I'm a fan of the 18th century

From the C16th up to the late 1800s throughout the whole of Europe, the dress of no fashionable lady en grande tenue appears to have been complete without the addition of a fan. An 18th century article about the art of using fans by Joseph Addison, author of Passions of the Fan and the Academy for the Instruction in the Use of the Fan from 1711.

In the C18th women are armed with fans as men with swords, and sometimes do more execution with them. To the end therefore that ladies may be entire mistresses of the weapon which they bear, I have erected an academy for the training up of young women in the Exercise of the Fan, according to the most fashionable airs and motions that are now practiced at court. The 'fan kiss' was a way of inviting a kiss. In order to send an invite a woman would press her fan as in the anticipation of a kiss. Even the pressure of the fan on the mouth had a meaning; the harder the pressure the increased level of sincerity and passion involved.

This "Fan Language" was used as a marketing tool by Fans Sellers in the C19th. It was especially used by the Duvelleroy branch in London, who gave booklets with this secret code to their customers.

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 Reference: Blakemore Colin, Jennett Sheila, Kiss The Oxford Companion to the Body.