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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1956-10-03, Page 6French Act To Curb Feshien Thieves L I ANNE 141RST 1-7/0.0.. F4,0144 cou444e4rt..4. The tweet Preis fashion openings :marked the renewal of fashiort piracy, which ever since the first mass advent of foreign buyere after World War I -- has plagued the Faris cou- ture. The gravity of they problem •is, T find, little understood on our side of the Atlantic, A col- league remarked the .o,her day: "It's too bad the French. can't he, more realistic aboat being ,cop, ied." In her view the enormous. preponderance no w a days of American :fashions must have rendered copying insignificant. But • actually a great number of styles, which we think of as 100 per cent' American designed, first saw the light in some Paris couture salon, A certain amount • of copying. of- course, is legiti- mate; the right to reproduce has been paid for by the .manufac- turer. Copying however causes considerable financial loss each year to, a large number of repu- table American.: firms, as well • as to the French originators. - This being the' case, a .short have been agitating for the change of Erench law to include. a prison sentence for .copyini- They have also. been •trying to. work out international .agree, ments, which. would be in the interest of respected American firms, as well, since It is obvi- ous that the latter cannot sell, for "ten • grand," a number which may be on bargain coun- ters before they can get it into production, Meanwhile the fashion. thieves have continued to eome.up with now tricks, A smart "tourist" nays watch a style parade with a Miscroscople camera conceele, end in the handle of .her surer umbrella. One girl even .car-: vied hers irt a purse-sized per- fume bottle. A designer for a Seventh Avenue (New York) dress manufacturer recently got into some Paris couture • shows. On what appeared to be a bona. fide press card. The Frenchmen had no way of knowing that the paper she "represented" was e four-page, biweekly country journal., which serves a com- munity of 300 registered. voters. The now thoroughly aroused Paris, couture syndicate and in- terested A m erica n opposite numbers are considering meas- ures - to eliminate such 'incidents —by establishing, for instance, one or more principled press liaisons in Paris, who would be, like Caesar's wife, absolutely above reproach, absolutely fair in their dealings with, both sides. There may also be a committee to screen applications for press and buyers cards over in the United .Stateh where extensive and accurate information on ap- plicants is easily available. Thus, at long 'last, we may .look forward to. the .finish of piracy in high fashion. skies. From the "Christian Science Monitor," e And still the weather makes the news, Rain, thunderstorms, rain and. still more rain. It really Makes your heart ache to drive through the country and see field after field of Spring crop standing in water, the heads almost Certainly sprouting and matted together, Our flats were flooded and only a miracle kept the bridge from floating away. Now the weather appears to have clear-, although thunderstorme a r e forecast again for tonight, We hope the weatherman is wrong —not only on the farmers' no- ecount but for the Exhibition too, This was the day we should have gone but we just couldn't face the trip with so much humidity in the air. So we regretfully stayed at home. For me it was not too great a hardship as I had had a won- derful outing over the week- end—an outing, that was most unexpected . . a trip to the Lake Huron district where I bad never been before. Some month ago friends of Pretty Centerpiece Classic Favdrite ours mentioned having 'been. t9 Kincardine for the weekend, "Kincardine," .exelairned, have an old school friend in Kincardine' By comparing note . we discovered. that Mrs, E. actually knew Nellie because she lived almost exactly (V.- Mite Mrs. E's Kincardine friends, Although it was quite a .coincidence I did not think anything more about it until last week when Mrs. E, phoned me, said they were going to Kincardine again and would I like to go with them. Would I? There was only one answer to that question, T had looked at the place so often on the map. and wished I could tackle the 125 mile trip but I knew my eyes wouldn't appreciate driv- ing that far. But with someone else driving—that was another story. We left here about seven in the morning and got to Kin- cardine about ten. The weather was perfeet—acteally1—and there was hardly any traffic at all Kincardine is a.very nice little town. Clean, tidy, good stores and a fine residential area. And of course there is the lake and a wonderful freshness in the, air. I noticed this particularly on the Monday. Nellie and I walked down town, leaving the kitchen stove alight, When we got back the house was stifling. Had it been here the house wouldn't have cooled. off until night. But there, with the doors and windows thrown. open the the house was fresh and cool in no time. It was wonderful. One thing hampered our act- ivitiese neither Nellie nor I had a car to get around with so we couldn1 go any farther than our two feet .would take us. One more instance of our dependence upon four wheels to take us around. During-the night I even toyed with the idea of hiring a car, next morning but it didn't seem worthwhile as we were leaving about one o'clock. • My friendship • with Nellie follows a rather unusual pattern. We sat side by side during our last year at school. We both married Canadian service men and we both came to Canada in 1919. For some years we were out of touch with each other. And then one day I was reading the "Homemaker Page" in the old "Globe". One letter was. signed "Little Mother" and by its contents I had a hunch it was written by my friend Nellie. I wrote to "Little Mother"—care of the, Homemaker and found my hunch was right. We Correspon- ded for several years but drop- ped it again during the Depres- sion of the '30's—probably be- cause we and our families were both going through a period that we didn't want to write about. I wonder how much other correspondence was .dropped a- round that time? Neither of us knew what happened to the other until we met at a W.I. meeting in Guelph last year-- no, I guess it was early this year. Nellie has never been back. to the Old Country but she knew that I had -as my visit was mentioned in - our home-ten:en paper to which she still sub- scribes, So she had news of me but I still had no idea what had happened to her—not until she inquired for me in .Guelph, All of which is a good illustrat- ion of the far-reaching influ- ence of oa local paper, and also of the Women's Institute as a medium of renewing friendships and acquaintances. Moral keep up your subscrintion to your home-town weekly and never lose touch. with the W.T!! Never under-estimate the power of either—their influence is greater than you think. Haven't I just proved it? • Elegant centerpiece for your dining table! A, graceful swan crocheted in pineapple design — fill it with fruit or flowers. Pattern 581; Crochet direc- tions for swan centerpiece; body about 12x61/2 inches. Use heavy jiffy cotton — starch stiffly. Send TWENTY-FIVE CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for sat ety) for this pattern to Laura Wheeler, 123 Eighteenth St., New Toronto, Ont. Print plainly PATTERN NUMBER, your NAME and AD- DRESS. Our gift to you * two won- derful patterns for yourself, your home — printed in our Laura Wheeler Needlecraft book for 1956! Dozens of other new designs to order — cro- chet, knitting, embroidery, iron ens, novelties. Send 25 cents for your copy of this book NOW Sheath - slim lines, combiner. with your favorite classic stylel Neat shirtwaist bodice; action- back pleat below 'a graceful yoke. Wonderful "go every- where" dress for all your busy daytime activities — choice of three sleeve versions for all- seastins wear! Pattern, 4726: Misses' Size 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. Size 16 re- quires 4"/4 yards 30-inch fabric. This pattern easy to use, sim- ple to sew, is tested for fit. Ho complete illustrated instructions. Send THIRTY-FIVE CENTS (stamps cannot be accepted, use postal note for safety) for this pattern, Print plainly SIZE, NAME, ADDRESS, STYLE NUMBER. Send order to ANNE ADAMS, ;1 0, 23 oEnigt.hteenth St., New Toron - then toured America showing them on one-night stands. Tickets of admission used to he $100.00. Manufacturers not only of garments, but of but- tons, belts, zippers, accessories, textiles, etc. could for that price sketeh, hendle, and copy as much as they could remember. Even when the couturiers dis- covered what was happening, they had no redress; what model renter's did with their property in the 'United States was outside their jurisdiction. Allknown model-renters were barred forthwith from the top Paris showings. Then they, too. resorted to many subterfuges to obtain their merchandise. A model renter was the cen- teal character of a wartime thriller—sort of a minor Mate Hari of the ruffle! This was during the so-called "phony war," when the French and German troops exchanged an occasional grenade across the Maginot Line and life in Paris was adventurous, but not yet really hazardous. One model renter—let us call her Miss Borrowby—alone had braved possible perils to come to Paris by clipper and attend couture showings being held for private eustvers. She hoped no doubt to scoop the American market with some unique Paris designs for which she could ob- viously command her own price. Miss Borrowby, whom I knew slightly but not as a model rent- er, invited me to lunch. "Amer- icans should stock together, these days, there are so few of us left in Paris," she said, "I am a buyer, you know," she added. "But I have no longer -a single assistant. You attend all the openings anyway. It would be a great favor if yeti would select a few numbers for me — get them made. up in your size." I explained to her that as a member of the working press, I could buy nothing for resale. She let the matter drop and I forgot all about her. That is, until I received an urgent call from Schiaparelli letting me in on an exclusive story. "Schiap", said Miss Bor- rowby had tried to buy in all the houses, but had been turned down. Subsequently a young American night - club singer, performing in one of the war- time "blued-out caves," bad 'or- dered several evening gowns. For her act, she said. "Schiap" made and delivered them. As a matter of routine, she had checked with Lucien La also, president oe the Paris couture syndicate. The girl had got a number of things there Further investigation showed that she had bought ine every leading couturier's establish- ment rhoee clothes, as Lelong remarked, than she could wear (or pay for out of her salary) for years, A companion had acquired a suspicious selection of daytime outfi.s, Here's ,,, where toe Deuxieme Bureau went into action, The trail led to Miss Borrowby's hotel. They surrounded it, but Miss Borrowby, mysteriously tipped off, had flown. Literally in a private, hired plane, head- ed for Libson and the home- bound clipper. Deuxieme. Bu- reau agents followed in a brace of fighters. There was an ex- citing (and close) chase over the Pyrenees. The alerted Lisbon' police had no authority to detain an American citizen. While trying to get it, they did manage suf- ficient delaying tactics to pre- vent Miss B's getting her dresses cleared. The bureau men ar- rived just in time to see the clipper disappear in the clouds, the lady on board. The loot was piled up on the strand. They took it' back to Paris. - It is such goings-oil that led to the severe screening of per- sons attending the first show- ings of Paris couture today, These must present their pass- ports and each one a special identity card issued by the Paris couture syndicate. One must pay the "dedit," a deposit, be- fore, being allowed to view any show, If a purchase is made, the dedit is applied to it. If not, it is forfeited. At Dior's the dedit is $1,000 to see the clothes, another $500 against the hats. The minimum in some lesser houses is $600. For years the Paris couturiers an inattentive mannequin's dress cuandrt pretext of examining the b Paris was studded with Mode erately priced dressmaker and millinery shops in whose hack rooms one could get the latest Paris originals at a fraction of the couturier's figure, They even bore the couturier's own "grille" woven (tbe ca or ipt y, aisght theed spl aebcel al 1 l?4, called), which copyist purveyors counterfeited by the yard, Buyers' arrivals at the various Paris hotels were listed in, the daily mere, and the lobbies were haunted by young men and women parrying brief cases shit- fed with couture sketches and samples. They waited only for a nod to follow an unscrupulous prospective customer into some secluded ember to display illicit wares, As the time went on, fashion bootleg gangs were organized. Techniques were perfected, Ill- paid workers on the couturier's own staff were suborned. Though personnel in "sensie aye" jobs were searched before leaving the establishment dur- ing the period in which the col- lection was being prepared, a cutter, for example, could take out a design in his head. At home he could make a detailed working pattern with all indi- cations as to execution, fabric, and -.olor, This could be ve- lum, to microfilm by an ac- complice, despatched to foreign manufacturers by air mail, and Paris innovations might appear in a nargain basement — before they made their bow in their own designer's ,feeshion parade. Paris was periodically rocked by some particularly flagrant copy-scandal, which would needle the couture into taking special action. Indignation meet- ings were held, fashionable vigi- lahtes alerted, copy houses raid- ed. But nothing much we's ever accomplished principally because the only legal penalty was a fine —negligible beside the enormous profits piracy' nets the pirates. The small fry, caught by the raids, did not even know the identity of the "Big Shots," who so gladly paid their fines. So the racket would start over again in new headquarters, wtih new agents and new faces. There was just one period -when the' Paris designers could, and did, crack down effectively on the style thieves That was during World War 11 when the Paris couture came under min- tare control. As one of the luxury indus- trie;, the dress business was subject to regulations for' con- serving the national resources, tire division being headed by a reeular army major. And on aro'her front the designers were protected by th e famed "Deuxieme Bureau" (nearest French equivalent to the FBI.) The bureau moved in because marry of the fashion pirates, who had gained a more or.Less solid footing in the Paris plc- lice, were German. And it' was found that secret information was being conveyed to the en- emy through codes disguised as embroidery or print patterns. A certain fashion photogra- pher, for instance, had been in- stalled in Paris for 17 years. He spoke perfect French and was generally believed to be from Lorraine. He left Paris quietly for a "vacation shortly before the declaration of war in 1939. He -returned in 1940 with the then victorious German Army of Occupation, as` a lieutenant in a green uniform on a white horse. This lieutenant was placed at the head of censorship of the Paris fashion press. He had a complete dossier on everyone in fashion—with e big- black mark against the names of those who had refused to Use Iris photo- graphs or had otherwise offend- ed him through the years. He took pleasure in refueitg to pass their articles, thus forcing them out of jobs, or even shut- ting down their publications. But to return to the pirates responsible for the loss to cou- ture coffers of millions of .francs each season were the model- renters, These were not, strictly speaking, copyists. They placed big orders for Paris originals at top prices. The catch was--they , history of style piracy and some' ways to combat it efficaciously may prove useful. The pastel ,modernistic murals of Madeleine Vionnet's salons on the Avenue Montaigne—not far " from Dior's present premises—, were in the early 20'$ purictu-, ated with admonitory texts: "The work of art is 'personal property . To copy is to steal . ." and others in similar vein. M. Trouyet, Vionnet's famous and formidable director, was a leader of the fight against copy- ist;, and the daily press was only allowed to view a new Vionnet collection several weeks after the first showing (when inciden- tally it was no use to them) lest their cables describe the new line too graphically. "This, however, was literally "locking the stable door after the horse' has been stolen." In Wore really bad old daye, pirates attended couture openings dis- guised as private clients or as- sistant buyers, armed with a photographic eye and scissors to snip a surreptitious sample from "Dear Anne Hirst: We have been married four years and have no children. My wife and I have been wonderfully happy until recently, when we invited my 'mother, who lives in Europe, to visit us. "A happier woman you never saw, She was helpful in the kit- chen' and other ways — hut our harmony lasted just one week. Then my wife told me she would, leave for as long as my mother is 'here, She felt herself inter- lered with, she said. "I was between two fires. My mother slaved for me for 21 years, and now that I can pay her back in some measure; a. jealous streak of my wife's would, have me forget all that. My mother was despondent before she came, and, what she needs is our companionship to, make her happy, at least for a while, "My wife is very religious and 1 am not, but I usually went to church with her „ . I appealed to her religious concepts, reminding her that she could win grace in performing a deed of love and with gift patterns printed in it! good will. But in her opinion this had nothing to rib with re- ligion; since that time I eon- fess I have lost some respect for her devotions. "I da not want to be Unfair to my wife . , but is she right in asking me to forsake my mother? Or should I stand on moral rights and take things in- to my own 'hands? . . I have found your advice to many prob- lems very much worth-while, and I would appreciate having it now, A SOLUTION? I do not think your wife * wants • you to forsake your 4" mother entirely, and I am sure e your mother would be deso- * lated if she felt she became an ". issue between you. Why not * try to find her a bright room nearby with a family who will • serve meals? You can run in to see her regularly, she can e come to your home for dinner * now and - then and feel she is. # still a part of your life. If "'she is the woman I think your e mother would be, she will un- • derstand without too many * words how difficult it is for * two families to live together; • she. will realize how your wife, * out of her love for you, wants * her home for herself, and she • discover that she will be e welcome as. a guest there. * If you do . net let your ,* mother or your wife realize * that you regard the situation. • as a tragedy, neither of them * will think it is. I know you j. Cieappointed in your wife, but * she is determineddthat the hap: • pinese you two have had to- * gether ;shall not be interrupted " by the presence of a the * person. * No man however he loves. I " two women, can bring them a close together if, they are tem- * peramentally opposed. 'Be- i. member this, and be gene,rotre. "Dear Anne Meet; Recently we learned that the firm I work for will be disbanded inetwo months, which meane'ellia.ofe us will be met of works, wr have been dating a youn47§efeare for over a year and had,Fanaeetcled giving her an engeg'eenijnbe ring about now. "When I -told her of thie'reis- fortune, she was most encourag- ing and said it made no differ- ence at all. "I know the end of the world I has not come, and I intend to get another malic, I soon par- tible But have the right to tie a girl up to a fellow who isn't i working? UNDECIDED" I would stake my opinion * with that of your fiancee, * which I hope ehe le by now. * You will not be without a job e. long I inn sure, and. I think e that girl know: she is hurley " to have the affection of so hen- * arable a man as yourself, • There is no reason why during these days you :i:mid 1' nut have the added impetus rif knowing that her future .hap- piness depends upon you. Keep • your Orin up, end you cannot a fail, Try to' find a solution to the problem that confronts you, hi- stead of giving way to despair, Mine Meet will help yin if you. as'r her to. Write het at tiox 1, 1Z3 Eighteenth St., New Toronto, Ont. yr e this delicious COFFEE LAYER CAKE '5,:a0}3:40021MOMPASOUOVSW4MM:::W401:400,010•514MMAITAW14$5280q1k.;;;I::::::m•::o They were unpacking their 'goods for a week-end's camping. "George!" thundered the wife, as elle came upon an unopened bottle of whiskey "whet's the meaning of this?" 'That's all right, my dear. brought it along to stick a candle In when empty" Sat together 3 limbs 1V4 0. once-sifted pastky (lout or 11/2 c4, onte4ified all- purl:iota flbur ispi. Magic Bakind tiovider IA top. baking soda topi. Instant Chaso & Sanborn Coffer Vi tip. itch dream c. ihorterilorg Gradually blend In lighitylatked biO4in ugar % c, eranetaied sugar Arid; Pari Of Cbmlikb ~/o e:milk 1:Ada dry "ingredients to creamed' with milk, torn, btaing after eoch dildittatii, Turd geebteif 8-ititio round cold;' pane, lined hi bottom greased paper lake cutely hot' oven, 375 25 to eer minutei, Put idyeri Of tOiOf cake' together with thick raspberry late • betiVeari arid cover with a boffaiii. liedifee well after eecli atIditfan flthiored ttbstirib., Oii*;•;kx:P.V.e0a;^:AOIO)%44Z;2;z?';nt.AtAtKVStSgPi'gSkkd,'" ktittOWSkvotmattkitaLZO0014 " ISSUE 40 10,54 VACATIONING -- Curious onlookers get a peak at Prince Rainier and Princess Grace as the royal Couple: stand on the porch of lire foterier Miss Kelly's parents' surf-side Sarni-ride home. -260AL RONIffES (31,01N E,u. 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