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  The Evolution of Fashion

  BY
  FLORENCE MARY GARDINER

  _Author of "Furnishings and Fittings for Every Home," "About Gipsies,"
  &c. &c._

  [Illustration: SIR ROBERT BRUCE COTTON.]

  London:

  THE COTTON PRESS, GRANVILLE HOUSE, ARUNDEL STREET, W.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.

[Illustration: _Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland._ _Princess Henry of
Pless._ _The Countess of Warwick._ _Lady Marjorie Greville._ _Lady Eva
Dugdale._

THE WARWICK BALL.]




PREFACE.


In compiling this volume on Costume (portions of which originally
appeared in the _Ludgate Illustrated 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. Planche. 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 Juliet
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, 1897._




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER.                                                          PAGE.

  I. THE DRESS, B.C. 594--A.D. 1897                                    3

  II. CURIOUS HEADGEAR                                                15

  III. GLOVES                                                         25

  IV. CURIOUS FOOTGEAR                                                31

  V. BRIDAL COSTUME                                                   39

  VI. MOURNING                                                        51

  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




THE EVOLUTION OF FASHION




CHAPTER I.

THE DRESS, B.C. 594--A.D. 1897.

  "Fashions that are now called new
  Have been worn by more than you;
  Elder times have used the same,
  Though these new ones get the name."

  _Middleton's "Mayor of Quinborough."_


A hard fate has condemned human beings to enter this mortal sphere
without any natural covering, like that possessed by the lower animals
to protect them from the extremes of heat and cold. Had this been
otherwise, countless myriads, for untold ages, would have escaped the
tyrannical sway of the goddess Fashion, and the French proverb, _il faut
souffrir pour etre belle_, need never have been written.

[Illustration: EARLY EGYPTIAN.]

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