Imagine being sent off to war. While the cause may be righteous—and you have risen to your duty—the swirl of fear, uncertainty and sentiment would certainly be powerful. Saying goodbye to your nearest-and-dearest became a life-or-death proposition. Such wrings the human heart at times of war.
"The Great War"—The War to End All Wars—was unlike anything which had come before it. The scale. The number of participants. And the efficient modernity of the weaponry. World War One was an earthquake within the human conscience—even for those who had experienced other wars in the past.
While there were some brave and brilliant women who participated, the bulk of the fodder was made-up of men. And most of them (but not all) longed for the comfort of the women they left back home—wives, girlfriends, sisters, mothers. Certainly, these women held their collective breaths, awaiting the worst possible news.
Women in the warring countries found ways to raise morale—perhaps while making ends meet while their husbands were away. Hand-embroidered "Sweetheart Silks," such as the one shown above, are one such relic of those awful, emotional and patriotic days. They mostly were made in England and France, often purchased by servicemen from Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand and America. They were the perfect gift to send home to a beloved woman. They were hand-crafted by women. They were colorful, often feminine. And they conveyed patriotic and sentimental emotions. Such scarves were usually made of silk, decorated with hand-embroidery, and trimmed in lace. (Less expensive, commercially-produced options could be found in printed cotton.) They were easy for a serviceman to send-home in a flat envelope. And, while these handkerchiefs were not practical for "ordinary use," they could be proudly displayed by the women back home, proud of the men who were remembering them overseas.
America only joined the war effort in the last year of conflict. But, by joining their exhausted allies, the axis (also exhausted) knew that a win would now be impossible. But it's important to keep this in-mind: young American soldiers, being sent-off into The Great War, had no idea how much longer the carnage would continue. And more than 116,000 American servicemen died during deployment (buried over there, never to return). We cannot know if one of these brave souls sent this sweetheart silk back to his beloved mother. Click on the photo above to learn more about it.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.