A DREAM OF BEAUTY

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1536, 7 August 1901, Page 19

A DREAM OF BEAUTY

(From a Paris Correspondent).

Never before in the history of' the French salons has such an exhibit been placed on view as has been presented to the pubio this year at the Salon of the Societe des Beaux-Arts, and the exhibit in question is nothing less than a Court dress. And although apparently transgressing the traditions of the Parisian Salon, whoever has seen this robe must confess that it is a veritable object d’art, and that the newer Salon of younger painters has not broken in any way the unwritten laws to which it adheres with a 3 much fidelity as does the older Salon, for this exhibition of a dress so purely artistic bears no stigma of commerce. That the work, which has been planned by M. Prouve and embroidered by M. Courtex, is a chef-d’oeuvre worthy of 90 great an honour as to be placed on view here has been the unanimous verdict of the public. FLOWERS IN A RIVULET.

A poem in silk embroidery—a poem which relates the history of a flowerstudded rivulet, displaying itself on a background of white peau de soie slightly tinged with blue in order to represent transparent,-water. To aid the effect the waves of the stream are simulated by cuts into the material and encrusted with silken open-work embroidery of a strange sheeny effect, while a second skirt beneath by the skill of the designer gives the still stranger effect of appearing like deeper waters, in which all the eddies and waves and sparkling currents gleam with threads of silver. Embroidered in the mo3t delicate tones of soie au passe, which has been used most skilfully to render in a variety of embroidered stitches the veins of the leaves and the petals of the flowers, some water-lilies disport themselves in the current; the supple stems of the reeds bend towards the train, while fragile and graceful iris flowers and delicate Sagittarius rise fr»m the lower hem of flowing waters, and stretch their long, flexible stems upwards towards the bust. A GOLD DRAGONFLY.

The central point of the corsage decoration is a slender dragonfly wrought in gold and openwork enamel. It is placed on a tapering design which, by the elaborate arrangement of its lines, most charmingly bedecks the curve of the bust. Two lilie3 in silver hold to the shoulders some rivieres of pearls, while rough, uncut jewels sown in an irregular stream seem to portray the little pebbles which shihe in their myriad tones in the bed of the rivulet. A cascade of mousseline, made luminous by streams of water represented by thick silver paillettes work, falls in long folds from the curve of the back, and so forms a watteau pleat and a long train of the length prescribed for all Court robes. The long folds of the train are made still more iridescent by the presence of floating dragonflies, fluttering their etheral, gauze-like wings of translucent green.

UNIQUE IN THE ANNALS OF DRESS. Report hath it that the German Empress asked that this gown, so unique in the annals of dress, should be submitted to her, but no confirmation of this story is forthcoming. And it does, not seem quite likely that the tale is true, for the Empress has a reputation for that economy in dress which would forbid an expenditure such as the purchase of this gown would entail. It is said that her custom is to limit the expense of one gown to 1500 francs (<£6o), a price which doubtless the bourgeoise may consider extravagant, but which to so august a personage must surely leave too restricted a margin for outlay in a department which is at once so important and essential to imperial dignity. Whether this is to be the only example of its kind at the Salon remains to be seen, but certainly if the spirit of this year be firmly maintained, and if everything that smacks of advertisement and the wiles of the commercial world be strictly excluded from the exhibition, the Salon ” authorities are only encouraging the true efforts of art in this addition to their display of artistic creations.