Historic Costumes

GT 510 .D6 R'C>CS COLLEGE LRC ^Davtd(D.jUc9<aySfib/ta/ty 3 1404 00 024 01 8 Presented by: Olive Webster DATE DUE Demco Historic Costumes Their Influence on Modern Fashions By S. H. Ditchett Editor of the Dry Goods Economist Reprinted from the Dry Goods Economist of April 3, 1920 Price 50 cents 239 West 39th Street, New Yiyrk 14 {"}H! yes, I know what it means—only I can't tell you." Lots of people—in stores and out of them—are in this plight as regards terms used every day that indi- cate a certain form of coat, or skirt, or collar or other detail of dress, or perhaps some general tendency in fashion. Those employed in certain departments in dry goods and department stores can't afford to be unable to tell when a customer asks what it means when a coat is in Directoire style, for example. Or a customer may lose faith in the saleswoman who tells her a dress is "1880" when it isn't anything of the kind. So here we outline briefly the characteristics of leading historical styles of costume to which fashion de- signers more or less continually have recourse as inspiration for our modes Many books on historical costumes—most of them very expensive—have been published. As a rule, these works contain such a wide range of illustrations as to be confusing to the student, though of great value to the designer. This short review, with its accom- panying plates, will give any thoughtful reader a clear conception of the principal costume ideas that history affords. Those who wish to pursue the subject further will, in our opinion, get the best results by reading histories and biographies, as well as books of costume. When you actually "know" the leading figures of bygone days and their environment, you naturally visual- ize them in the dress they wore, the more so as in every biography and memoir you come every now and then on authentic and illuminating bits of description as to costume, hairdressing and other details. Historic Costumes COSTUMES of bygone days are the in- dress may be modern or ancient. We have spiration of the fashion creators of to- to-day the Egyptian influence, derived from day. Sellers of women's apparel, neck- the period of the Pharaohs, and we have wear, millinery and other articles in which styles drawn from the present-day costumes style is a factor have constantly on their lips of the peasants of Bulgaria, Roumania and words derived from the personages or wear- other Balkan States and of the well-to-do ables of centuries long passed away. Chinese. Moroccan and Arabian costumes True, these words are not invariably used have also been a source of inspiration for in their correct or original sense. "Peplum," fashionable dress of the current hour. for instance, in its twentieth century usage, The foregoing glance, brief as it is, opens does not mean the close-fitting garment ex- up a broad and long vista. It clearly indi- tending from neck to feet and girdled above cates how vast a space of time and how ex- the hips, spoken of by Homer and shown on tensive a territory the close student of cos- archaic vases. Nor does "gabardine" to-day tume must take under his observation. Is mean the garment worn by the Jews of the it not then an impossible task to cover the sixteenth century and spoken of by Shylock history of costume even in an extensive ar- in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice." ticle? It is; and we will not here attempt it. What can be done in the space at our com- Terms Have Definite Import mand is to touch the high lights of the sub- Nevertheless, the majority of the terms ject, endeavoring to make clear to Economist employed are used with a marked degree of readers what is meant by the costume terms accuracy; "Moyen Age," "Renaissance," that are nowadays in most general use. "Medicis," "Louis XIII," "Directoire," "Wat- For the sake of brevity, as well as clear- teau," "1830," "1880," etc., have a meaning ness, we shall avoid direct reference to the and application that are definite and prac- classic dress of ancient Greece and Rome. tically unchanging. These influences were strongly revived in Sometimes, however, inspiration is di- France during her great Revolution and can rectly traceable to some historic period be treated of in connection with that period. not previously drawn upon. For example, Furthermore, during the centuries that ex- "Moyen Age" was not heard of in connection tended from the fall of the Roman Empire with fashions until 1908. Sometimes a new to the Renaissance, or revival of letters and name is employed to describe fashions based art, which began in Italy in the fourteenth on the costumes of a certain period. Thus century, costumes showed little change and "Velasquez" and "Spanish Infanta" have thus can be treated practically as a unit, only recently been employed to designate under the title of Moyen Age, or Middle styles which owe their inspiration to the re- Ages. nowned Spanish painter of the seventeenth Moyen Age, or Merovingian century and the dresses of the young and Let us, then, take royal lady he portrayed so graphically. as our starting point the Moyen Age styles. Paris used these as National Dress Influence inspiration for a new mode in 1908. The Distinction should be made between idea originated in a theatrical production at period influences and those flowing from the the Comedie Franchise, entitled "Le Bon Roi national dress of a country or region. Such Dagobert ("Good King Dagobert") and that Historic Costumes ruler of the fifth century of our era being one shows the adoption of two distinct types of of the Merovingian kings, the styles in ques- costumes for men. tion in their application of twelve years ago The first of these types was a long and were at first referred to as "Merovingian." loose gown, with wide sleeves, belted at the The principal feature of these Moyen Age waist, and having a broad collar folding back styles was the close-fitting bodice, following over the shoulders and displaying an under- the natural lines, extending to the hips and tunic or vest, loose at the throat. The other terminating in a broad band which further costumes consisted of a short tunic or vest, tended to hold the bodice in to the figure. tightly fitting, worn under an open doublet There was also a strong use of embroidery, with loose sleeves. this being a feature of the costumes of the Men's Dress Remarkably Elaborate men as well as the women of the Merovingian period. The use of a girdle, either double and During the later Tudor period—that is, encircling both waist and hips, or at the hips in the time of Henry VIII, in England, and only—in the latter case, tied at the front and of Francis I in France—men's dress reached with long hanging ends—was also essential a remarkable degree of elaboration. The gen- to the well-dressed dame of the fifth century. eral effort was toward the creation of an ex- tremely broad and capacious effect. The trunk Ideas Drawn from Men's Costumes hose, as the garments were called which after- The next period that has made its mark ward developed into breeches and later into on modern fashions is that of Louis XI in trousers, were gathered at the mid-thigh and France and of the earlier Tudor monarchs greatly puffed out. All garments for men were in England. heavily padded, and were of such stiff and Here it may be said that throughout the heavy material that only men accustomed, as centuries which we shall cover the French were those of the sixteenth century, to the and English fashions coincided to such an habitual use of armor could support such extent that it is not only possible but proper heating and uncomfortable costumes. to treat the styles of the two countries as a A Monarch's Rich Attire whole. Hence, where it is advisable we give Here is the description of the dress of both the French and the English names for Henry VIII in the year 1540—and doubtless each period or style. his contemporary, King Francis I of France, It should also be noted that from the was no less richly attired, for it will be re- Tudor period down to the beginning of the membered that the two monarchs united in eighteenth century the dress of the men was holding a tournament at which the costumes fully as elaborate or even fantastic as that and other appurtenances were so costly that of the women. At times, indeed, the men the occasion has ever since been known as outdid the women in the richness and costli- the Field of the Cloth of Gold. ness of their apparel, as well as in the bril- liancy of coloring and in the variety of ma- A garment of cloth of silver damask ribbed with cloth of gold as thick as might be. The gar- terials employed. ment was large and pleated, very thick, of such for this reason that so many of the It is shape and make as was marvellous to behold. modern ideas in fashions for women are Women's Costume Less Extravagant drawn not from the women's costume, but from The costumes of the court ladies of the that of the men.

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