Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/504

472 COSTUME [ENGLISH. period. Very large circular mtf s, in their form and adjustment dif fering little, if at all, from those worn by the other sex, formed essential features of the male attire in the reign of Elizabeth, when very short cloaks also continued to be worn. At the same period, long gowns guarded with fur, having open collars falling back, and their sleeves comparatively tight and having puffs at the shoulders, were in common use, as were caps and hats greatly varying in form, colour, material, and adornment. It must be added, that amidst FIG. 44. English Trunk-hose, Fid. 45. From Portrait c. 1550. of Henry III. of France, 1576. all this extravagance and eccentricity of attire, there also existed a taste for simplifying the fashions of the time so as to render them at least comparatively graceful and becoming. In connection also with the costume of the 16th century, it will be kept in remembrance, as one of the most decided innovations ever introduced into male dress, that two distinct coverings were given to the lower limbs when the hose were worn in part tight and plain, and partly putfed out, slashed, and embroidered. The term "hose" then wn applied, by way of distinction, to the upper portion, while to the lower the name of "stocking" was assigned. Towards the close of the century the hose of that period also became "breeches; " and so, in process of time, the old and long-used word "hose " came to be retained only as an equivalent for "stockings." Early in the 16th century noble ladies and gentlewomen introduced various modifications of the universal angular head-dress. Their dresses, fitting closely about the figure, and with long skirts open in front to display the under-dress, were made low and cut square about the neck ; their sleeves, tight at the shoulder, suddenly became very large and open, disclosing the puffed sleeves of the under-dress ; sometimes, however, these dresses were worn high, with short waists, and a small falling collar. Necklaces and numerous other orna ments of jewellery were in general use ; chains also, with objects of various kinds for use or ornament attached to them, hung down from the universal girdles, or the girdles themselves had one long pendant end that was elaborately enriched. By country ladies and by the wives and daughters of citizens a similar style of dress, somewhat simplified, was generally adopted. Somewhat later, the sleeves of dresses had puffs at the shoulders, and when the dresses were made open above the girdle, a "partlet," or kind of habit- shirt, was worn beneath them and carried up to the throat ; the head-dress at the same time, while generally retaining an angular contour, was small and mado to fit almost closely to the head. At this same time, the general resemblance which all along may be traced between the dresses of the two sexes became universally decided. After the accession of Queen Elizabeth in 1558, the well- known costume, associate,! with herself from about the middle till the close of her reign, gradually became established. Of the long, peaked, and tight stomachers of the ladies, and of the padded and quilted doublets of the men, it might be said with equal truth that each garment was a parody of the other. Ruffs, often of exaggerated amplitude and of a painfully severe stiffness, were worn by both sexes ; sometimes open in front and rising like an expanded fan around the throat and head, more generally they completely encircled the throat, and rested, nearly at right angles to it, on the shoulders. In their puffings and slashings the sleeves of the dresses of both sexes were alike ; nor was almost a corresponding re semblance wanting between the trunk hose and the "petticoat- breeches " of one sex, and the skirts of the kirtles and gowns and the veritable petticoats that were made to expand by enor mous wheel-like "farthingales," as in fig. 46, from the hips of the other sex. Ornaments of every kind abounded. The richest and FIG. 46. Farthingale. most showy fabrics in endless variety were in great request, and were woi u with abundance of lace, feathers, and embroidery. The monu mental effigy of Elizabeth herself, the last memorial of its class com memorative of an English sovereign, represents the queen as attired at all points in the characteristic fashion, by herself set to her time, and identified with her name ; and the sister effigy of Queen Mary Stuart, like that of Elizabeth, the work of James I", and in "West minster Abbey, gives another, but a somewhat simpler and a much m6re graceful, example of the same costume the queen of Scots wearing the cap that bears her name. As at other periods, the general female costume in the Elizabethan era was a modification of the dress of the court, the circumstances and position of different classes and individuals determining the degree of resemblance. In taking a retrospective glance at the numerous changes in costume which had taken place from ancient times to the 16th century, M. Lacroix remarks that "among European nations during the Middle Ages we find there to have been but one common standard of fashion, which varied from time to time according to the particular customs of each country, and in accordance also with the peculiarities of each race. In Italy, for example, dress always maintained a certain character of grandeur, ever recalling the fact that the influence of antiquity had not been altogether lost. In Germany and Switzerland garments generally had a heavy and massive appearance, and in Holland still more so. England uniformly studied a kind of instinctive elegance and propriety. It is a curious fact that Spain invariably partook of the heaviness peculiar to Germany, either because the Gothic element stilt prevailed there, or that the Walloon fashions had an especial attraction to her, owing to associations and general usage. France was then, as she is now, fickle and capricious, fantastical and wavering, not indeed from indifference, but because she always was ready to borrow from every quarter anything that pleased her. She, however, never failed to place her own stamp upon whatever she adopted, so making any fashion essentially French, even though she had only just borrowed it from Spain, England, Germany, or Italy. In all these countries we have seen, and still see, entire provinces adhering to some ancient custom, causing them to differ altogether in character from the rest of the nation. This is simply owing to the fact of the fashions having become obsolete in the neighbouring places ; for every local costume faithfully and rigorously preserved in an} community at a distance from the centre of political action or government, must originally have been brought there by the nobles of the country. Thus, the head-dress of Anne of Brittany (1498-1514) is still that of the peasant-women of Pcnhoet and Labrevack ; and the tall conical hennin (fig. 39) of Isabel of Bavaria (1400) is still the head-dress of Normandy.*" "With the view "briefly to indicate the last connecting link between modern fashions and those of former periods," the same writer proceeds to point out how, "under Francis I. (1515- 1547), the costumes adopted from Italy became almost stationary. Under Henry II. (1547-1559), and especially after the death of that prince, the taste for frivolities made immense progress, and the style of dress in ordinary use seemed day by day to lose the few traces of dignity which it previously had possessed. The fashion of ruffs had been introduced into France by Catherine de Medici (1560); and at the beginning of the 17th century that of small collars. Dresses, tight at the waist, began to be made very full round the hips by means of large padded rolls; and these were still more enlarged by a monstrous arrangement of padded whalebone and steel, which subsequently became the ridiculous paniers that were worn almost down to the present century. Under the last of the Valois (1500) men s dress was short, the jacket or jerkin was pointed and trimmed round with small peaks ; the velvet cap was trimmed with aigrettes ; the beard was pointed ; a pearl hung from the left ear ; and a small cloak or mantle, which reached only to the waist, was carried on the shoulder. The use of gloves made of scented leather became universal. Ladies wore- their dresses long, very full, and of costly materials, little or no change in these respects having taken place during the reign of Henry IV. (1589-1610). At this period the men s high hose were made longer and fuller, especially in Spain and the Low Countries, and the fashion of large soft boots, made of doeskin or of black morocco, became universal. For a long time, even in the towns, the costume of the bourgeois was almost unchanged. Never having adopted either the tight-fitting hose or the balloon breeches, they wore an easy jerkin, a large cloak, and a felt hat, which the English made conical and with a broad brim. Towards the beginning of the 17th century, the high hose, which were worn by the northern nations profusely trimmed, were transformed into the culottes, which were full and open at the knees. A division thus was suddenly made between the lower and the upper parts of the hose, as if the garment which covered the lower limbs had been cut in two, and then garters were necessarily adopted. Almost throughout Europe, the felt hat became a cap taking the exact form of the head, and having a wide and flat brim turned up on one side. To boots and shoes high heels were added, in place of those which before had been flat and had been accompanied with single soles. Two centuries later a terrible social agitation took

place in Europe, after which male attire became plain, ungraceful,