Sweet simplicity alone should be the guide for the young girl’s costume. The dewy bloom of the cheek, the clear young eyes, the soft rosebud lips, the sweet curves of the lithe form that come but once in a lifetime, are what we want most to see.
No heavy velvets or gorgeous trimmings should be worn by any girl under twenty-one. To call attention to her ornaments is to detract from her priceless ornament of sweet and fleeting youth.
Simple muslins and wools, soft, clinging silks and gauzes should be worn. Flowers are preferable to jewels. A necklace of pearls may be worn, should the complexion warrant, but other than this is a waste of money, and a waste of beauty.
Soft colors, where the skin permits, simplicity in cut, little if any trimming, and we have the costume most fitting for a girl to wear, and when we say “fitting” we have found the key to perfect dressing.
Diamonds and Precious Stones.
Women seem to look upon diamonds as a sort of social parole, while, in truth, there are but few women who can wear them without detracting from their own brilliancy; without sacrificing themselves to their jewels.
Dark, brilliant eyes and dazzling teeth may wear them safely, or, very clear, cool skins with bright, blue eyes may dare them at their own risk. Yet, to “tip the ear with diamond fire” is sure to call attention from the best points of the face, and in too many cases simply effaces and outshines the face itself.
Edmond Russell severely criticises diamond solitaires for earrings and esteems the stone a difficult one to wear except when small and used in quantities as settings for other jewels.
The secret of good taste in jewels is for a woman to seek out those gems whose colors harmonize with or heighten her own tints, as she does the shades for her gown, and confine herself to them. It is quite the thing now to have a special stone, as it is to have a special perfume. For instance, the turquoise is very becoming to some (it is Mrs. Langtry’s stone), garnets or rubies to others. The pearl, where it can be worn, softens the face more than any other jewel. The moonstone is very nearly as effective, as well as the beautiful opal. Rings, some authorities say, should be worn in barbaric profusion or not at all. A slender, beautifully modeled hand can afford to be guiltless of rings. One less perfect in shape, but white, can be enhanced in charm by a blaze of jewels.