Los Angeles herald., 1905-03-07
FORTUNE IN GEMS
Newest JeweIs-What They Cost and
How They Are Worn


made by women who delight in such
manifestations Of wealth are two of
the main characteristics Of the power
dress exercises over women in this
luxurious age.
A million sovereigns sounds like an
incredibly huge sum of money to sink
in precious stones, but the gem caskets
of some of our great ladies represent
that value very closely, and It is
actually touched in a few notable in
| stances.
Quite moderately wealthy young
| married women do not consider their
catalogue of jewels complete without
two or three tiaras, string of pearls
capable of being measured by the yard
stomacher brilliantly ablaze with
gems, a dog collar and numerous neck
let's, rings of various colors to match
various gems, to say nothing Of al
grettes of diamonds, bracelets, brooches
and little ornaments by the hundred
One single necklace of pearls-only a
string that closely clasps the throat
has been known to cost 100000; a tiara
swallows up any sum up to G25,0OO,
and even more when It contains prac-
tically priceless stones; ones brooch
may easily represent $500, while a
stomacher can scarcely cost less.
Hence to be bedizened in gems that
represent e1OOOOO is not difficult task
for the wollan who likes a barbarlc
display and can afford to indulge her
whim.
The extravaganza this craving for
gems leads to is excused by some peo-
pie on the score that precious stones
are sound investment, while the deal
ers in imitation gems truthfully aver
that it fosters their trade. very
quaint fashion from old times is the
agrafe of brilliants an ornament re-
semblng a bow and bands of dia-
monds duplicated many times so as to
trim dress from the decoletage to
the hem of the skirt. The ornaments
graduate in size, so that at the foot of
the dress they are much larger than
they are at the waist, thereby produc-
ing a very elegant effect. These nee
essarily are rarely to be seen in real
stones, but sets of them are being
sought in old French paste, which pro-
duces as brilliant an effect as real dia-
monds and can scarcely be detected
from them by the eyes of even ex-
perts
Ornaments of this caliber are found
upon quaint old world dresses, made
with the corsage a pointe and the full,
simple skirt of bygone times. One Or
dered the other day for a woman
whose vogue is the picturesque was
made of cloud gray satin and was quite
untrimmed, save for the agrafes and a
berthe and elbow flounces of rich old
lace. Juliet nets of diamonds and
pearls are so much more beautiful than
those of colored stones that they are
likely to last longer than the rest of
their kind in the favor of the wealthy
woman. A new net is made of gold
lattice work. fastened where the lat
tice crosses with rosettes of diamonds
and all around the edge festooned with
glittering fringe of the same precious
stones
Very lovely aigrettes, composed Of a
pair of diamond leaves, the edges of
which meet in the center, are being
made purposely to be worn with the
Marie Stuart coiffure, which dips in
the center of the brow and causes a
unconventional ornament of this
kind to look unusually charming. The
jewelers. have been very busy lately
inventing new ornaments or fresh ways
OF wearing old ones. How to make use
of very long ropes of pearls, since it
became less fashionable than 1t was a
few years ago to wind them round and
round the throat, has been problem
to the wealthy possessor of such bau-
bles that has at last been answered. |
A string of pearls twisted twice around
the throat and then looped in front on
the low corsage, with fastenings here
and there composed of jeweed
brooches, Is, comparatively speaking,
an old tale. The latest adaptation of
this idea is to festoon the Jewels at the
back OF the corsage as well as in the
front, and If the strings are here and
there composed of jeweled brooches it
is the utmost magnificence. In some
cases complete berthe of splendid
gems is provided by means of one long
necklace of gems or two or three worn
at the same time.