I thought that I might include the article from Stolitsa i usad'ba written in 1916 in order to add a bit of credibility to my remarks about the taste of my Grandmother as being in perfect sympathy with this period and establish how it’s taste differed dramatically from the previous Edwardian era. In this 1916 article written by the anonymous "Russian Parisian" for Stolitsa i usad'ba, the fashion editor makes the following comments:
Of course, I know, that the clothes of our domestic fashion plates very often sin by the absence of that nobility which the French call 'distinguished,’ and also modesty, nevertheless, I am willing to bet that not many would dare wear some of the dresses shown that evening. I looked at the large audience gather at the Palace Theater that evening and was confirmed once more in my conviction that we have so little taste, refinement, and sense of measure. Festooning oneself with precious stones, all kinds of bangles, everything that glitters, like Negroid people and cannibals of ‘Niam-Naim’—that is what we love and do well. And on which we spend all our money.
The neurotic passion for trumpery and tinsel, for signs of wealth—an indicator of low and course culture—suffices to fulfill all aesthetic needs for some. And, anyway, who is there to teach grace, measure, and nobility? Who can set an example of refinement and ‘bon ton’...
Well just to say at the time this article was written, my Granny was setting an example of the new refinement and ‘bon ton.’
