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Featured Item: Tiffany Replica Daffodil with Lily Pad Table Lamp
Article: An Easter Bonnet Affair
SPRING 2022 NEWSLETTER
Where Easter eggs really come from…
It's springtime and what happier harbinger of spring could there be than a cluster of yellow daffodils blowing in the breezes. In celebration of spring we present our beautiful Tiffany replica Daffodil with Lily Pad table lamp. See it the Featured Item section.
There was a time when the welcoming of spring was more associated with earth’s annual blooming with renewed life, of resurrection and hope. The ancients donned new clothing for good luck and attended religious festivals such as Passover and Easter.
Today celebrating the spring equinox is commercialized and is more associated with a reason to purchase new fashions for the spring season. Nevertheless, read about my memorable Easter bonnet affair and some spring celebration fun facts in the Article section.
Enjoy our Spring 2022 Newsletter.
Lorena
Greetings!
Featured Item
Note: Each item presented is a one-of-a-kind work of art available for purchase. Should any item sell, there are no duplicates. Contact us about any similar items.
Tiffany Replica Daffodil with Lily Pad Table Lamp
Tiffany Replica Daffodil with Lily Pad Table Lamp
Daffodil lamps were produced by Tiffany Studios circa 1904. Featured on this page is our reproduction of the Daffodil shade on a Large Lily Pad base.
Shade and base together make a graceful, "airy" lamp depicting daffodils in a natural setting as head artist, Clara Driscoll, designed it for Tiffany Studios.
The Nouveau, organic style, Lily Pad Base is typical Tiffany. Finished in antique bronze, it has a single socket turn switch that takes a standard 60-watt bulb.
Article
My sister, Ginger, posing before the jalousie windows of her Florida cottage. Easter Sunday, 1993.
AN EASTER BONNET AFFAIR
During some of my Gypsy wandering days, 1960s – 70s, I was living in Palm Beach, Florida with my sister, Ginger. We had family in the area. Back then Palm Beach still had little1920s cottages built at that time to house the workmen who were constructing the mansions and grand hotels. When we were there one could rent cheaply a cottage or even a room in an old Spanish style hotel on a yearly basis. I rented an interesting room in a Mediterranean style hotel on verdant, Via Mizner. My sister moved into one of those cute cottages on Seminole Avenue.
We lived down the road from the majestic Mar-a-Lago* estate, still owned by the Post family including granddaughter/actress, Dina Merrill. Eventually, my sister settled into her tiny Florida cottage calling it home while I moved on to San Francisco knowing nary a soul. (You can do these types of things when you’re young.)
The Set up
A Special Occasion
Palm Beach is home to the iconic Colony Hotel. One time we caught the hotel’s advertisement for a festive Easter Sunday brunch plus an Easter Bonnet contest! We decided to treat ourselves to an elegant holiday fare and just for fun enter into the Easter Bonnet contest. But first, before I go any further, here is a bit of info about the Colony Hotel I think you will find fascinating.
Background
The Colony Hotel, designed in the British colonial style, advertises itself as a boutique hotel, and in fact Palm Beach’s pinkest hotel, catering to the world’s “hoity toity”, (my words, not theirs.), since 1947. Located beachfront and around the corner from ritzy Worth Avenue with its swanky restaurants and chic shops the Colony Hotel represented in my day, all that Palm Beach was noted for – old money and class**. Ah, such indulgences!
The décor, done in vibrant tropical flair, has glossy black terrazzo floors, glamorous furnishings, floor to ceiling hand painted wallpaper depicting exotic flora and fauna including a puma wearing a diamond necklace. The decor was designed as a “love letter to Palm Beach” and is advertised as a pink paradise. Take a look.- https://thecolonypalmbeach.com/gallery-website/
The Payoff
Continuing: We didn’t have Easter bonnets to wear for the occasion. Luckily, we were having breakfast at Palm Beach’s unassuming, yet popular pharmacy/lunch-counter/variety store when I spied some hats. One hat was a flimsy mesh number in pink with a large brim for $3.99. The other was a cute, white cotton sailor hat for $1.99. It was a perfect match for my sister’s blue and white sailor outfit. I purchased and decorated the hats with large silk flowers. We were ready for the occasion.
Polo Club dining room. The classy Calcagni sisters seated for Easter Sunday brunch at the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida.1967
At the Easter event after brunch, we ladies were ushered into a little courtyard off the dining room where we paraded (with live ducks the hotel hired that day for atmosphere), before the judges around the courtyard's tiny fountain. (See two photos of the fountain in pink courtyard on their website link above.) As I observed, I am sure some of those ladies were wearing expensive hats.
But guess what? The judges picked us! My sister and I won the contest! The judges loved our original Easter bonnet / hats. After all these years I can’t remember what we won but no matter, the best prize of all is I still remember our wonderful Easter Bonnet affair.
*Mar-a-Lago. Origin of the name. Mar-a-Lago means "sea-to-lake" in Spanish, owing to the fact that the resort extends the entire width of Palm Beach.
**On two different occasions I passed by Jackie Onassis and the Duchess of Windsor dressed in casual attire strolling with friends down Worth Avenue.
A Brief History of the Easter Bonnet
The name "Easter" in English speaking countries is derived from a pre-Christian goddess in England, Eostre, who was celebrated with festivals at the beginning of spring. The tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter has its origins in early Christian customs. After the long fasting of Lent, this tradition emulated, like spring, resurrection, a spiritual renewal and good luck for the year. Not donning a new robe would certainly bring bad luck. In fact, the Christian converted Roman emperor, Constantine, decreed that Easter Sunday was the day to sport new togas and sandals.
Celebrating Spring
As for the Easter bonnet, the Easter holiday presented an excellent opportunity for people to buy the first non-winter hat of the year. The decorated bonnet originated in Europe and came from an old tradition of wearing flowers on a hat in recognition of spring. Over time the Easter bonnet came into its own celebrity as a very fancy hat that topped a new spring ensemble. It became a way of ladies celebrating Easter by showing off as to who wore the fanciest Bonnet!
The first Easter Parade debuted on New York City’s Fifth Avenue in 1870. People would stream out of churches following the Easter Sunday service dressed in their new spring outfits and stroll up the avenue to see and to be seen.
With each year the parade grew in popularity and drew hundreds of thousands of spectators. The shops on Fifth Avenue competed with window displays of Easter bonnets vying for who had the best display. Their colorful windows became a lucrative tourist attraction.
Origins of the Easter Parade
Spring Hat
It seems over the years that the Easter bonnet and spring outfit is a dying tradition. In past centuries people owned only a few pieces of clothing, so getting something new once a year for spring festivities was an exciting occasion. Today, living in excesses as we do compared to yesteryear, buying new clothing is nothing new.
Today
Sure, we still have Easter Parades and Easter bonnet contests but most often the headwear is silly and over-the-top, sporting colored plastic eggs, bunnies, peeps, and other spring do-dads. It also seems kids today will never know the reverence of what it was to wear a proper Easter bonnet - as I did years ago. Something to lament about.
An Easter bonnet decorated with Styrofoam eggs
A Final Note
A Holiday for Showing Off
Composer Irving Berlin brought the Easter bonnet into popular culture with his 1933 song "Easter Parade”. The song’s lyrics are so descriptive they transport you to the crowds of “swells” strolling up New York’s Fifth Avenue in the annual Easter Parade with your sweetie on your arm. The song, “Easter Parade”, has become a tradition.
…You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade
Original artwork by Cal Haves
In 1948 MGM released the movie Easter Parade, starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. The musical’s grand finally has a cast of hundreds dressed in their Easter finery walking up New York’s Fifth Avenue singing the title song. Church bells ring, women are wearing their festive Easter bonnets, the orchestra has reached a crescendo and Judy’s voice booms above the chorus across the screen. The End.