Elena Verbitskaya, teacher.
Once, when I opened my grandmother's trunk, I found an old dusty book. She spent more than a hundred years among the Christmas and Easter cards. It was a good-quality textbook for ladies. Then I still did not know how useful it would be to me. For a hundred years much has changed, but the main lessons of etiquette and got from this book.
First lesson
A true lady must take care of her appearance always, no matter in what terms she may be.
I remember the incident that my friend's mom told me. At her dacha, where she and her two-month-old son had spent the summer, her mother-in-law, a woman of noble birth, came to visit her. The daughter-in-law rushed along the veranda to plant her mother-in-law on a clean stool, but she stopped with the words: "My darling, can you really allow a husband to see you in this dressing gown? Change quickly! He can enter. " An elderly woman was not embarrassed by the entourage, because he was forced. But the disdain for her form seemed unacceptable to her in this, and in any other situation.
Lesson Two
The main decoration of a woman's hair. To change a hairdress follows together with a toilet, according to weather, time of the day, a season or mood.
A neat head should be kept all day long. To do this, just brush your hair more often. But the neat head is not necessarily sleek. In the morning, well-dressed hair is good, in the evening - laid more freely. In general, the hairdo can be changed several times a day, if you have at this time. Just remember: you should never comb your hair in public - neither in a public place, nor at home.
A friend of mine speaks of herself as follows: "I get up at half past six to have time to put myself in order - to make an easy make-up and hairdo. How else? I can not appear in shabby appearance before the young son-in-law! "Recently I learned that this woman turned 86 years old, and her young son-in-law - 61 years. Is not it so beautiful to perceive life?
Lesson Three
A decent woman must change at least seven suits a day: morning, breakfast, for walks and visits, lunch, afternoon, evening and night. According to the costumes, seven changes of clothes and seven changes of shoes, including nocturnal shoes, are supposed.
Well, that's too much, you'll say. But let's take this recommendation not didactically, but creatively. After all, the main thing is to be smart and fresh. So, do not walk all the time in the same thing, do not wear tattered slippers and a greasy apron, have a clean bow plateau with you, or two: one for business, the other in a purse for stock. To modern women, I would advise you to forget about the robe or remember it only in the early morning and just before bed. Walking around the house is much more comfortable in a home dress or trousers.
It would be quite good to learn from people of the past century the tradition of changing for dinner. Lunch is the highest point of the day, the harbinger of a beautiful evening. On weekends, the whole family gathers at the dinner table. Beautiful clothes, a slight smell of perfume create an elevated atmosphere at dinner, which is then preserved until the end of the day. Due to such trifles our grandparents knew how to remain free from everyday life, not to get bogged down in it. In addition, beautiful rituals serve to strengthen self-esteem, bring people closer together. On such little things, the culture of family relations is maintained.
I will give an example from history, which serves as a standard for me. Princess MN Volkonskaya, the wife of the Decembrist SG Volkonsky, went for her husband to hard labor in Siberia, did not change her habits. She did not appear in public without gloves and veil.