BLACK DRAWING ROOM.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3229, 27 May 1911, Page 9

BLACK DRAWING ROOM.

LONDON SOCIETY’S FAD. FUNERAL CARPETS, FURNITURE AND WALLPAPER. Black is to be tli© dominant note in tlie 1911 drawing room. The approach of the annual spring cleaning festival has been the signal for the appearance of an extraordinary display of black furnishings and l decorations in the windows and showrooms of the West End. Curtains of gleaming black satin or of dull-black satin make a bold bid 1 for favor and the fashionable pouf ottoman is upholstered in satin, either of unrelieved black or of black with a richly colored design. WALLPAPER IN BLACK. Even the wallpaper manufacturers have fallen under the spell of blacky and among the newest designs are many with black grounds. Why the manufacturers and decorators should have conspired to put the drawing rooms of England into mourning is one of those mysteries of fashion which defy solution. The daring idea of the black room is pot, of course, new. Some years ago a famous stage beauty startled her friends by having her 'Boudoir decorated and furnished in blade and gold; and from time to time artists have indulged' in what the rest of the world: did not hesitate to describe as “fantastic” black decorative effects. With black decorations confronting them on every side, however, it is not surprising that thousands of housewives are forsaking their allegiance to the chaste ideal of the white drawing room to which they have remained faithful for many seasons. Already the more exclusive decorating establishments report many converts to the new fashion, and their numbers are declared to be growing every day.