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Max Meyer had a brilliant idea. The changes of style by seasons had been my bete noire. I thought it was a dreadful thing to have in any industry and I'd always cursed it out. Meyer said, “Well, that's the way the industry is.” He came in one morning to see me, fresh from a good weekend in White Plains and said, “I've got a brilliant idea and I want to try to sell it to you. It is that we try to persuade the clothing industry to have more seasons.”

I recoiled in horror by saying, “That's just terrible. It's bad enough as it is now.”

He said, “Oh no, it won't be so bad, because we'll have a little season in between every season. If we can change the styles often enought, the kind of dress that's in style in October will be out of style in December and there'll have to be a December line put out. Then there'll have to be a February line put out. Instead of people buying at the beginning of the autumn two dresses to see them through - best and every day - until next May or April, we'll have them buying at least a dress a month. Don't you understand that? That will do more than anything else to keep the dress industry alive.”

It seemed an extraordinary idea, but that is exactly what has happened to the women's clothing and millinery trades.