Tag Archives: fashion accessories

Cecil Beaton gave Audrey Hepburn an immense chiffon muff as part of her Ascot costume.

NOW COMES THE SUMMER MUFF

London, Aug. 16. Summer society is startled over a new fad. It is the wearing of muffs in August.

All the smart set feels bound to imitate, and costumers are inking large orders, for the fad was started by Queen Alexandra. She set the fashion by wearing the first of the summer muffs at the opening of the university college school.

“The fad will become the most popular of the season,” said a Bond street merchant. “It is not only a pretty idea, but also very serviceable. The muff is very light and contains a small pocket, just large enough to hold a handkerchief and a purse. In this age of pocketless gowns that point has its advantages.”

From the description of the costumer the muff is a very dainty creation. It is made of flowers, feathers and chiffon, and must match the ruffle and toque with which it is worn.

Muff, ruffle and toque come in sets. One of the prettiest of these is the flower petal set. Over a light body of tulle or chiffon dainty petals of imitation flowers are scattered and attached with a single thread. “The tulle and the petals are always in contrasting shades,” said the costumer. “Apple blossom petals are placed on lavender-colored tulle, while apricot tulle is sewn with the petals of the white rose.” Every little breeze causes the petals to dance in an attractive manner.

Grand Rapids [MI] Press 16 August 1907: p. 12

A French chiffon evening muff, c. 1900-1905 http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/158238?rpp=30&pg=1&ao=on&ft=muff&pos=18

MUFF FOR SUMMER USE

“Vigee le Brun” a Fashionable Novelty In Paris.

One of the fashionable novelties of women’s attire this season will be summer muffs, or, rather, a scarf and muff, which is dignified by the name of “Vigee le Brun,” the famous woman artist of the revolution. The style consists of a wide chiffon scarf worn on, not off, the shoulders and a large chiffon muff which buries the arms to the elbows. The “Vigee le Brun” scarf and muff will be made of an entirely different shade of chiffon from the dress and will generally match the hat.

The scarf must be very wide, but so soft that it will crumple up into the smallest space, and must be bordered with an accordion plaited frill. The muff must be as large as a feather pillowcase, edged also with frills and adorned with a large bow of soft satin ribbon.

Daily Herald [Biloxi, MS] 3 July 1909: p. 4

Eau de nil silk muff, c. 1900 http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/121630?rpp=30&pg=2&ao=on&ft=muff&pos=46

The Summer Muff

With the lace hat and scarf Frenchwomen now wear a marvel of muff elegance to add to their grace and to do duty as a vanity bag. These wide, flat affairs are made of mousseline, chiffon or marquisette—anything diaphanous—and colored like the gown or scarf. Although they are pleated and shirred into the semblance of a muff, they do not convey the idea of warmth, but only of novelty and airy grace.

Augusta [GA] Chronicle 6 June 1909: p. 28

Mrs Daffodil’s Aide-memoire: Mrs Daffodil imagines these confections in chiffon and mousseline as large, flat boudoir pillows with pockets. Vigee le Brun refers, of course, to Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Le Brun, the exceedingly popular portrait painter—she of the notorious Marie Antoinette chemise a la reine portrait. Possibly the association of “Le Brun” and “muff” arose from her charming portrait of Madame Molé-Reymond (1786)

Hints for Carrying an Umbrella to Mitigate Its Lethal Potentialities: 1824

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Horace Vernet, c. 1814 http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O602501/incroyable-et-merveilleuse-incroyable-no-fashion-plate-horace-vernet/

Since to-day we enter into the time of “April showers,” it seemed appropriate to share the author’s useful hints. Or—one cannot be certain—perhaps it is all just an April Fool’s Day jape.

ON THE ART OF CARRYING AN UMBRELLA.

“On the art of carrying an umbrella,—humph!” perhaps some one may say, what nonsense to fill up the pages of the Literary Magnet with a discourse on such a foolish subject: now, let me say, it is no such thing; every person finds in this our “cloudy clime,” the great importance of this article; and therefore what is in so general request deserves a consideration equal to its universality. 1 must own that for some time I was fearful of giving my lucubrations on the subject to the public, for fear of being written down alongside with Dogberry, an ass; but the many accidents that have befell me in the course of my walks through this crowded city, and the disagreeable consequences thereof, have induced me at length, for the benefit of all those who would profit by my instructions, to stem the “world’s dread laugh,” and give the rules that I have drawn up to the public.

But in the first place, I think it will not be amiss to give an account of the pains and penalties I suffered, ere I reduced the use of an umbrella to an art; and the disaster that first befell me was this,—walking along with my umbrella tucked under my arm, and the hooked handle turned outwards, it had the misfortune to catch hold of a lady’s silk dress, and made as “envious a rent” in it as Casca’s dagger did in Caesar’s mantle. No words can portray my confusion, for to heighten my pain, it was in one of the most frequented streets of the town. The lady held her skirt, and looked as much as to say, “See what an ugly rent is here!” This expression, viz. of the lady’s eyes, filled some round with indignation big against poor I. In vain did I apologize, and utter “beg your pardons” fast as hail; I was not able to satisfy the lady’s ire, so, burning with blushes, I retired chap-fallen like a cock from a defeat.

In the next place, I was boldly marching forwards, holding my umbrella in the middle, when a man coming briskly on, and I not being able to recover arms in time, gave him, to use Mrs. Quickly’s phrase, “a shrewd thrust in the groin.” The man, “unable to conceal his pain,” writhed and groaned, writhed and groaned, writhed and groaned, and groaned again, until he had drawn a pretty goodly crowd around himself and me. And there was I, wedged in for about an hour, unable to stir, with about a hundred tongues expostulating with me, the man, and one another; some advised liim to take the law against me, ay! marry did they; others said, ’twas only an accident; the man said, ’twas a bad speck; and an old apple-woman, from a stall adjacent, piped out, “arn’t you ashamed of yourself—arn’t you ashamed of yourself?” about fifty times. Having at length succeeded in getting disentangled from the mob, I shot off as quick as possible from the scene of my valour, and on clearing the corner of the street, a loud, ” Arn’t you ashamed of yourself, you sneaking son,” &c. from my old friend the apple-woman, faintly died away upon my ear.

Another time, walking at a brisk rate, having my umbrella under my arm, its point backwards, and inclining some few degrees upwards: my eye having caught a caricature in a window representing a storm of “cats, dogs, and pitchforks,” I suddenly stopped, jabbed the ferule of my weapon into the mouth of a person behind, and sent him backwards on the pavement with a vengeance. If the blow had met his teeth, it would certainly have punched two or three of them clean out, and fearing this was e’en the case, I put the question; upon which he began to curse me up hill and down dale, swore he shouldn’t have cared if I had sent one or two of them flying, for he’d one or two that ached badly, but vowed that I had punched a hole through his throat. Upon his getting up he seemed inclined to show fight, but I, not being in a pugilistic mood, very readily gave him an half-crown, to wash the wound with gin and bitters down.

Another disaster that befell me, was the lugging nearly off, and very much disarranging an old lady’s bonnet, and this was almost the worst misfortune I met with; for she harangued away on my conduct from Cateaton street all the way down Lothbury. Persons might learn to walk, she thought, without driving over folks, but she supposed the pavement was made for me alone—no doubt I was some crow out of a gutter, a dressed up spark without a farthing, &c. Forsooth she’d got more than appeared on her outside; she’d no doubt she could buy twenty such, out and out; but she didn’t like her bonnet spoilt any the more for that, &c. Poor old lady, I never shall forget your “peck o’troubles” as long as I live; as for me, I dived down Copthall-court, as soon as I could, leaving her to her further reflections.

In the last adventure I shall mention, my rain-protector came in contact with a gemman’s “new glossy beaver,” and whirled it off into the mud; for which, as soon as he had picked it up, he whirled its dirty load in my face, discoloured my shirt, my clean cravat, and completely pieballed my white waistcoat. These are some few of the disasters out of my chapter of accidents, but they are not all; many other scrapes did 1 get into, for some of which I was obliged to compound, and in other cases, the sufferers being peaceable creatures, in reply to my expressions of sorrow, only replied, “No matter, sir, no matter,” though very frequently these same had suffered by my awkwardness more than many of those who made the greatest ” coil and stir.”

And now, having performed the first part of my promise, I shall proceed to lay down some very useful rules, for the guidance of all those who would wish to handle their umbrella with the same ease and skill as the veteran does his firelock. Firstly, then, never let the hook of the handle project outwards, (this was the cause of my first misfortune) but keep the same turned always towards yourself. Secondly, If you carry your umbrella by holding it in the centre, take care the ferule is pointed downwards—look at my second disaster, and be wise by another’s experience. Thirdly, Should you carry it on the shoulder like a musket, do not wave it fore and aft, for else you will, as I did in the days of inexperience, knock off hats innumerable. Fourthly, When your umbrella is open, keep your little finger at the bottom of the stick, while your thumb and other fingers hold it; it will thus revolve as it were upon a pivot, and you will carry it with an elegance astonishing. When meeting with a person who keeps his umbrella tightly clenched, slant your canopy under his, you will thus prevent the wet border of his umbrella coming in contact with your cheek, and pouring its deluging contents within your neckcloth—no pleasant thing. Next, if going through an alley, and before you there should chance be an old lady hobbling in pattens, with an umbrella so held that you vainly attempt to get before, depress your umbrella against her’s, and gently bearing forwards you will improve your pace wonderfully. I have sent an old woman repeatedly through a narrow passage full trot, and left her at the end, breathless with the augmented speed in which I made her foot it. I also adopt this method (providing it then rains) when walking a narrow pavement behind a person who pertinaciously keeps the centre of the way, and seems determined, if you will get before him, you shall dirt your shoes in the muddy road first. I shall just mention another rule which particularly claims the notice of the gay blood, it is this— when meeting with another umbrella, which, as well as your own, is unfurled, particularly if the bearer is a lady, depress your’s downwards, and with a circular motion of the wrist bring it over your head again; this movement has great beauty, it is the third or fourth cut of the broad sword exercise, according as you make it from right or left. You will thus get noticed, so enviable a thing to the beau.

I could give many other rules, but the above are the principal, a due regard to which cannot fail to make a person thoroughly able to carry an umbrella with ease and elegance.

Since writing the above, I have thought, whether it might not be of advantage to both the public and myself, to open an academy for the teaching this novel, but truly useful, and decidedly necessary art. If upon further consideration I should decide upon so doing, I shall lay my plan before the world, and have no doubt but I should, in a very short time, be as much sought after as the Mounseers who teach grown gentlemen to dance; at any rate, I can calculate upon having the attendance of all the Tom-fools—I mean Toms and Jerrys—in the kingdom; particularly when I acquaint them, that from my mastership over the subject I shall be able to teach the whole art in six lessons only.

L.W. Wy

The Literary Magnet of the belles lettres, science, and the fine arts, edited by Tobias Merton (pseud) 1824

Mrs Daffodil’s Aide-memoire: Mrs Daffodil is not fond of the Kaiser nor his cadre of scar-faced, corseted officers. However, as this squib demonstrates, German discipline obviates much social unpleasantness regarding lethal umbrellas.

The citizens of Berlin have a summary method of stopping the dangerous practice of carrying sticks and umbrellas horizontally. As soon as a man tucks his umbrella under his arm, he will promptly feel a quick blow on it from behind. There is no use in his getting angry with the person who strikes the blow, because public opinion sanctions his conduct. The Argonaut [San Francisco, CA] 2 May 1898

That same German discipline enjoins a soldier from carrying an open umbrella, unless he is accompanied by a civilian or a lady. This ingenious corporal, in the same spirit that Germany later avoided the Maginot Line, found a way around the regulations.

A worthy corporal, on one occasion, was sent to fetch an Umbrella his Major’s lady had left at a friend’s house, and at the same time took her lap-dog for an airing. On the road home a violent shower came on, and, to avoid committing a breach of the regulations, the Dutchman tucked the dog, as the lady’s representative, under his arm, put up the Umbrella, and marched comfortably to barracks. Umbrellas and Their History, Clyde and Black, 1864

Mrs Daffodil invites you to join her on the curiously named “Face-book,” where you will find a feast of fashion hints, fads and fancies, and historical anecdotes

“Where Cupid Dons His Armor:” Gems of Dressing Tables: 1895

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Queen Charlotte and her draped dressing table by Zoffany.

Queen Charlotte and her draped dressing table, as painted by Zoffany.

Where Cupid Dons His Armor

Gems of Dressing Tables for Milady’s Own Uses

Crystal Reflects Itself in Bevel Mirrors and Silver Glitters on Inlaid Wonders.

The most expensive dressing-table on record, in a field where extravagance reigns and an ever desirous ambition excites to new wonders of beauty and convenience, is one that was recently purchased by Lady Beresford. Her ladyship is now, according to recent rumor, particularly interested in the appointments of her bedchamber, and is giving a personal attention to its adornments, its materials and its arrangement—attention to a degree which she never before found it necessary to bestow upon her own apartment during the two previous terms of her married life. All happiness to her ladyship and the little lordling, but about the dressing table!

It is a solid piece of place glass without flaw and deep as one’s finger when the hand is pressed against its surface. Seldom has a piece of glass been so perfect. It might be a diamond were it cut and polished. This piece of rare glass forms the top of the table and cost several hundred dollars of our money. Yet it is only a narrow strip of crystal.

BERESFORD BOWER

Her ladyship has chosen for a dressing spot a place in the middle of her bedroom. A tall glass rises from the back of the shelf which forms the dressing table and the piece of clear looking glass lies below it. Upon it are placed the little luxuries of the toilet. On Lady Beresford’s table these are all cut glass, very heavy and very beautifully faceted.

The bedroom is hung in cardinal, her ladyship’s favorite color, and the dressing table has cardinal candles standing from brass candelabra. Touches of gold adorn the cut glass, and the dressing shelf is rich and sparkling, like a row of glasses upon a sideboard, were it not made very feminine with the pomades and toilet preparations. The oddest thing about this dressing-table is that it is all repeated on the other side, and whichever way you approach it you may see yourself and find all the necessary things for beauty’s care awaiting you. On the reverse side her ladyship keeps the scents of the toilet and the bottles of unnamable things wanted by all true beauties, each bottle and bit of glass on this side being trimmed with silver in place of the gold on the other side.

Miss Edith Shipard, the young woman who is represented in the great portrait show as holding a blue velvet book in her hand while she delivers one of her foreign tales, has a dressing-table as characteristic and peculiar as the young woman herself.

This dressing-table has a cloth of gold hung over it, entirely enveloping its four sides, for it is a square table standing in the middle of the floor. Supported by two tall gold feet is a square mirror. This is draped with cloth of gold. Upon the table lie a dozen small cloth-of-gold mats, upon which lie comb and brush, dress whisks, perfumes, and vinaigrettes. Upon one corner is the manicure set in a gold case by itself and upon another corner are pin trays, cushions, &c.

All the pieces are mounted in gold and all rest upon gold settings. What gives the very singular aspect to this table is the way fleurs de lis are scattered over the cloth of gold. They are interwoven and are so placed in the draping that they are very conspicuous. This gives the dressing-table the look of a prie-dieu. It is possibly used as one, for at one side of it is a great cloth-of-gold cushion, and over the cushion, at the side of the dressing-table is a small projecting shelf, upon which lies a Book of Common Prayer. It is easy to believe, looking at it, that there its pretty mistress sinks upon her knees, upon this golden cushion to pray for the strength and patience that are as much needed in the life of a poor girl as a rich one.

Miss Virginia Fair is a young woman of many fancies. She is not capricious, but she has a great love for the beautiful. If she were less fond of art and travel, of reading and athletics, she would have been snatched up long ago in the grab for heiresses.

Miss Fair’s California dressing-table has a top of mother of pearl. It is one of those old-fashioned tables that grandmother had in her parlor and would never allow us to touch, as finger-marks show upon it, unless the fingers are the pink-tinted ones of womanhood. Miss Fair’s table is a very long one and shallow, as so many fashionable dressing tables are. Women who want to make them at home bring about the same result by placing a five or six foot plank upon iron brackets, making it secure to the wall, and afterwards draping it. Miss Fair’s mirror is as wide as her dressing-table, and it is fastened, as all mirrors should be, flat against the wall. It reaches well toward the ceiling and is draped at the top with an abundance of pink silk and satin, laid in alternate folds.

MISS FAIR’S PEARL-TOP.

The brushes, combs, etc. that occupy one portion of this long shelf are backed with mother-of-pearl, and are laid upon small pink mats. There is a cheap imitation of this pearl in a material that may be papier-mâché. It is pearl gray, a little streaked but quite clear when polished. This is used by several young ladies, who have seen the wonderful Fair dressing-table and want one like it.

The advantage of a table as long and narrow was this one, with the broad mirror running in front of it, is that several chairs can be placed along its front of the different operations of the toilet. The manicuring has its corner. The hair-dressing occupies one entire end. The cosmetics, necessary in windy weather as well as in sun, have their spot fitted out for them, and in the center may be left a long vacant space with only the toilet waters, extracts, sweet-smelling spices and highly comfortable things enjoying the place of honor.

Although dressing-tables of the city are very fine, the ladies who occupy country places until Christmas of the purpose of riding to hounds are the ones who absolutely revel in fine toilet appointments and what is more, they boast of them. They want their guests and their friends to know how luxuriously they have appointed themselves, and they make no secret of the fact that the dressing-table went up into the hundreds of dollars before it was complete.

Mrs. Adolph Ladenburg, “the new woman,” as she is called since she left her two-months-old baby for an hour to ride to hounds, has perhaps the most magnificently equipped dressing-table of any of the famous Meadow Brook set. Mrs. Ladenburg is a society beauty, a millionaire’s wife, a most charitable woman, and the coming typical hostess in New York—according to those who judge society form the charmed inner circle of “the know.”

This thrice-blessed young beauty of a matron owns a dressing-table that would have been the envy of the best girl of Paris’ time. It is a sectional table. The mirror in the middle rises from the floor to the ceiling, like a cheval glass. Upon each side are low shelves, under which the dresser can seat herself while she presses her feet close to the glass for an impartial view of self. Over these side shelves are two more mirrors. The glass, a fine plate, is all in one piece, being cut off at each side and running down to the floor in the center.

MRS. LADENBURG’S WINGS

The difficulty with most dressing-tables is that you can get only a view of your face, but this one has large side wings that stretch out and extend back of one’s head, so that you see yourself on all sides at once. When the two side ends are unfolded they meet back of your head in a compete circle. The minor appointments of the table are blue; the backs of the brushes and the solid pieces are of silver.

The Marquise Lanza, daughter of Dr. William A. Hammond of Washington and herself a writer of books, is always an exquisitely dressed woman. She is large and blonde, with a very creamy complexion. Like all society women of beauty, the marquise owns a dressing-table, and hers is both a marvel and a novelty. It is in the shape of a semi-circle, in the middle of which the dresser sits. Maid or hairdresser can take a stand behind her and pick up the implements as wanted. Back of the semi-circle tilts a round glass of large size. The colors of table and ornaments are pale green. The table is delicately tinted in green, and even the glass looks green, reflecting the hues of the table. The other trimmings are not prominent, but there is an impression of brightest gold in bits here and there.

An English gentleman visiting this country, and learning something of the beauty and cost of the dressing table of our belles, commented upon them rather sarcastically, by saying the fact of there being so many professional beauties here was more than explained in the existence of the wonderful beautifying tables.

But to this his scoffed-at hearers replied that the dressing-tables were only for the setting off and the preservation of beauty, as window gardens set off plants and conservatories preserve them. But their argument was of no avail, when, a little later, in walked a beautiful matron, know from ocean to ocean, who began at once upon an elaborate description of a new table, with jewels pressed into the top, and upon which were a thousand dollars’ worth of cosmetics that were unpacked that day and placed ready for use at evening, when there was to be a great ball.

The Morning Times [Washington, DC] 8 December 1895

Mrs Daffodil’s Aide-memoire: Lily, Lady Beresford was the daughter of Commodore Cicero Price, U.S.N. She rose in her matrimonial engagements from the wealthy Louis Hammerslee of New York to the eighth Duke of Marlborough (construction at Blenheim was finished with the new Duchess’s money). She took a tiny step back for Lord William Leslie de la Poer Beresford (“the little lordling,” who was shorter than his wife), but, consolingly, was walked down the aisle at St George’s, Hanover Square, by her devoted step-son, the ninth Duke. His marriage with Consuelo Vanderbilt was the result of the Lady Beresford’s “friendly scheming.” According to the papers, £6000 a year was settled on Lord William, a gallant, if diminutive, soldier and avid sportsman, of whom it was said that “he had broken every bone in his body but his neck.”

Miss Edith Shipard was (later) Edith Shepard Fabbri. She was, as one might expect from a young woman painted holding a book bound in blue velvet and possessing a dressing table that looked like a prie-dieu, a literary lady with many spiritual qualities. In fact she founded a spiritual retreat, “The House of the Redeemer” in her New York house. She was a great-granddaughter of Commodore Vanderbilt and married Ernesto Fabbri, a banker born in Florence, Italy.

The aptly-named Miss Virginia Fair (“Birdie” to the family) was the daughter of Senator James Graham Fair who made his money in gold and railroads. He was one of “nature’s gentlemen,” divorced by his wife for “habitual adultery,” and not invited to his second daughter’s wedding. Uniting two great fortunes, Miss Fair “was snapped up” in 1898 by William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. They separated in 1909 and divorced in 1927. She was well-known for her charities and her thoroughbred stable.

The name of Mrs Ladenburg was so well-known that headlines like “Mrs. Ladenburg Again to Wed?” were self-explanatory. The public knew all about her millions, her widowhoods, her engagements, her stolen jewels, her horses and her rivalries in the hunting field.

The Marquise Lanza was the daughter of a former Surgeon-General of the United States and wrote novels with titles like A Modern Marriage and Basil Morton’s Transgression, about”ordinary, real people” such as a young woman who marries (instead of her young doctor lover) a “man of wealth and delicate, too delicate, tastes, over whose life hangs the dead phantom of insanity.” A reviewer said “A Golden Pilgrimage is a great book, and the author seems…to have said the last word of her decade on marriages for money.”

Choose Your Fan and Then Your Flutter: A Fan Revival: 1919

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American Girls Reviving the Fan, That Fit Symbol of Fluttering Femininity

Approach of Period of Coquetry Foreseen in New Popularity of Long Fashionable Appendage

By Esther Harney

International Imagination.

Descended from Palm Leaf.

Boston [MA] Herald 10 May 1919: p. 15

A vampish fan of the period.

“Airy But Costly Trifles:” Society Ladies’ Historic Fans: 1890

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SOME VERY FAMOUS FANS

Airy but Costly Trifles Belonging to Well Known Ladies

Curious Histories Connected With Many of the noted Fans Owned by New York Ladies—Painted and Decorated.

New York, Sept. 10. [Special Correspondence of the World-Herald] Likely enough, there is some truth in the tradition regarding a bit of lace and ivory called a fan, which belongs to a certain New York family, and which says that it was “bartered for a kiss.” This heirloom came originally from the Imperial family of Russia, but at what time in its career or by whom it was “bartered” tradition has kept no record. Of beautiful and costly fans owned by New York ladies, one is a Chinese affair belonging to Mrs. Frederick Vanderbilt. It is a very dream, so delicate in its ivory carving. Mrs. Hicks-Lord is the lucky possessor of a really magnificent fan. It is composed of the finest and daintiest point d’Alencon, with an artistic combination of leaves and flowers. The frame is of white figures, with any quantity of ornamentation in gold. It was worn suspended from a chain of diamonds and pearls. Mrs. Whitelaw Reid has a most exquisite affair in the shape of a fan. It is of white silk, embroidered in colors and ornamented with small pearls. Mrs. Coleman Drayton has a vellum fan, painted with a scene from Spanish history and mounted on carved sticks of sandal wood. Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer has one painted by Seloir and valued at $2,000. Mrs. Whitney has a very valuable point d’Alencon fan, mounted on a frame work of gold. Of fans with historical associations, one belonging to Miss Furniss was painted in Spain in commemoration of the signing of the Utrecht, with the inscription upon it: “Por el amor de la Pay.”

A FINE COLLECTION

The late Mrs. John Jacob Astor had probably the finest collection of fans in the country. There were among the number many charming specimens of the famous Vernis Martin, which time has not robbed of its soft lustre. The mounts are of paper, silk and vellum, exquisitely painted, one representing the “Toilet of Venus.” The sticks in ivory are overspread with the Vernis Martin, showing a surface of great brilliancy. Another dainty one in Mrs. Astor’s collection represents a Champetre group of youths and maidens upon a crag overhanging a bit of summer sea. Perhaps one of the choicest fans is one belonging to Mrs. Newhold Morris. It is of crepe lisse, delicately painted, edged with point d’Alencon and mounted on sticks of mother of pearl. Of other fans belonging to New York ladies, one is a regency fan with a scriptural subject painted upon the mount, the sticks being decorated with Chinese enamel faces in cartouches. Mrs. Jesse Seligman has many costly fans. One of the Louis Quinze period has depicted upon it a scene from harem life, and is decorated with gilt and silver medallions upon kid. A regal fan made over a hundred years ago for some almond-eyed empress of the flowery kingdom is now at the Metropolitan Museum of art, where this “thing of beauty and joy forever” has a large case devoted exclusively to its own royal use. This fan is an airy, fairy combination of gauze, ivory, jade and many other precious metals of exquisite workmanship.

FROM NAPOLEON TO JOSEPHINE.

A fan belonging to a New York lady was originally given by Napoleon to Josephine and then by the empress to Mme. Campau, from whom it passed to its present owner. Of other beautiful fans owned by fortunate New York ladies, one painted by Detaille is a spirited picture of horses taking the fence at Jerome Park; another, by the painter Borra, minutely depicts a christening scene before a Spanish alcalde, while a third shows a charming skating scene in the Bois de Boulogne, painted by Lafite. The fan which Mrs. Levi P. Morton carried on the night of the centennial ball is an heirloom—exquisitely carved ivory sticks and charming water color painting on white silk.

“The Swedish Nightingale,” Christine Nilsson, is an enthusiast in the matter of fans. She has a collection of rare and beautiful specimens. Among the number is one which was presented to her by the ex-Empress Eugenie. It formerly belonged to Mme. DuBarry—possibly it is the famous one valued at so many thousand francs. Another of the fair singer’s fans is one which was given to her by the crown prince of Russian and is an exact copy of the one that belonged to the queen of Oude.

There are many private collection of fans, those of Baroness A. Rothschild and Mme. A. Jubinal of Paris being the more valuable. In the former collection is a very ancient fan of woven bulrushes and painted in various colors. It is ornamented with pearls and has a handle of jade. Another very rich fan, which now belongs to M. Eugene de Thiac of Paris, is the one presented to Marie Antoinette on the birth of her son, the dauphin, May, 1785. This fan is of ivory, open worked and richly carved. It was painted by Vien and was designated as the “handsomest and most celebrated fan in the world.” A fan, now in the possession of the countess of Chambord, formerly belonged to Ninon de l’Eclos. It is of tortoise-shell, incrusted with mother of pearl and the leaf painted with an episode from “Jerusalem Delivered.” As early as the tenth century the fan was common France among the titled dames, and at a later period it was affected by the gallants of the day. In China every drawing room is so abundantly supplied with fans, that each caller on a reception day is presented with one as soon as she enters. For a lady to carry a fan is entirely out of the question.

Mme. Pompadour had a wonderful fan. “Lovers in a riot of light, Poses and vapourous dew,” is the poetry of the subject. The prose of the matter is that it had a lace mount which cost $30,000. It took nine years to make the sections, each of the five containing a medallion. The miniatures were almost invisible to the naked eye, but revealed a wonderful delicacy of execution under the microscope.

Watteau, Lebrun, Gerome, Bonheur, Boucher, Laufe, Rosalba, Carriera and Garnarvi are some of the famous artists who helped to paint beautiful fans for the Grande dames of their times. Shakespeare in several of his plays alludes to the fans of the period. These were usually suspended from the girdle by a golden chain, a fashion which has been revived in our own day. The first Greek fans were made of acacia, plantain and lotus leaves. In the time of Euripides peacock feather fans were used. These fans were much used by the Romans also. The great circular fans, which are used on state occasions still in Rome, are called flabella.

A Chinese fan was found among the effects of the queen of Ah-Hotip, who lived a thousand years or more before the Christian era and has sticks and crown still covered with gold and around the tops are holes still visible where the ostrich feathers were affixed. In the museum of the Louvre there is a Chinese fan made of bamboo leaf and ornamented with bulrushes. It is not less than fourteen centuries old.

Queen Bess of “peppery temper” was called the patron of fans of which she had a large collection. It was the only gift, so she declared, that a sovereign could accept from a subject. In the hand of a Spanish woman the fan – “el abanco” plays an important and most attractive part. During the delightful summer nights, when the moon sheds her light around, the Prado presents a romantic pictures, there is much magic in that little zephyr, folded and unfolded with a careless ease which none but Spanish women can display, moved quickly in recognition of a passing friend or elevated and opened over her head as if to frame it. There can be no doubt but that it helps on affairs of the heart. Camping by the blue vault of heaven many a love tale is then told and listened to with favor.

Regarding the flirtation qualities of the fan, a writer of society verse has written the following lines:

HE SPEAKS. Painted and perfumed, feathered and pink,

Here is your ladyship’s fan.

You gave me to hold, I think,

While you danced with another man.

Downy and soft like your fluffy hair,

Pink like your delicate face;

The perfume you carry everywhere

Wafted from feathers and lace.

Painted and perfumed, dainty and pink,

A toy to be handled with care;

It is like your ladyship’s self, I think,

A trifle as light as the air.

For you are a wonderful triumph of art,

Like a Dresden statuette;

But you cannot make trouble for my poor heart,

You innocent-faced coquette.

For I understand those enticing ways

You practice on every man.

You are only a bit of paint and lace,

Like that delicate toy—your fan.

R.E.

Omaha [NE] World Herald 14 September 1890: p. 10

Mrs Daffodil’s Aide-memoire: Mrs Daffodil always equips herself with a fan and considers that far too little attention has been devoted to the fan’s potential as a weapon. She does not speak of that roguish little tap on the manly chest, which is so necessary an aid to flirtation, but rather of fracturing the wrist of some malefactor or overzealous suitor, as Mrs Daffodil has had occasion to do.

A lady needs only a little ingenuity in the choice of her fan guards to ensure her perfect safety. Iron fan guards, while an obvious choice, are too tiring to the wrist. Mother-of-pearl, satin- and rosewood are decorative, but useless in an emergency. Lignum vitae or boxwood, with their dense character, would be excellent choices. Chemists, we read, are experimenting with productions of gutta percha and rubber. If substantial enough, or if weighted, rubber fan guards would produce the same effect as what is vulgarly termed a “cosh” and might be useful when traveling alone.

In a situation such as a ball, you may find yourself equipped only with the standard issue ivory or mother-of-pearl fan. If a so-called gentleman offers you an insult, it becomes a nice question of which you value more highly—your virtue or a costly fashion accessory? Think carefully about wasting a hand-painted silk Duvelleroy on a cad. Speaking practically, virtue is easily simulated, while it is difficult, if not impossible, to repair a crack in an ivory fan satisfactorily.

Mrs Daffodil invites you to join her on the curiously named “Face-book,” where you will find a feast of fashion hints, fads and fancies, and historical anecdotes

	Sally Campbell on A Touching Tribute to a Wife:…
	H. A. on A Cobweb Party: 1892
	A Lady Undertaker: 1… on The Angel of Gettysburg: Eliza…
	Visiting a Dead Husb… on The Ghost of a Perfect Husband…
	Visiting a Dead Husb… on The Death-bed Promise: 19…

Mrs Daffodil Digresses

A blog about costume, history, and social ephemera

Tag Archives: fashion accessories

Choose Your Fan and Then Your Flutter: 1919

Encore: Choose Your Fan and Then Your Flutter: 1919

The Summer Muff: 1907, 1909

Hints for Carrying an Umbrella to Mitigate Its Lethal Potentialities: 1824

“Where Cupid Dons His Armor:” Gems of Dressing Tables: 1895

Choose Your Fan and Then Your Flutter: A Fan Revival: 1919

“Airy But Costly Trifles:” Society Ladies’ Historic Fans: 1890