Lady, simply pleasant, enthusiastically reported to the Lady, pleasant in all respects, about fashion trends among the secular nobility: frills are no longer worn, now - scallops, scallops everywhere - both below, and on the sleeves, and on the cape … What is this detail in trend among the heroines of N. V. Gogol's poem "Dead Souls"?
Delicate element
If you saw a strip of carved pattern with ledges in the frame of a woman's dress or in the edging of a curtain, know that these are scallops. However, it is not only the exquisite finish on clothes that is called this. The term refers to painting, architecture and applied arts. Looking at the wondrous beauty of the building with a bizarre ornament and stucco molding in the form of garlands tied with ribbons, we do not think that these are festoons, a decorative architectural element that arose in ancient times.
Origin
The Latin word festo means "festive garland", from which the lexeme festone arose in Italian, and in French - feston. Both words refer to an ornament in the form of plant elements intertwined and tied with a ribbon - stems, leaves, flowers and fruits. So in ancient Rome they decorated the altars of temples and houses inholiday time. In the Russian lexicon, the noun "feston" is a borrowing by transliteration, when the word sounds exactly like its overseas twin.
Holiday mood
The facade of the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace in Pushkin was richly decorated with columns, pilasters and festoons during the time of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. The intricate and opulent design of this design can still be seen there today. In neoclassical buildings, the interior decoration of the premises is decorated with festoons. Often this element is used in ornamental painting in the edging of paintings or other art objects.
Scallops have always been a recognized decoration of gold and silver, clay and glass works of applied art. The scallops or waves in the design of retro lampshades and chandeliers are popular to this day. The decoration of the edge with scallops gives the products a special charm, causing pleasant aesthetic experiences and reminding of the holiday, because this is the meaning originally laid down in the name of the decorative accessory.
In sewing
Perhaps the most "native" sphere of festoons is tailoring. In the mouth of a seamstress, it refers to the airy finish of the product as one of the ways to process its edge instead of a primitive hem. Scallops adorn the edges of collars and cuffs, draw out the bottom and sleeves, use them as a decorative element on fasteners, capes and other details of clothing. A scalloped stripe of downward-facing patterns canbe made in a wide variety of configurations and forms: these are flowers, geometric shapes, oriental ornaments, arabesques, baroque vignettes and many other fantasy motifs.
In the old days
Historians say that festoons in the costume of the nobility became an indispensable attribute of heraldic attire around the end of the 13th century. A century later, they were already actively exploited in their dress by the townsfolk.
In the old days, two methods of making festoons were known. The first, cheap one, is cutting out teeth and protrusions along the edge of a dense fabric that does not crumble and therefore does not require processing, for example, felted wool. The second way, more expensive, is processed scallops, the edges of which are either overcast with small stitches or hemmed with a contrast lining.
Time rushes forward, but it has no power over other things. What are scallops in the design of modern outfits, in the design of banquet halls, living rooms and bedrooms in antique style, if not a tribute to the classics and good taste?
