CHANGED FASHIONS IN VENICE

Evening Star, Issue 19762, 12 January 1928, Page 14

CHANGED FASHIONS IN VENICE

LAST EFFORT TO SAVE SCIALETTA The Venetian shawl, tiie black “ scialcUa,” with long fringes, sung iu tender verses by countless bards of the laguna and reproduced in thousands of pictures by artists m search of local color, is doomed to disappear (says a correspondent of the • Observer ’). As a matter of fact, it has practically disappeared already from the narrow, picturesque “ callc,” and is exclusively worn by old ladies. i The cause of this, as of so many other changes, has been the wav. When Venice was being bombarded by Austrian and Gcimnn aeroplanes, and threatened with occupation by the enemy, thousands of Venetians abandoned iho city. Among these refugees were, of course, hundreds of girls, and"such is the spirit of _ imitation Unit they became ashamed of their graceful black shawls and discarded them for commonplace hats. When the war was over the hat habit had been acquired, and could no longer be shaken off. Now that it is almost a thing of Ihe past, the Venetian shawl deserves a last description. It is only a square of glossy black silk, with long dangling fringes, which accompany the graceful swaying movements of the wearer as in the Greek bas-reliefs of dancing nymphs. From the modern dressmaker’s point of view the “scialclla” may be meaningless; but, acstliclically, it is a triumph when it is worn by the thoroughbred Venetian woman.

In the time of the “Scrcnissima” the shawl was regarded as a sign of respectability for women, so much so that a decreed "of the Senate, dated 1644, forbade courtesans to wear “faziol do fla.” or “shawls for respectable girls.” But the real introducer of the “ scialotla ” in its uiodenpform was a refugee Armenian, one Giovanni Zivogli,’ who had fled io Venice in 1761 with Ins wife and ten children owing to Ibo persecution of iho Turks in his country. He obtained the concession for ihe exclusive manufacture in Venice of “ silk and cotton shawls in the fashion of the Indies,’’ and was soon doing a thriving business. Now that the end is in sight, lovers of Venotan folk-lore and customs have organsed a competition, with handsome prizes iu money, at the Hole! Excelsior for the best shawls and the most graceful wearers, in hopes of galvanising the fading fashion into life again. The competition will, no doubt, prove a success, but it will not revive the “ scialettea.” As a shrewd old gondolier remarked, the first .thing the winners may be expected to do will he to rush off to the nearest modisle io buy new hats!