(part I)
TROUSSEAU OF AN EMPRESS
Some of the Pretty Things Provided for Alix.
Princess Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice of Hesse, Czarina of Russia, is the youngest living child of the late Grand Duke Louis of Hesse and is sister to the present Grand Duke. Her mother was the Princess Alice, second daughter of Queen Victoria, and she is, therefore, a grandchild of the Queen of England. Her three elder sisters, the Princesses Victoria, Elizabeth and Irene, are married to Prince Louise of Battenberg, the Grand Duke Sergius of Russia and Prince Henry of Prussia, respectively. It will be seen that the Hesse family is closely linked with the Russian imperial house, for the late Czar’s mother was Princess Marie of Hesse, while her nephew and his son have both sought their brides in the same quarter.
One of the most imposing and important items in the marriage basket of Alix of Hesse is the numerous and varied styles of the specially made stockings prepared for her Royal Highness by a Nottingham manufacturer. The Princess has evidently a neat taste in all things pertaining to her footgear, and many of the designs chosen are her own original efforts. Her royal grandmamma gave the young Empress most of her lingerie, which is, therefore, nearly all of English manufacture.
There are many pairs of very fine silken hose in pale pink, pale blue, a silvery tone of gray and most delicate French gray and green to be worn with evening dresses. These are all embroidered in fine little raised sprays, with pale colorings in silk, either contrasting in hue or admirably harmonizing with the stockings themselves. For ordinary day wear there are liberal numbers of black spun silk, thick and durable, and having a very pretty light open-work design up the center of the foot. Many are of fine black silk, for indoor wear with smart afternoon dresses, and they are embroidered in a small Paislay design, and some in wild flower sprays, called respectively "chintz" and "Dolly Varden." It is interesting to know that these are all of English make and that the embroidery has been wrought by the nimble fingers of Nottingham cottagers. There are some pairs of a design in broken lines of bright color crossing a black ground, such as red and bronze lines on a similar somber background. These are decidedly original and most becoming to a pretty foot. Many pairs in silver gray have lines and dots through them of paler gray, looking by contrast almost white. Others are black, embroidered in pale color, such as clover, periwinkle, anthurium and gloxinia, all designed to match dresses with which they will eventually be worn.
Of all, the very prettiest are of black sink, the foot in stripes of exquisitely fine real black lace work, with narrow stripes of the silk between, and the lace delicately caught up over the silk with the effect of a fine embroidery. In the same style are some having the lace work less fine and yet nigh cobweb-like in texture, with a slightly raised silk embroidery over where the lacework unites with the stockings. The Royal Stuarttarian also figures among the trousseau stockings, for the Queen gives to all members of her family on their marriage at least one dress in velvet of this design. There are also ribbed open-work black and white stockings in a woven tiny meshed stripe called Grecian, though made in Nottingham, that are very fascinating. Each pair has the cipher "A," surmounted by a princess’ crown, embroidered in red as marking. There is also a quantity of Nottingham silk and woolen underwear of a light, warm, durable and exquisitely soft kind, marked again with the princess’ cipher and crown.
