760 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



Beaulieu to certain notions, among which fashion forms a large part; 

 the personal satisfaction of connoisseurs, the desire for distinction, 

 snobbishness, which is a grand master in fashionable life, the spon- 

 taneous adaptation of art of the eighteenth century to conditions of 

 contemporary life and the development of large fortunes.^ In the 

 statistics of foreign commerce works of art show the greatest change ; 

 in the fiscal year 1911-12 the importation of that class into the 

 United States rose to more than $36,000,000, an increase of 60 per 

 cent over 1910-11. 



Other industries are also answerable to fashion — the fur trade, 

 ornamental plumes, jewelry, toys, and artificial flowers. The style 

 in furs changes every year, from the tippets to the stoles and scarfs 

 of to-day, and the consumption of skins increases in enormous pro- 

 portions. In 1848 there were sold in London at public auction 

 225,000 muskrat skins, at a maximum price of 2 cents each ; while in 

 1910 sales reached 4,000,000 pieces, at a maximum price of 14 cents. 

 Russian ermine, which in 1888 were valued at 15 copecks (11 cents), 

 sold in 1910 for 4.30 roubles ($3.25) ; beautiful sable skins, which 

 sold for 5 roubles ($3.75) in 1880, brought up to 800 roubles ($600) 

 in 1910.- 



Artificial flowers, originating in China, now used more for hats 

 and similar purposes than in decorating rooms, give employment in 

 Paris alone to 10,000 women and 3,000 men, receiving $2,200,000 in 

 wages, for a production valued at $6,700,000. The manufacture of 

 toys is regulated almost exclusively by the current demand; it is 

 enough to say that a toy is fashionable. The industrial arts peculiar 

 to the colonies seem again to have come into favor after having 

 been for a long time out of style. And it is to fashion that is due 

 the present prosperity in false hair and perfumery trades. Each 

 year 130,000 kilograms of hair are utilized in France, and the im- 

 portations from China and Japan vary from year to year with 

 change in style, from 8,000 to 16,000 kilograms. The fashion for 

 rouge is as old as the desire of women to look beautiful ; in ver}'^ gen- 

 eral use in Roman times, it revived with the Renaissance, when the 

 habit spread even to the nuns. Madame de Sevigne wrote: "Rouge 

 may be regarded as the law and the prophets ; it is all Christianity." 

 Rice powder and " creme Simon " have no less success to-day than 

 has the tinting of the hair. Finally, fashion is advantageous in the 

 constantly increasing love for sports and travel and in the develop- 

 ment of industries connected with these, particularly the hotel 

 business. 



Wliat are the economical results of fashion? In the industrial 

 world, first of all, it seems to be a stimulant to production ; but it is 



1 ftconomiste frangais, June 22, 1912. 



- Les ficbos de rExportation, Jan. 1, 1913. 



