The Woman's Word: On the Lebanese Costume Competition

The Woman's Word

At the grand ball to be given by the Lebanese Red Cross on the 14th of this August at the Sofar Grand Hotel, those present will witness a display unique of its kind, and a competition of the utmost novelty, of old Lebanese costumes, under the supervision of the Commissariat of Tourism and Summering and the magazine The Woman's Voice.

Someone may say: and what is the surprise in that? Such competitions are nothing strange to our ears; every summer Lebanon's great hotels greet us with competitions of every sort: for beauty, for elegance, for dancing, etc.... So what call is there now for all this drum-beating, and does this particular competition have some special color that sets it apart from all the other competitions??

We have been slow, for a long time, to recognize this reality. Centuries before us, nations of ancient stock awoke to the necessity of reviving their old costumes and bringing them back in their splendid traditional luster, in popular festivals in which the people take part, whatever their classes and creeds... The eyes of the young open onto ages that flourished and glowed with color, and hearts rejoice at the return of memories, enacted in the loveliest way; here is the dress of the family's grandmother, worn by the granddaughter, boastful and proud, handling it slowly and gently lest its flounces and ribbons tear and it be no longer fit for the generations to come... So think the ancient, advanced nations, like the countries of Europe — and I did not say like the Far East, for that is firmer of will, and would not consent to give up the stamp of its own dress, as the Europeans did and as we ourselves did... I am not here to defend our point of view on the ground that modern dress is better suited to this age; but I believe that a country like Lebanon, one of whose chief resources is tourism and summering, would do well to encourage these competitions in all their variety, above all those closely bound to our social and traditional heritage. In our grandmothers' chests are well-stocked bundles with embroidered edges, holding the pieces of a charming gown that once, in a bygone day, held pride of place in the family wardrobe. Why, then, do we not go to it this very hour, spend on it a little effort and a few piasters, and appear in it on August 14 at the Red Cross ball?

The grand prizes are not in themselves the aim. Would that our women — all our women — shared with The Woman's Voice and the Commissariat of Tourism and Summering the sincere, deep sense of this competition's importance, and spread word of it, so that each year it may be broader and more far-reaching than the year before, until it embraces all classes of Lebanese and seeps into the neighboring Arab countries; so that woman there may feel the duty we feel today — the necessity of reviving our old costumes and bringing out the features of their beauty in a splendid new frame answering to the tastes of our rising young women; so that a day may come when this competition passes out of its narrow, limited bounds into the wide popular arena, and our children realize that they have a heritage of beauty worthy of preservation and pride...