For those who love love love etiquette
Glove etiquette really isn’t all that complicated. In the 19th and early 20th century, one generally wore them when one left the house. They were expected to be clean, well fitted, tight to the hand and matched to ones outfit. “Worsted or cotton gloves are not permissible anywhere, nor under any circumstances. Ungloved hands are…
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Here is a quick overview of fans, fan anatomy and styles. This is not exhaustive and is just meant to be a quick reference. Fan Types Fixed Fans As I said in my last fan post, the fixed fan was likely the earliest form of man made hand fan. The earliest of these is a…
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“What grace the fan lends to a woman who knows how to use it! It undulates, it flutters, it expands, it closes, it rises, it falls at will. It is the most powerful weapon in beauty’s arsenal.” – Madame de Stael Man made fans date from around 3000 BC. But really, what that means is that’s when we…
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I love wearing gloves. My favorite pictures of my mother have her dressed in coordinating outfits, with purse, gloves and shoes, all in complimentary shades. This was in the sixties, basically the last gasp for the glove. Before the twenties, there was not an hour of the day that ladies were not expected to wear…
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For years my mother wore a large brimmed sun hat out in the garden affixed with a hat pin. She had dozens of hats made of every conceivable type of material and she had many hatpins to match. In my twenties I began wearing hats often, so my mother gave me a couple hatpins. That began a very…
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“It is bad manners for a gentleman to use perfumes to a noticeable extent.” Encyclopaedia of Business and Social Forms, 1880 Old etiquette books are apparently very opinionated about a man’s toilette. When I was teaching etiquette, I taught a number of eleven and twelve year-old boys. I used to say that cologne should be used…
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