EARRINGS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3294, 12 August 1911, Page 4

EARRINGS.

IN FASHIONABLE FAVOR

(“Daily Telegraph.”)

“Earrings just now are as generally worn as brooches, pendants or rings, and it is necessary to keep them at all prices in a great range of designs,” said a very high-class jeweller in June, when asked whether the Coronation was establishing any new demands in regard to ornaments. It has been widely noticed at the various events that the Queen has honored with her presence as in her latest portraits, that her Majesty favors their wear, and is said, indeed, to like them particularly, as d part of the jewellery she uses. As a rule the Queen wears beautiful solitaire diamonds or pearls, or else the cluster form, and whether in day or evening dress they seem always to complete and enhance the beauty of the rest, of the parure. This marked revival in the wear of earrings -is interesting, for perhaps it is the oldest, as it is certainly the most widely distributed form of feminine adornment in the world. One goes very far back into the dim past of history when the servant of Abraham sought Rebekah for his master’s son’s bride, and “put the earrings upon her face and 1 the bracelets upon her hands,” or when Ezekiel spoke of them symbolically as among; the beauties of a regenerated Jerusalem, to realise something of their antiquity; Babylon and ancient Egypt have yielded up examples of what was thus worn by the ladies of those dead and gone kingdoms. In the Rig Veda of India there is repeated reference to them, and Homer’s allusion to Juno, when “Fair, beaming pendants tremble in her ear; Each seems illumined with a triple star.” comes to mind. Literally from China to Peru they are worn. If Regent street and Bond street on the one hand are turning out the lovely little creations of the moment, you will find primitive woman in Central Africa delighting no less in some clumsy monstrosity of brass and glass, which she thinks will add to her dusky charms. For the instinct is the same; the sex believes that they add an attraction peculiarly and distinctively their own. THE PASSING OF A CLOUD. Up to perhaps three years ago the earring had suffered a period of eclipse. Perhaps this was in some degr£- duo to the debased and ugly shape into which it passed during the middle cades of the last century. Long, heavy, and solid, in plain gold, it often constituted part of a “suite,” in which the brooch and locket corresponded. Yet even in those degenerate days there were great ladies of exalted rank who never abandoned their earrings, and that fact gave them a distinction which began by almost imperceptible degrees to lead to their readoption. The French woman, with her innate good taste, and her consumate wisdom in regard to all that emphasises her personality, never gave them up. Moreover, she always chose them, as she still dees, with a true appreciation of their importance in comparison with other items of jewellery. She realises, too, that no matter how dusty, how shabby, how ill-conditioned a ccstume may look after a long train or motor journey, a pair of good earrings constitutes a very reliable indication of the wearer’s social status, and thus they made and retained an appeal to her on the practical, as well as the purely decorative side. As the signs of a- return to more general wear began to be manifested, the great jewellers paid more attention to the designs and workmanship, and the result is that the earring is to-day in demand greater than ever before. SOME PRETTY STYLES. Perhaps the leading note in the fashionable earring of the seasoft is the absence of the exaggerated or assertive. It would be difficult to say that one style greatly predominates, tor the solitaire, the cluster, and the drop all have their admirers and wearers. If, however, one is more generally seen than the others, it is the last, and the reason is not far to seek. It is so delicately pretty, and the variety of treatment that can be given to it commends it to every possible taste. In length it runs from an inch to an inch and. a quarter, rarely exceeding the latter. When diamonds are employed there may be a larger stone at the top and bottom, connected by smaller single stones, or a series, of tiny devices of leaves, or scrolls, or stars. For the setting platinum is employed, and is practically invisible- in its extreme lightness, so that the effect is that of dancing radiancy with every movement of tlie wearer. Diamonds are also frequently employed in conjunction with pearls, and are admirable, and there are handsome designs that have a pear-

shaped pearl in the centre, encircled, by diamonds in ovals or scrolls. Pearls alone are used in some very charming examples. They can form small clusters at the end of delicatelittle chains with single whole pearls, or a little group may meet on a diamond bar, from which a.fringe of three or four lines may drop gracefully. Or, again, a tiny circlet of pearls may surround a larger pear-shaped gem in the centre. Then again, rubies, sapphii-es, and emeralds are often employed in conjunction with diamonds, and very pretty and generally becoming to a fair skin is the turquoise in earrings. It is, in fact, much used in them just now. Some of the very prettiest designs at the present time are turning to most effective purpose some of the semi-precious stones, as the amethyst, tourmaline, peridot, or pink topaz, and these, of course, meet the wants of the modestly-filled purse in the happiest manner. With a few tiny diamonds or pearls, and made up upon the lightest of settings, these are wholly desirable, as the stones all enjoy at present most fashionable approval, and they have a new and smart apearanee entirely their own. The skill and taste which the leading jewellers devote to these rather less costly stones account, indeed, largely for the popularity which the earrings made from them have gained in such marked degree.