The Milluers of Paris.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 224, 15 October 1887, Page 7

The Milluers of Paris.

Both great and small, the Paris milliners form a 1 highly interestin^'community ; but, with the exceptioiuaf M. Emile Zola, whoso indefatigable pen has left hardly any department of social life untouched, the modisteshave nob be ena favourite topic with writers. While M. Zola's possible produc-. tion about milliners remains in an embryotic condition, the great realistic writer has been anticipated by M. Le Koux, who gives an admirable sketch of the ordinary life and labours of the Lutetian milliner. According to him the ranks of the modistes are largely recruited from schoolmistresses who cannot find pupils, daughters of theatrical people who did not like to expose their children to the perils of tho stage, and persons whose parents have come down in the world. Never does the Parisian milliner allow herself to be called an ouvriere. She is, on the contrary, a demoiselle, and the very poorest of those demoiselles would die rather than cross the street like a workgirl, that is to say, without hat or gloves. In some great) houses of millinery, dignity is so much, thought of that the staircase leading to the modistes' rooms is often marked "escalier dcs artistes." Tho apprentice milliner, who has paid a premium, is allowed to sew wire around hats and to work on old models, while tho charity apprentice, or modillion picks up pins from the workroom, runs errands for the artistes, and carries parcels for the firm all over Paris. After about two years' apprenticeship the blossoming modiste become an apprenteuse and earns about £2 per month, eagerly awaiting the while her elevation to the rank of garnisseupe. These (the garnisseusses) are the stars of the profession. j They are to be met everywhere looking for i hints. They are at first nights in theatres, [ scanning with close scrutiny the dresses ! of tho actresses who, like Marie Magnier,. have a new costume for each scene in which they appear. They attend fashionable weddings at the Madeleine, and even hunt about the book shops and stalls on tho quay, peering over old-fashioned engravings. Not so well paid as these are the vendeuses, who must have a good deal of tact, an eye for form and colour, and be able to hit off the taste of customers to a nicety. Some of the vendeuses, who speak English in addition to their other accomplishinsnts, receive as much as £120 per annum in good houses. A few of the ' ' sellers " are also employed in soliciting orders for their houses. Milliners are divided into two classes, those in shops and those in apartments or private rooms. The modiste en boutique is not a " creator "' of fashions, so she peneially sends one of her most aristocratic-looking assistants as a customer into the private rooms of the leading milliners in order to ask for the novelties of the season. Sometimes the trick is discovered and vengeance is taken in many ways peculiar to the inventive female mind. On one occasion a premiere, or forewoman, from a milliner's shop was identified by a fashionable Mine. Mantalini in her rooms and was locked up in a closet, a\ here she received bread and water for her sustenance, until her mistress had to come, crestfallen and confused, to claim her. These are some of the sidelights of the life of Paris milliners, but the &übject might easily be enlarged upon.