WOMAN DECORATIVE IN HER BOUDOIR
By the way, do you know that boudoir originally meant pouting room, a
place where the ceremonious grande dame of the Louis might relax and
express a ruffled mood, if she would? Which only serves to prove that
even the definition of words alter with fashion, for we imagine that our
supinely relaxed modern beauty, of the country club type, has on the
whole more self-control than she of the boudoir age.
Since a boudoir is of all rooms the most personal, we take it for
granted that its decoration is eloquent with the individuality and taste
of its owner. Walls, floors, woodwork, upholstery, hangings, cushions
and _objects d'art_ furnish the colour for my lady's background, and
will naturally be a scheme calculated to set off her own particular
type. Here we find woman easily made decorative in negligée or tea gown,
and it makes no difference whether fashion is for voluminous, flowing
robes, ruffled and covered with ribbons and lace, or the other extreme,
those creations of Fortuny, which cling to the form in long crinkled
lines and shimmer like the skin of a snake. The Fortuny in question, son
of the great Spanish painter, devotes his time to the designing of the
most artistic and unique tea gowns offered to modern woman. We first saw
his work in 1910 at his Paris atelier. His gowns, then popular with
French women, were made in Venice, where M. Fortuny was at that time
employing some five hundred women to carry out his ideas as to the
dyeing of thin silks, the making and colouring of beads used as
garniture, and the stenciling of designs in gold, silver or colour. The
lines are Grecian and a woman in her Fortuny tea gown suggests a Tanagra
figure, whether she goes in for the finely pleated sort, kept tightly
twisted and coiled when not in use, to preserve the distinguishing fine
pleats, or one with smooth surface and stenciled designs. These Fortuny
tea gowns slip over the head with no opening but the neck, with its silk
shirring cord by means of which it can be made high or low, at will;
they come in black, gold and the tones of old Venetian dyes. One could
use a dozen of them and be a picture each time, in any setting, though
for the epicure they are at their best when chosen with relation to a
special background. The black Fortunys are extraordinarily chic and look
well when worn with long Oriental earrings and neck chains of links or
beads, which reach--at least one strand of them--half-way to the knees.
The distinction which this long line of a chain or string of pearls
gives to the figure of any woman is a point to dwell upon. Real pearls
are desirable, even if one must begin with a short necklace; but where
it can be afforded, woman cannot be urged too strongly to wear a string
extending as near to and as much below the waist-line as possible. A
long string of pearls gives great elegance, whether wearer is standing
or seated. You can use your short string of pearls, too, but whatever
your figure is, if you are not a young girl it will be improved by the
long line, and if you would be decorative above everything, we insist
that a long chain or string of less intrinsic value is preferable to one
of meaningless length and priceless worth. Very young girls look best
in short necklaces; women whose throats are getting lined should take to
jeweled dog-collars, in addition to their strings of pearls or diamond
chains. The woman with firm throat and perfect neck was made for pearls.
For those less blessed there are lovely things too, jewels to match
their eyes, or to tone in with skin or hair; settings to carry out the
line of profile, rings to illuminate the swift gesture or nestle into
the soft, white, dimpled hand of inertia. Every type has its charm and
followers, but we still say, avoid emphasising your lack of certain
points by wearing unsuitable costumes and accessories, and by so doing
lose the chance of being decorative.
Sibyl Sanderson, the American prima donna, whose career was in Paris,
was the most irresistibly lovely vision ever seen in a tea gown. She was
past-mistress at the art of making herself decorative, and the writer
recalls her as she last saw her in a Doucet model of chiffon, one layer
over another of flesh, palest pink and pinkish mauve that melted into
the creamy tones of her perfect neck and arms.
Sibyl Sanderson was lovely as nature turned her out, but Paris taught
her the value of that other beauty, the beauty which comes of art and
attained like all art, only through conscious effort. An artistic
appearance once meant letting nature have its way. It has come to mean,
nature directed and controlled by Art, and while we do not resort to the
artificiality (in this moment) of hoops, crinoline, pyramids of false
hair, monstrous head-dresses, laced waists, low neck and short sleeves
for all hours and all seasons, paper-soled shoes in snow-drifts, etc.,
we do insist that woman be _bien soiné_--hair, complexion, hands, feet,
figure, perfection _par tout_.
Woman's costumes, her jewels and all accessories complete her decorative
effect, but even in the age of powder and patches, hair oil and wigs, no
more time nor greater care was given to her grooming, and what we say
applies to the average woman of affairs and not merely to the parasite
type.