WOMAN’S ALLY

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 226, 20 June 1936, Page 21

WOMAN’S ALLY

The Evolution of the Fan

SIGNALS OF LOVE

In Japan, at one time, the fan was carried defiantly into battle, where it was used for signalling purposes. By the sixteenth century its message no longer was concerned with the harsh realities of war, but in the courts and drawing-room's of Europe it signalled the advances and retreats of the tender and subtle war of love.

The origin of the fan, states an overseas correspondent, is lost in the mists of antiquity, but it. is certain that fans were used in China 3000 years before the birth of Christ, and ever since they have constantly performed a dozen different duties and have proved the coquettish woman’s staunchest ally. To-day women carry fans for no practical purpose, but because they realise their picturesque value as additions to the toilette. Though the East originated fans, they were also used from very early times in Egypt and Greece. That they were in use in the fourteenth century B.C. was proved by the finding of two exquisite examples in the tomb of Tutankhamen. They are of soft brown and white ostrich plumes, with sticks of embossed and incised gold. One has a handle of gold and the other is of ebony, gold and lapis lazuli.

In bOO B.C. the women of Greece were using fans of exotic peacock feathers to protect their delicate skins from the too-ardent caress of the'Mediterranean gun. This early type was known as a screen fan.

brilliant with gay lacquer and inlay.

The folding fan was invented in Japan as early as 070 A.D., and by the tenth century it had reached China. In Japan the fan has always been closely linked with the customs and life of the people. They consider it as an emblem of life. The young man is presented with a fan when he attains his majority. The jugglers who provide Japan’s favourite form of amusement use it in their tricks, and the condemned man carries a closed fan when he goes to his execution! Each city and province had its characteristic fan. The fans, of Japan were, and still are, usually made of stiff paper painted with a typical Japanese scene, or of finely-carved ivory or tortoiseshell,

By the sixteenth century fans had found their way to Europe, where they were fashioned of vellum or parchment painted with exquisite fineness and workmanship, or of vellum cut out in intricate geometrical designs. They were seldom larger than a quarter-circle. The obvious purpose of the fan was still to protect its owner from a cold wind or a strong sun, but it had been found such a gallant ally for charming ladies with a flirtatious turn of mind that a complete language of the fan had developed. Held in a delicate white hand its graceful and delicate movements spoke the very language of love.

Girls were taught the sign language of the fan as part of their education, just as they were taught to sew a fine seam or to curtsey gracefully.

During the reign of the ill-fated Louis XVI and his lovely queen, the fan reached its most elaborate form. Marie Antoinette and the ladies of her court carried dainty things of silk painted with tiny delicate*scenes, the handles encrusted with silver and gold and jewels, or fans of lace with handles of carved ivory and mother-of-pearl. For the first time since the invention of fans they have fallen into disfavour since the opening of the twentieth century, but Dame Fashion, who is far too clever to neglect anything which will enhance the beauty of women, lias decreed that “fans will be worn,” and her devotees, quick to see the charm of these accessories, are doing as they have been told. The modern fan is much larger than ifs predecessors, and is made of softlycurling ostrich feathers, or of exquisite lace to match the gown. Some are even made of fine strips of georgette or chiffon to match the frock and imitate feather fronds. Once again lovely eyes will glance over the edge of a beautiful fan.

Constable by name and constable by profession is a 20-year-old Scottish girl. She is Miss Anne Constable, M.A.. of Edinburgh, who has been chosen from GO applicants to be Leicester’s second policewoman. « ■> ♦ Dinner for two once a month for six months at a local hotel is the wedding present which has been received by Miss Rene Bryan, daughter of a Kettering (Nortbampshire) solicitor, and Mr. Ivor Martin. Two members of the local flying club made the gift.