JEWELS AND FURS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 121, 15 February 1935, Page 5

JEWELS AND FURS

Modern English Fashions Ownership of a diamond ring and a fur cojit has become a symbol of luxury, writes H. Pearl Adam in the “Observer.” During Victorian and Edwardian times there was hardly a heroine who did not “draw her furs about her,” just before hurling in the face of the villain, or, if necessary, in the face of the not yet beloved hero, some terrible statement of his vice and her virtue. Nowadays she can draw her furs about her in a great many more levels of social life than was then possible. The rabbit, for instance, has pushed his head up where nobody expected to meet his mild face. All the animals of the jungle, such as lynx and leopard, are now available for wear, where nothing under sable had hitherto been allowable. As for fox, he has become an aristocrat of the highest degree and the widest range of colour. He even appears on several of the wonderful sheets of Harrods’s new fur catalogue. It is not really a catalogue, it is a collection of art drawings, and it represents, on the one hand,, the pitch of excellence to which the British furrier has brought his art, and, on the other, the pleasing fact that there are sufficient people with something under three-hundred guineas to spend on fur to make this very expensive production commercially advisable. In addition to the different workings of fur, and the much enlarged range from which we can choose our pelts, there is the question of dyeing. Paris has recently taken a liking for rosecoloured sealskin. Some of it is rather bright. Some of It ,is rather pale, but all of it is rosy. A Green Shade. Some may think that it reads like a nightmare, but many people think it looks like a dream. The dark blue fox of to-day is really beautiful.. There is a recognisable reluctance in the public, however, to the idea of green fur. After all, there are blue animals, there are also pinkish animals, and yellowish animals, but who has ever seen a green animal? Possibly some reason of this kind underlies the reluctance of the public to accept green fur. It took us a very long time' to accept mauve tulips, and there are still large numbers of people who would almost sooner have their rooms empty of flowers than filled with chemically bemauved blossoms. These tulips are still fighting their way to favour. Blue ones have only achieved a snob-success. Green fur is still a rarity and nobody is found to express sorrow.

In such a season as the present one in London, it is only natural that one should be attending to furs, and also to jewels. Jewels go with furs as beans go with bacon. At the second annual ball given by the Birmingham jewellers to show their art, one could study the way in which modern fashion has affected jewellery. The wearing of jewels is a matter in which a sense of underlying fitness is very useful: as one of the jewellers said at Birmingham, “clothes and jewels must be blended in tone, or in complete contrast.” For instance, he likes diamonds and emeralds with black clothes or fur; topaz with ivory or beige;. sapphire with grey; ruby with white or carefully chosen green; amethyst with ivory, beige or some blues. The silhouette of jewellery is important nowadays. Earrings and brooches are held up to the light tosee if the design is symmetrical and as it should be. One set of very large earrings in diamonds and platinum was made of a daffodil pattern. It had many little links, any one of which could be taken away, still leaving a complete piece. Jewellery is becoming more ornate and elaborate. Many pieces shown are quite intricate in design, and there is a great combining of colours and stones. “The Light of the World.” The most beautiful piece of the display Is “The Light of the World,” the largest and most beautiful black opal known, which was found in an abandoned mine in Australia. It weighs over 250 carats, is over 2 inches in length and 1| in width, and about half an inch in depth. It has superb lights, of course, and is set as a drop pendant on a fine platinum chain with a small pattern of diamonds holding it to the chain. It is said that Princess Marina is going to have some opal jewellery, perhaps earrings, which will do a lot to bring the opal into favour and destroy the bad-luck superstition. Princess Marina sapphire and diamond earrings are being made, but were not ready for the display. Typical of the jewellery to be seen .this season is a garniture of cabochon rubies, set like small holly berries in platinum. The design is very elaborate, made of tiny medallions each holding a ruby, and including a bandeau for the hair, several bracelets, rings, a necklace, earrings, and brooch. There are diamonds and baguettes in the setting. It is worth £7500. Just as in furs we have had the permissible range enlarged, so in jewellery the semi-precious stones have widened our horizon. Mrs. Amy Sandheim is a specialist in this form of loveliness, which enables us all to wear jewellery without descending to imitation. She uses precious and semiprecious stones in exquisite combinations. Among the pendants made for this season, one beauty is a ball of rose quartz, set in silver with moonstones. It is the loveliest pink shade. Opals and garnets are Combined to make another rich pendant quite large, in sliver.

She is showing “fur pins”—large silver brooches of different designs, to clasp scarves or fur, with good strong pins. These aye very smart; Mrs. Sandheim shows many opals too, combined with rubies or other stones. She has strings of carved Tourmaline, green agate and amethyst. These ornaments vary from a few shillings to a few pounds in price. They appeal to many people with peculiar force, since obviously they are worn for their beauty and not to indicate one’s own delight in being opulent.