Page:Costume, fanciful, historical, and theatrical (1906).djvu/103

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CH. VII
IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
67

lace collar falls from the neck to the shoulders in deep points, and the ringleted hair bears a ribbon rosette, or is surmounted by a plumed hat.

Henrietta, Queen of Charles I., is accredited with the introduction of female labour for clothing the outer woman, and from her day mantle-making ranked among female occupations. But the tailor still ruled supreme, and though the sex of

A FEATHER AND CHICKEN-SKIN FAN.

the milliner was the more sympathetic, it was left to the next century to popularise feminine services.

The farthingale extended its circumference in the reign of James I., when much effort was taken to suppress it, for the King declared it occupied more room at his court than he himself. The ruff flourished, but less obtrusively than in the preceding reigns, and in its place was adopted what was known as a fall, a loose band overhanging the top of a wide collar starched and frilled at the base—a fancy some merry writer of the period noted with the epigram:

A question 'tis why women wear a fall?
The truth on't is, to pride they're given all,
And pride, the proverb says, will have a fall.