Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 171, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1915 — Topeka Society Women Got “Exclusive” Dresses [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Topeka Society Women Got “Exclusive” Dresses

TOPEKA. —Some days ago a prepossessing young woman came to town and began paying visits to the best houses in Topeka. She called upon the society women only and presented to each a Japanese crepe silk dress pat-

tern, a beautiful piece of goods, all hand embroidered and handsomely decorated. With the pattern was a design for the dress, showing exactly how it would look when completed and how it 6hould be put together. It certainly was beautiful, it was exclusive and such a bargain! The young woman premised not to sell another to any woman in the city. Could any woman resist a combination like that? Can a duck stay away from the water? But why ask foolish

questions? The young .woman collected S3B from one Topeka matron, S3O each from two others and varying prices between those figures for the rest The patterns were all alike. The embroidery was all black and white, in a beautiful design. The sales were all for cash. There isn’t a woman who purchased the pattern who would not gladly pay the money she did for the same design—if everyone else in the same social set didn’t have a dress exactly like it. One Saturday night there was a big wedding in Topeka and the women who had bought the beautiful Japanese crepe gown, but who hadn't discovered that everyone else had bought the same pattern, were each separately and distinctly shocked to see another woman wearing the very gown each of these women expected to wear at party a few days later. One woman whose dressmaker had said she already had nine of those patterns to make op, walked up to the woman wearing the gown and said; “I think you are dreadful. What do you mean by wearing your uniform before the date set for all of us to appear?"