English Costumes of theEighteenth Century Art by Iris Brooke
Text by James Laver PRINTED By MORRISON AND GIBB LTD. LONDON AND
EDINBURGH A. & C. Black, Ltd. 4, 5 & 6 Soho Square, London, W. 1
The phrase "eighteenth-century costume" is one dear to
theatrical costumiers, and (although there has been a very
considerable diffusion of knowledge during the last few years)
it is still too often used as though the same clothes were worn
from 1700 to 1800. Eighteenth-century plays are frequently
dressed quite regardless of changes in fashion throughout the
century. Ramillies wigs are wedded to 1790 hats; Louis XV.
petticoats are worn with the towering head-dresses of 1770, and
Watteau gowns are matched with toilettes of the French
Directory. That there is some excuse for this the following
pages bear witness. There is indeed a singular homogeneity about
the period, and when one considers that fashions came in and
went out more slowly than they do at present, that the
difference between town and country was more marked,