'Consuelo Throat' To 'Swan Throat'; From Disdain to De Rigueur! Consuelo Sets The Standard, 'Naturally!'

Of all the ‘Dollar Princesses’ the one that most are familiar with is of course, Consuelo Vanderbilt, the former Duchess of Marlborough.  

It is not uncommon for the image of the swanlike profile of this most glamorous of all the American heiresses involved in the cash for coronets marriage trade; to pop into the esoteric mind when this subject is discussed.

What is most fascinating is that this very neck, initially proved to be a source of much disdain to the high society of London!  So much so was the neck a source of gossip, that not so discreet suggestions were made to the new Duchess upon her arrival to take up her duties as chatelaine of Blenheim, that she should address this apparent physical misfortune.  Thus was born what high society called, ‘Consuelo throat!’

Consuelo, clever as they come when faced with a challenge; simply solved what many considered a natural defect, by accentuating it with a magnificent piece of jewelry.   Through American ingenuity and a bucket load of cold hard cash, the new Duchess of Marlborough started a craze that had every society matron and maiden on both sides of the Atlantic, worth her salt subscribing to the concept of ‘Swan Throat!’

Personally, over the years, I have found Consuelo’s neck to be one of her most exquisite features, along with her eyes. 

Enjoy the article below to shift through the antics of society as they responded as so many obedient puppies to the deft handling of a young Duchess from America who outsmarted them all!

THE CONSUELO THROAT

What The Duchess Of Marlborough’s Long Neck

And Seven Strings Of Pearls Have Done

Toward Revolutionizing Fashion In Smart

London Society

Boston Daily Globe

October 27, 1897

When the young Duke of Marlborough, two short winters ago, introduced his slender youthful American wife to the inner circles of English society critical folk shook their heads despondingly and gazed askance at her remarkably long neck.

Some were even heard to go so far as to say that it was a pity nature should have been so cruel to an otherwise highly attractive Duchess, and advised a resort any device in hopes of obscuring the pathetic deformity.

Not so, thought the little 18-year-old wife of a Duke, for being an American woman, and therefore full of invention, tact and originality, she ordered her jeweler to make, of her largest pearls, a collar containing exactly seven strings, to as close as possible around her slim little throat and button at the back with seven very big diamonds set  on a band of gold exactly four inches and one fourth long.

Of course this tale flew around London in no time, and if any of the other women were inclined to jeer at the fact of one of their sex being able to wear a seven stringed collar of pearls 4 ½ inches deep, their ugly speeches were quelled by the loud shout of joy set up by the leading portrait and miniature painters.

Long and fervently they dwelt upon the rare beauty of a long neck, the advantage if it in grace and aristocratic bearing, the decadence in necks since the time of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and a consequent falling off in feminine loveliness until suddenly the fact that she could wear a seven-stringed pearl collar made the Duchess the most envied and admired woman in London, and eventually brought long necks, ‘swan throats,’ they are called into remarkable favor.

It is a fashion now penetrating to this side of the water, and to such an extent, both in England and America, that she who sits even before a camera demands that her neck shall be made the most of by devices that smack of the tricks of the 18^th century.

There photographers knows all these secrets, and when a patron tells him she must have a long throat and must secure a picturesque likeness, though the distance between her chin and her shoulders in only a matter of one inch, he does not gainsay her.

Instead, he picks up an album and show her how the women on the other side do it, and how, according to their photographs and portraits, at least, nearly  every smart lady in London possesses a throat that the famous Annie Laurie would not blush to own. The deception is simple enough, for the English women have found by making their head look very tall the throat will elongate remarkably, and that, more, if the head is properly ornamented, the decorations and draperies about it cunningly adjusted, an ordinary, commonplace face can be painted or photographed into something truly lovely.

This the artist or photographer will prove by turning over his album leaves and showing a score of titled dames taken in their new headdresses, each one, you would swear, the possessor of a throat half an ell in length.

One of the most attractive among the new photographs is an American woman, Lady Grey Egerton, and her nearest rival is the leader of this new fashion, the Marchioness of Granby, not a bit of a beauty, like Lady Egerton, nor very long throated, either but with a yard of fine old lace, a few jewels and a proper poise of head, she would pass anywhere for a woman painted by Romney or Reynolds. 

Violet, Marchioness of Granby

The young Duchess of Marlborough has had herself photographed in the exact headdress the great Sarah of Marlborough used to wear, and beautiful Mrs. Curzon, who was Miss Leiter of Chicago, has been photographed wearing a headdress very like that in the Duchess of Devonshire’s famous portrait.

Seeing these lovely pictures, it isn’t that the American woman can resist an attempt at the charming results secured by her British sisters, and when she consents to have herself photographed in the new fashion a big mirror is dragged before her chair, and an expert coiffeur takes her head in his hands.

On a table beside him are heaped and amazing variety of materials’ tulle and liberty silk scarfs, ostrich plumes, widths of rare old lace, a box of jeweled pins, strings of pearls, wreaths of artificial flowers and a huge power box with double puffs, not to speak of a great pile of felt and straw hats, trimmed and untrimmed, that lie at hand.

With all this paraphernalia hours are spent in experimenting with effects.  Towering headdress after headdress is erected with the utmost care, simply to be demolished to make way for another effort until just the desired result is attained.

Among the women themselves the decoration most preferred is the little Sarah Siddons band of black velvet passed tightly under the chin and pinned with a lovely, showy brooch just under the right ear.

That is, if the ear is particularly small and well shaped, else this decoration is a grave mistake, and it is necessary to fall back on the use of enshrouding, gauzy scarfs on the Lady Hamilton order.  There are especially affected by fashionable matrons, who see the first tiny signs of approaching age in the fine wrinkles under the chin, but whatever the head decoration may be one solemn charge the sitter makes before resigning her head to the coiffeur, ‘Let the throat be long!’

NR

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