Prince Charles and Prince Karl
Prince Charles is a one-man testimony to the swagger stick, walking stick, cane, staff, umbrella and, of course, the polo stick. There are so many photos of him with a huge variety of items from our cane world, one wonders if he ever ventures forth without. He has always cut quite a swagger in all variety of climatic conditions and changes of outfit over the years. To the cane born!
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Dear Prince Karl, keep trying!
With a good cane, you could cut as much of a figure as you do with your fans. Allow us to dream…
Women’s Lib and Women’s Canes
The novel La Garçonne by Victor Margueritte was first published in France in 1922, its English translation (by Alfred A. Knopf) following one year later. In a nutshell, after finding out that her boyfriend was a two timing toad, our tomboy flapper heroine decided to live her own life freely, as she pleased, and that included in the bedroom.
To quote the article on ‘The Bachelor Girl’, Margueritte, in his title, ‘addresses the somewhat ambiguous realm between definite gender roles, e.g. where a Judeo-Christian patriarchal society might place a free-thinking, free-living woman in its social strata.’
Indeed.
Poor Victor was stripped of his Légion d’Honneur for having even posed the problem. Arguably much less shocking in some geographical regions today,
it was a thorny subject at the time. It still is in Alaska, Arkansas, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan – and there we only begin the alphabet.
The film has been made four times and in 1923 was the first to be censored in France. Its most notable remake was in 1936 with Marie Bell in the leading rôle, Arletty and Edith Piaff.
It was considered shocking for a woman to cut her hair – the original flapper trademark. In one poster she smokes a cigarette. In the other she sports an elegant cigarette holder, whilst a background figure carries a cane. Emancipation? No, it’s but a straw inside the glass – but tantalisingly uncertain.
Today, from Madonna to the chic girl about town, every woman can wear a cane. There are styles for every taste – and there does not have to be a flavour of sugar and a whiff of Tchaikovsky to use them freely to match an elegant outfit!
Just as hat pins worked with the hat in times past and present, so should the cane with the fashion of today and the style of the liberated woman!
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Androgynous Accessories Abound
Karl Lagerfeld© Abbas/Magnum
It is interesting to look back across history at the timeless beauty of accessories. The fan was to the woman what he cane was to the man; not only an object of use but a work of art and a way of giving full reign to the imagination and desire – providing, of course, that one had the means to modify the mundane to the magnificent.
‘Actions speak louder than words’; perhaps, but volumes are told by the gesture of elegance and assurance that a cane can give when gracing the man, the woman and the dandy – as much as the shepherd, the mountain hiker and other Toms Dicks and Harrys. That’s the whole point. If you sport the cane as a fashion accessory – you are not one of the crowd, but one of the In-Crowd.
Paris at present hosts the magnificent Louvre des Antiquaires. One can tour the imagination of past artisans’ and their masters’ imaginations on the web site, if not finding one’s self amidst the Parisian throng in person.
This week, an auction of hand fans, also in the French capital, brought a feast to the eyes at the House of Deburaux. Just as one can relish the beauty and imagination of canes at the exhibition, so can one be inspired by the viewing of countless riches in decoration and artistry.
Blue Angel starring Marlène Dietrich.
Yet, who is to say the fan is for the woman? Karl Lagerfeld was a great contemporary advertisement for its use as an accessory. Lola Lola of ‘The Blue Angel’ (played by Marlene Dietrich 1930/1) clings to the aura of Madonna (Louise Veronica Ciccone) in her ‘Sticky & Sweet’ tour of 2008. The cane gives them both the air of confidence and superiority –ambiguous yet sexy.
Madonna with cane.
The fan, too, has an air of mystery, but unless in the hands of Karl Lagerfeld, it’s more likely to be in those of an India coolie. As an accessory it can indeed be glamorous and mysterious but much less androgynous.
For the partner who has everything – there can be nothing as full of wonder as starting one’s own collection of canes.
