Video: The fan is the most ambiguous and eloquent accessory for ladies' flirting
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In past centuries, the behavior of women in society was strictly regulated. They couldn't flaunt their feelings and say what they liked. Ladies had to be polite, modest, well-mannered. But, flirtatious and charming girls knew how to find ways to express their desires or flirt without going beyond the boundaries of what was permissible. Fan became the most mysterious and ambiguous ladies' accessory that could tell the interlocutor about all the sympathies and intentions of its owner.
It is believed that the first fans were brought to Europe by traders and representatives of religious orders from China and Japan. At first, they were available only to members of royal families and were regarded as a symbol of status, since they were made of ivory and adorned with precious stones. But European masters began to copy them, and by the middle of the eighteenth century, the entire high society acquired a newfangled accessory.
The fans of that time were made mostly of lush feathers fixed on a base handle. By the way, in those days they were not only female, but also male accessory. After some time, aristocrats began to prefer folding fans, which by the end of the century completely supplanted fixed ones.
In the Rococo era, fans are produced in large quantities and become an accessory not only of the aristocracy, but also of the less privileged classes. But, as the writer Germaine de Stael said: "By the wave and manner of holding the fan, one can distinguish the princess from the countess, and the marquise from the bourgeoisie." The thing is that fans at that time turned from just an elegant accessory into a tool of flirting and seduction. And only the aristocracy knew the language of the fan.
Ladies could conduct whole conversations with the help of fans, as if by the way. Here are some examples of eloquent "communication": A fan, applied with the left hand to the right cheek - "yes"; A fan, applied by the right hand to the left cheek - "no"; A lady fanning herself with her left hand - "Do not flirt with me"; A fan near the lips means: "I do not trust you"; The right hand points with a closed fan to the heart - "I love you"; Touch the left ear with an open fan - "we are being watched."
At the beginning of the 19th century, several manuals were published that decipher the secret fan cipher. But in the Victorian era, the language of the fan gradually ceases to be used, and the accessory simply becomes part of the image of the lady. The fans were produced on an industrial scale. Ladies certainly had to have their own fan for each dress. Fans made of ostrich feathers were considered to be especially chic (because of which these birds were practically destroyed).
In the 20th century, the meaning of the fan practically disappeared. They could still be met except at social events.
In Russia, fan language was practiced with no less enthusiasm. A ballroom etiquette in 19th century Russia deserves a separate discussion.
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