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PLATE I
Madame Geraldine Farrar as Thaïs in the opera of that name. It is a sketch made from life for this book. Observe the gilded wig and richly embroidered gown. They are after descriptions of a costume worn by the real Thaïs. It is a Greek type of costume but not the familiar classic Greek of sculptured story. Thaïs was a reigning beauty and acted in the theatre of Alexandria in the early Christian era.
Sketched for "Woman as Decoration" by Thelma CudlippMme. Geraldine Farrar in Greek Costume as Thaïs
WOMAN AS DECORATION
BY
EMILY BURBANK
ILLUSTRATED
NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1917
Copyright, 1917
By DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, Inc.
DEDICATED
to
V. B. G.
FOREWORD
Woman as Decoration is intended as a sequel to The Art ofInterior Decoration (Grace Wood and Emily Burbank).
Having assisted in setting the stage for woman, the next logical step isthe consideration of woman, herself, as an important factor in thedecorative scheme of any setting,—the vital spark to animate allinterior decoration, private or public. The book in hand is intended asa brief guide for the woman who would understand her own type,—make themost of it, and know how simple a matter it is to be decorative if shewill but master the few rules underlying all successful dressing. As thecostuming of woman is an art, the history of that art must be known—toa certain extent—by one who would be an intelligent student of oursubject. With the assistance of thirty-three illustrations to throwlight upon the text, we have tried to tell the beguiling story ofdecorative woman, as she appears in frescoes and bas reliefs of AncientEgypt, on Greek vases, the Gothic woman in tapestry and stained glass,woman in painting, stucco and tapestry of the Renaissance, seventeenth,eighteenth