companies. All of them brought out the jewels and fashion finery wherever they appeared.
A
number of reasons have been advanced to account for the term "Diamond
Horseshoe." The most logical theory is that it was conceived,
promulgated, and popularized by the late "Bill" Guard, the elegant
press agent of the Metropolitan. It was a natural description for a
tier of parterre boxes in which diamonds sparkled brilliantly every
night of the opera. Fashion authorities, fashion writers, and experts
focused their attention upon the ladies, if not the music. Ada
Sterling, writing in "At the Opera," in Harper's Bazaar, tells about a
visit on the night of January 13, 1900:
Whatever
the queenly dignity of the diamond tiara and the loveliness of the
jewel-tipped aigrette, the fashionable coiffure of the present
introduces such ornaments only on rare occasions . . . such as the
opera. . . . Jetted and silver-spangled floral shapes are affected by
some of the younger matrons and the wide white gauze ornaments worn in
the flurry hair of Mrs. Orme Wilson are especially beautiful. These
are set immediately in front of the coil on top of the head and secured
there by a large diamond ornament There is no longer any doubt as to
the return of ear-rings to favor. Their use is almost universal. As one
glances about the Opera House, where fashion in its most extravagant
and also its most exclusive form congregates, one sees everywhere the
little jewel gleaming in the ears of the women.
It
was as a result of the fashions on display at the "Met," in fact, that
Tiffany's was led to announce in its 1903 catalogue many more diamond
embellishments. These included sunbursts, moons, crescents, stars,
hearts, bow-knots, horseshoes, 8eur-de-lis, collars, sautoirs of
diamonds or ropes of diamonds, diamond lorgnettes on chains, diamond
rings, guard rings with half hoop or whole hoop of diamonds, diamond
princess rings, and solitaire diamond rings.
At about that time, also, women began wearing diamond
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