Dusautoy (tailor, 1874)

Overview

The Paris tailor who made Marie's riding habit in May-June 1874. The Bashkirtseffs, in Paris, order an «amazone» from Dusautoy (019.0314, 22 May 1874). The result is a failure: on 12 June Marie writes that the habit «est impossible», that «c'est une canaille que ce Dusautoy», and that, since the habit is still at his place and he wants his money, four «policemen» came and the family paid «trois cents francs» to be rid of them, #Walitsky undertaking to see to the rest (020.0228). The next day her mother tells the story to another tailor, «Alfred», who is to make her a new one (020.0238). On 20 June her mother asks M. de Villemessant of Le Figaro to put «mon Dusautoy» in his paper (020.0367). On 22 June Dusautoy calls but has neither remade nor altered the habit, «d'ailleurs c'eût été miracle, il était depuis deux semaines payé» (020.0376).

Who he was: almost certainly a representative of the house of A. Dusautoy, tailors, rue Richelieu, Paris, a fashionable and long-established firm. Its founder, Auguste Dusautoy (d. September 1873), sold the business in 1861 to his employees Dervois and Arnould, who kept the name «Maison A. Dusautoy, tailleur de S. M. l'Empereur» (Wikipedia fr, «Auguste Dusautoy»; Musée Carnavalet, token of «Tailleurs A. Dusautoy et Rodier, 26 rue Richelieu»). The sources found do not mention riding habits, and the diary does not say which individual came to Marie's house: the identification with the house is probable, not certain. Not the pianist of 1881-83 (#Dusautoy); no link between the two is known.

References in Diary