At Last... a Contest of Old Lebanese Costumes

It is midnight — as though it were the appointed hour when the heroines of dancing parties are transformed, as in the tale of Cinderella... And while the revelers made merry and danced to Western strains in the verdant gardens of the Sofar Hotel, the stroke of twelve gave leave to six "trembling" heroines, the bags holding their national dress tucked under their arms, to climb with them to the upper floor and come down again wearing their contents — purely Eastern Lebanese garments. But the time was no "small" matter for them, even after the make-up and hairdressing were done, for they were compelled to wait a "great deal" until the "dissecting table" for the members of the jury could be brought into the hall!

They were presented to the public, in the presence of His Excellency the President of the Republic and his lady wife, by the editor-in-chief of this magazine, Mrs. Edvick Jureidini Shayboub, after the secretary of the Commissioner of Tourism and Summering, Miss Andrée Karmen, had handed them a "verbal" "certificate of passage." And at last... the hour of examination arrived, and this half "dozen" came forward,

at their head a village "couple" made up of a wearer of the felt labbadeh cap with black sirwal trousers and "kiran" — Miss Bshouti, drawing by the hand Miss Chidiac, who played the wife of the labbadeh-wearer, known by her tantour (for the tantour was reserved for married women and emiras alone): a piece of metal sheathed in yellow satin cloth — a genuine one — crowned above the forehead by a small piece of mirror. And the spectator, watching the wife hang back under her husband's urging, might observe that her progress was perhaps hampered by the drawstring of her red "ruffled" sirwal!!

On her heels followed the lovely Mrs. Saba, an employee of the Commission of Tourism and Summering, in a costume of the Commission's own making: silver pendants cooed to the jet black of her hair, their echo answered by the ripplings of green damask and the yellow sirwal — a modern rendering of the dress of Miss Thabit, who came after her, a dress the family had preserved through four generations gone by since its first wearer — with a jabot redder than her flowing kerchief, redder than her ravishing hair, and at its center a skullcap studded with little gems of strung pearl and massed emerald!

And it seemed to please the labbadeh-wearer, Miss Bshouti, to play the one and only cavalier to the five remaining women — not thereby departing from the vanity of males in every age, even if she was a woman! For she took it upon herself to amuse the company with her droll antics... and soon enough she made way for...

a Lebanese emira in a gown of violet velvet, embroidered with pure gold, with a long train that swept the floor. Upon her lofty head sat a diamond diadem, a "falank," joined by two borrowed braids; with it, and with her consummate Eastern beauty, Miss Diab had every right to sweep along in the raiment of those who once were reared upon the seat of rule! And had Emir Maurice Chehab not been kept from attending for reasons of health, he — the Director of Antiquities — would have assured us that the twin of Miss Diab's costume stands in the museum of the Beiteddine palace!

And just as we noted above that the Commission's costume was an exquisite copy of the model of Miss Thabit's dress, so it may be said that the costume of the sixth contestant, Mrs. Kanaan, the representative of The Woman's Voice, was a happy copy of Miss Diab's model — a trained gown and a black velvet "polka" jacket embroidered in gay colors, and a cap whose surface interlaces gold thread and beads, from which a silver band dangles over the forehead, its pieces swaying beneath a sheer veil!

And it was as if the matter grew confused for the members of the jury — who outnumbered the competing contestants! — and the choice between the newly made and the time-honored, of one and the same kind, proved too hard for them; whereupon the Commissioner, Mr. Michel Touma, the giver of the prizes, proposed an even settlement among them. The committee issued its decision, with the contestants circling round the decision: all six were winners — not only for the felicity of their costumes, but for the daring embodied in their taking the first step — which the dear homeland willed to be the herald of a series of living, delightful exhibitions that lend it, through the dress of its enchanting beauties, its unique local color and its lovely popular stamp!

And with the conclusion, the beginning begins...