^ jmnJinnjiTLrifiriniin/uuinjirirLnnnjmA^^ iJTJinjinnjiruxnjiJTJTJifij^^ LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA FROM THE LIBRARY OF F. VON BOSCHAN X-K^IC^I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/evolutionoffashiOOgardiala I Hhe Sbolution of ifashion BY FLORENCE MARY GARDINER Author of ^'Furnishings and Fittings for Every Home" ^^ About Gipsies," SIR ROBERT BRUCE COTTON. THE COTTON PRESS, Granvii^le House, Arundel Street, VV-C- TO FRANCES EVELYN, Countess of Warwick, whose enthusiastic and kindly interest in all movements calculated to benefit women is unsurpassed, This Volume, by special permission, is respectfully dedicated, BY THE AUTHOR. in the year of Her Majesty Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, 1897. I I I PREFACE. T N compiling this volume on Costume (portions of which originally appeared in the Lndgate Ilhistrated Magazine, under the editorship of Mr. A. J. Bowden), I desire to acknowledge the valuable assistance I have received from sources not usually available to the public ; also my indebtedness to the following authors, from whose works I have quoted : —Mr. Beck, Mr. R. Davey, Mr. E. Rimmel, Mr. Knight, and the late Mr. J. R. Planchd. I also take this opportunity of thanking Messrs, Liberty and Co., Messrs. Jay, Messrs. E. R, Garrould, Messrs. Walery, Mr. Box, and others, who have offered me special facilities for consulting drawings, engravings, &c., in their possession, many of which they have courteously allowed me to reproduce, by the aid of Miss Juh'et Hensman, and other artists. The book lays no claim to being a technical treatise on a subject which is practically inexhaustible, but has been written with the intention of bringing before the general public in a popular manner circumstances which have influenced in a marked degree the wearing apparel of the British Nation. FLORENCE MARY GARDINER. West Kensington, iS^y. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. The Dress, b.c. 594—a.d. 1897 3 II. Curious Headgear ^5 III. Gloves 25 IV. Curious Footgear 31 V. Bridal Costume 39 VI. Mourning 5i VII. Eccentricities of Masculine Costume 61 VIII. A Chat about Children and their Clothing 71 IX. Fancy Costume of Various Periods 79 X. Stage and Floral Costume 89 — Chapter I. THE DRESS, b.c. 594 a.d. 189;. THE EVOLUTION OF FASHION Chapter I. THE DRESS, b.c. 594—a.d. 1897. " Fashions that are now called new table fibres, while furs and skins are essential Have been worn by more than you ; articles of dress in Northern latitudes. Per- Elder times have used the same, haps the earliest specimen of a modiste's bill Though these new ones get the name." in existence has recently been found on a Aliddleton's '^ Mayor Quinborough." of chalk tablet at Nippur, in Chaldea. The hieroglyphics record ninety-two robes and \ HARD fate has condemned human tunics : fourteen of these were perfumed xx beings to enter this mortal sphere with myrrh, aloes and cassia. The date of without any natural covering, like that this curious antique cannot be less than two possessed by the lower animals to protect thousand eight hundred years before the them from the extremes of heat and cold. Christian era. In ancient times it must be Had this been otherwise, countless myriads, remembered that the principal seats of civili- for untold ages, would have escaped the sation were Assyria and Egypt, and upon tyrannical sway of the goddess Fashion, and these countries Western nations depended the French proveib, il faut souffrir pour ctre for many of the luxuries of life. The Jews belle, need never have been written. derived their fine fabrics from the latter The costume of our progenitors was chiefly remarkable for its extreme simplicity; and, as far as we can gather, no difference in design was made between the sexes. A few leaves entwined by the stalks, the feathers of birds, the bark of trees, or roughly dressed skins of animals were probably regarded by beaux and belles of the Adamite period as beautiful and appropriate adornments for the body, and were followed by garments made from plaited grass, which was doubtless the origin of weaving, a process which is nothing more than the mechanical plaiting of hair, wool, flax, &c. In many remote districts these primitive fashions still prevail, as, for example, in Madras, where, at an annual religious ceremony, it is customary for the low caste natives to exchange for a short period their usual attire for an apron of leaves. In the Brazilian forests the lecythis, or " shirt tree," is to be found, from which the people roll off the bark in short lengths, and, after making it pliable in water, cut two slits for the arm-holes and one for the neck, when their dress is complete and ready for use. The North American Indian employs feathers for purposes of the toilet, and many African tribes are noted for their deftly-woven fabrics composed of grass and other vege- EARLY KGVrriAN. 1: 2 ; THE EVOLUTION OF FASHION. p>lace, which was particu- rian costume is shown in larly noted for its linen double rows, one pendent, manufactures and for mag- while the other stands out nificent embroideries, of in a horizontal direction. which the accompanying The early Greek dress, illustration will give some or chiton, was a very idea. Medes and Baby- simple contrivance, reach- lonians, of the highest class, ?V-- ing to the feet. If un- partially arrayed themselves girdled, it would trail on the in silk, which cost its weight ground; but generally it was in gold, and about the time drawn through the zone or of Ezekiel (b.c, 594) it is waistbelt in such a manner known to have been used that it was double to the ex- in the dress of the Persians. tent of about thirty inches It is a remarkable circum- over the vital organs of the stance that this animal pro- body. The great distinction duct was brought to the between male and female West manufactured in cloth, dress consisted in the length which was only half silk of the skirt. The trim- and it is said the plan was mings were of embroidery, devised of unravelling the woven diapers, figure bands stuff, which was rewoven with chariots and horses ; into cloth of entire silk. and, in some cases, glass Owing to its high price, the ornaments and thin metal Romans forbade its being plates were applied. Among used for the entire dress by the working classes the men, complete robes of silk GREEK, chiton was, of course, home- being reserved for women. spun, or of leather. It is numbered among the The stola was the Roman extravagant luxuries of equivalent for the nine- Heliogabalus that he was teenth century robe or the first man who wore a gown, and in many respects silken garment, and the resembled the Greek chiton. anecdote is well known of The fabrics employed were the Emperor Aurelian, who wool and linen up to the refused, on the ground of end of the Republic, though its extravagant cost, a silk at a later date, as has al- dress which his consort ready been stated, silk was earnestly desired to possess. imported. Colour, under Monuments still in ex- the Emperors, was largely istence show that the used, and at least thirteen Egyptians, owing to the shades of the dye obtained warmth of their climate, from the murex, which were partial to garments of passed under the general a semi-transparent charac- name of purple, could be ter, while those living on seen in the costume of both the banks of the Tigris, who sexes. were subjected to greater When the Roman Em- extremes of temperature, pire was dismembered (a.d. wore clothing of similar 395) a style of dress seems design, but of wool, with to have flourished in the im- heavy fringes of the same portant towns of the Medi- as a trimming. In some terranean, which was similar cases this feature of Assy- to that worn in mediaeval ROMAN. THE EVOLUTION OF FASHION. times in Britain, and which may broidered the coronation be examined in the specimens mantle of herhusband, Edward of statuary adorning tombs of the Confessor. the twelfth and thirteenth cen- For some years after the turies. The semi-tight under- Norman Conquest, women dress and sleeves appear to retained the costume of the have been elaborately em- Anglo-Saxon period, with cer- broidered, and the loose tain additions and modifica- mantle of plain material was tions. Fine coloured cloths edged with a border. and richest furs were used by One of the earliest descrip- both sexes, and sleeves and tions of the female dress in trains were such a length that Britain is that of Boadicea, it was found necessary to knot the Queen of the Iceni, whom them, so that they should not we are told wore a tunic woven trail upon the ground. chequerwise in purple, red, The next important change and blue. Over this was a was the surcoat and tight shorter garment open on the bodice, which was fastened in bosom, and leaving the arms front to fit the figure. bare. Her yellow hair flowed There are evident traces over her shoulders, upon that as civilisation advanced which rested an ample cloak, the love of dress and the secured by a fibula (brooch). desire of the fair sex to appear A torque, or necklet, was beautiful in the eyes of all also worn; a pair of bronze beholders increased in like pro- breastplates as a protection portion. From ancient MSS, from the Roman arrows, and BYZANTINE.