WOMAN OF 1000 DRESSES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2327, 10 September 1921, Page 4

WOMAN OF 1000 DRESSES.

DIFFERENT GOWNS EVERY DAY

FOR 49 DAYS

London, July 8,

A woman who went to Paris for a holiday and wore a different gown every day for 40 days has just returned. She is Mrs Smith Wilkinson, of the Bungalow, Nottingham. She came back in a blizzard A frills and feathers to find herself the talk of the world of fashion.

When seen by the Daily News today Mrs Wilkinson was wearing a peignoir of flimsy saffron charmeuse, over which she had thrown a cloak of shimmering Persian blue, with a boudoir cap of white lace and little pink roses. She looked the picture of health and happiness. She is a little woman with rosy checks, and she took great pleasure in bringing out a display of her latest gowns and hats. She has some hundreds of creations. One is a Russian gown of dull grey trimmed with grey Persian lamb’s wool, with which she wears a hat and muff of the same colour and Russian top boots. “When I wore this dress in Paris,” she said, “all the Russians came up close to me, and they seemed dazed.”

PARADISE BIRDS’ FATE. Another of her gowns was of eanarv-coloured charmeuse, with three rows of deep fringe brought up to form a Spanish shawl. With this she wears a large tortoiseshell comb a foot square and a hat of the same hue, with a yellow lace mantilla and a rope of 75 pearls.

Her hats are amazing. She has a poodle hat all of feathers, and another of geranium-coloured ostrich feathers caught down to form leaves. Another contains 12 birds of Paradise, with the complete heads of three birds. This is said to ha\e cost 10,000 dollars. Mr Lewis, of the famous Maison Lewis, once said, “In 50 years I have never encountered such a liberal woman. Mrs Wilkinson has had a life crowded with romance. She made a fortune as the proprietress of hotels and hydros, including the well-known publichonse of Nottingham, called “The Poultry.” As Margaret Dunk she received in August, 1001, the Royal Humane Society’s certificate for saving the life of Mr ,). W\ Forman, who was washed oft the beach at Mablethorpe and nearly drowned. HUSBAND’S HOBBY.

Her present husband is her third. He is 24 years of age (she herself j s 46), and when serving in the Guards he was so popular as a female impersonator that he was known as “Phyllis of the Guards.” He embroiders Dorothy bags as a hobby, and designs dresses. Her only son died tragically. He was suffering from consumption, and Mrs Wilkinson built a sanatorium for him on the roof of a Matlock hydro, from which he fell, being killed before her eyes. This woman of a thousand-dress-es is the envy of the women of Paris. She has a tooth crowned with a diamond, and bathes herself in :t golden bath. She argues that each dress she buys keeps hundreds of women in employment, and that her hats and gowns afford happiness to thousands.