THE FAN AND ITS FUNCTIONS

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 60, 4 December 1926, Page 18

THE FAN AND ITS FUNCTIONS

Perhaps a fashion so picturesque and

charming as the carrying of fans will never die out. Although fans of various descriptions have been in use from remotest «ges, they are still popular, and the huge modern ones of exquisitely shaded feathers make an effective background for beauty's shingled head or slim figure. It is strange to reflect that feather fans were in use thousands of years ago. ■ A wooden famholder with holes for the feathers, which is preserved in a museum near Cairo, is proof of this, for it is said to belong to the seventeenth century, B.C. The first folding fans were made in J".pan, and were very like those of today. Some were decorated with curiot figure designs while verses were written on others. Fans have played their part in Court lif tnroughout the centuries. Catherine de Medici introduced ther into France, and they soon became very popular with ’-th: ladies of the Court, who put their gold-mounted fans to many strange uses. ' They established a code of signals by which they contrived to send messages . and hints to their admirers. Paris became the chief centre for the manufacture of fans iff the seventeenth ■ century, although they were also made in Holland and Spain. On many of these fans sacred subjects were depicted, while some of. the more elaborate ones were patterned with jewels and mounted in gold. Queen Victoria possessed an ■ interesting Dutch fan of this period decorated with paintings. Some lavishly ornamented fans of the eighteenth century had carved ivory

BACKGROUNDS FOR BEAUTY

sticks and were painted from designs by famous artists such is Watteau and Lancret. For the mounts fine parchment, silk, and taffeta were used. Indeed, so various and dainty are the many materials used for fans and the designs in which they were made that no wonder the collection of fans has been a fascinating hobby with those who could afford it.

To-day fans are not used so much as in Victorian times, when they were symbols of coquetry and affectation. Yet a beautiful fan lends an air of enchantment to even, a modern toilette.

“Fans made of ducks’ wings and ducks’ feathers have gained popularity on account of the prevalence of the shingled coiffure,” said a member of a wellknewn London firm. “They have a more severe effect —which is considered in keeping with the shingle and Eton crop—than have fans of ostrich plumes.” One beautiful example made of ducks’ wings in deep Italian blue was softened by three ostrich feather tips placed at the centre top of the fan. Another fan in jade green ducks’ feathers, mounted < tortoiseshell sticks, had each littleLather tipped with gold. A third in a lighter shade of blue had the feathers arranged to give a curved effect, the plumes bending slightly inwards when the fa. is open. These were flecked here and there with gold tinsel paint.

The ostrich feather fan, however, shows no sign of waning. A new and magnificent example was in shell-pink shading to pale cream with sticks of mother-of-pearl. When unfurled it was only a few inches short of a yard in depth. This lovely effect is carried out in a variety of colours.