THE MAN-MILLINER.

Evening Star, Issue 3126, 25 February 1873, Page 3

THE MAN-MILLINER.

Worth, the King of Man-Milliners, once the autperat who reigned nearly alone under the Empire in his peculiar kingdom, having less work to do, not that extravagant toilettes are on the decline, but there being no Court patronags, no accepted leader of fashion, the fair public is somewhat vagabond in giving orders ; well, Worth is about allocating a portion of bis vast fortune to fonnd an hospice for aged and infirm English and Americans, who will not, or who cannot, return to their native land This deed partakes also of the nature of a thankoffering for his country house having escaped the horrors of the late war. Visitors may perhaps recall the immense house near the railway station of ISuresnes under the guns of Mount Valdrien, and remarkable for being built entirely in red brick, and combining alike all the “ orders,” as well as all the “ lamps ”of architf cturo. That is to be the new hospice. The same benefactor permits the curious to view his professional library, now in the Mede le Raix; the shelves are loaded with immense volumes of the fashions of France, since France became renowned for such—several centuries ago. In addition there are rare works on the costumes of all nations. It was here that his artists derived their inspiration, ami new fashions originated from this centre of the Capitoline divinities, Pintjxd Minerva could never be said of his handiwork. His head artiste had a salary of 40,000frs. a year, and this principle of employing only the best talent to be found, perhaps for “love or money,” explains why the plates of French fashion are master-pieces of their kind. Worth also has a veiitable “ Museum of Sovereigns,” the more to be prized now, since the Republic has broken up that at the Louvre, and returned the “old do” of royalty to their claimants. The Sovereigns in Worth’s gallery are the dressed-up models of bye-gone “ girls of the period”—AiacFlimsey dolls in fact—a rich andrnre collection. In the Temple of Minerva at Rome, it was the custom to “ drive in an annual nail ” and sacrifice calves to the god dess. This array of gew-gaws must recall to many a husband and father those inflammatory bills that “ nailed ” them once a year, and of their resemblance to the live stock offered up, in permitting wives and dan.liters to create ruin by extravagant habits. “ Worth makes the man,” says the poet; the want of it in the present case might have made the “ fellow ” —but a very commendable one.