bon Marche for example' Immense as Is this store, occupying an entire block, there are but three small insignificant exits and one Staircase' The uninitiated Inrecently make a complete tour of each floor, and sometimes redouble their steps, seeking escape and being led into new extravagances at every counter they pass

Thus while nominally the first week in February is metho glove sale the second for

linen and the third for childrens clothes, there itself, wily intention on the part of each storekeepers to tillie advantage for his goods in general of the disposition to buy, created by his announcing in his catalogues a weekly sale of bargains I