Category Archive:

Toes Mustn't Show
01/26

Toes Mustn’t Show

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In 1818 the formidable French etiquette writer Madame de Genlis (1746-1830) reminded proper ladies that when lounging on a divan, chaise longue or daybed, they’d better hide their feet under a couvre-pieds. “Decency demands it because, stretched out like that,…

"It will be comely and decent to use a fork..."
05/03

“It will be comely and decent to use a fork…”

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French silk merchant Jaques le Saige was scandalized by the sight of men taking up forks to eat their dinner when visiting Venice in 1518. Forks were a symbol of decadence for centuries, unhealthy used in the 10th century in…