the present day, and turn our thoughts for a moment to those terrible
cylindrical enormities the pot-hat and trousers.
Dress? we don't dress--we simply cover our nakedness--as in
architecture we are content if we keep out wind and wet. We have
forgotten how to dress as we have forgotten how to build, and beauty
has forsaken dress as it has forsaken the rest of the decorative arts.
Dress is, or should be, one of the decorative arts; the adornment of
a "human," assuming that Nature's marvel must be covered, is, to say
the very least, as important as the adornment of a brick wall. What
is the explanation of the wave of Philistinism which swept not only
England but the rest of the world at the beginning of the nineteenth
century? Can it be the rise of science, which, bringing in its wake
the mechanical fiend, has reduced everything to rule and compass, and
thus brought about the death of the æsthetic sense? No other period of
the world's history but some country forged ahead and kept alight the
sacred lamp of beauty.
* * * * *
Trousers are apparently eternal; they date from the beginning, and will
endure, one fears, to the end of sublunary time. Of late there has
been a tendency, especially amongst middle-aged and elderly men, to
affect the knickerbocker, although whether the æsthetic principle is
the mainspring of this tendency, coupled with a natural and pardonable
desire to exhibit a well-developed calf, or whether, peradventure, the
"too old at twenty" cry is at the bottom of it, is a question which
provides food for reflection.
What, then, in view of this eternity of the trouser, can be done to
bring it abreast of modern taste and thought? because we _do_ move
in matters of taste, although almost imperceptibly. Speaking as a
designer, it seems only possible to develop the trouser in one of
two different directions--that of the peg-top or the bell-bottom.
Bell-bottoms may at once be ruled out of the running, since they have
become so identified with the coster fraternity that no man of fashion
would dream of adopting them. These, then, are the two extremes or
opposite poles. There is, however, as the late Mr. Gladstone would have
said, a third and middle course--_their columnar character might be
retained, and even emphasised_. The shafts might be fluted, as in the
Corinthian Order, or festooned, as in the "Prentice pillar."
[Illustration: LONDON PROMENADE DRESS, 1836.]
In all seriousness, however, the trouser is an absurdity even from
the point of view of mere comfort. A man cannot sit down without
first hitching himself up at the knee. The knee is the natural place
for the garment to be drawn in, as a certain degree of looseness is
necessary at that point in order to allow of the free movement of the
limb. Nature herself rebels against the trouser, and does her level
best to produce variety of fold, which makes for beauty. Philistine
man, however, decides otherwise, and that singular invention the
trouser-stretcher--true emblem of the modern spirit of incongruity--is
called into play, to undo during the night Nature's doings of the
previous day.
The late Lord Salisbury, in his speech at the Royal Academy Banquet on
April 30, 1887, is reported as saying: "Then consider the costume of
the period. Dresses seem to have been selected by the existing English
generation with a special desire to flout and gibe at and repudiate
all possibility of compliance with any sense of beauty. I am taxing my
memory, but I cannot remember any sculptor who has been bold enough to
give a life statue of any English notability in the evening dress of
the period. I am quite sure that if that man exists he must be strongly
tempted to commit suicide the moment his work appears."
The _Tailor and Cutter_--delightfully fascinating print!--has thrown
out many dark hints lately of impending startling changes in men's
attire. By the way, _who_ are the Rhadamanthine spirits who sit
mysteriously in judgment upon these high matters, issuing their fateful
decrees, regulating the delicate and subtle curves of the brim of a
pot-hat or the turn of a coat collar? Perhaps the _Tailor and Cutter_
knows, but, upon the principle that knowledge is power, declines to
say; anyway, whatever changes the immediate future may have in store
for us, we may take comfort from the fact that they must necessarily
be in the direction of betterment, since, having recently emerged from
that bottomless pit of all that is æsthetically terrible--the Victorian
era: the era of the crinoline, the antimacassar, and of wax flowers
under glass--we could not possibly strike a lower depth.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Gen. iii. 7, 21.
[2] This fable is so quaintly told in Lyly's "Euphues" (1580), that
it may be worth while to repeat it. "A gentleman walking abroard, the
Winde thought to blowe of(f) his cloake, which with great blastes and
blustering striving to vnloose it, made it to stick faster to his
backe, for the more the winde encreased the closer his cloake clapt to
his body, then the Sunne, shining with his hoat beames began to warme
this gentleman, who waxing som(e)what faint in this faire weather,
did not on(e)ly put of(f) his cloake but his coate, which the Wynde
perceiuing, yeelded the conquest to the Sunne."
[3] Carlyle, "Sartor Resartus."
[4] Stephen Gosson, "The School of Abuse."
[5] Exodus xxviii. 6-8.
II
THE
TUNIC
"Where were the variegated robes, works of Sidonian women,
which god-like Paris himself brought from Sidon, sailing over
the wide sea, along the course by which he conveyed high-born
Helen?"--_Iliad_, vi. 289.
II
THE TUNIC
The earliest made-up garment, that in which the art of the tailor was
called into play, was doubtless a simple bag, more or less closely
fitting to the body and of varying length, with holes for the arms
and an opening for the neck. Such a primitive garment has been worn
in varying forms at all periods of the world's history, and is in use
at the present time in the form of the ordinary singlet. The modern
singlet is, in fact, the simple, primeval type of the tunic.
The coat of many colours which Israel made for his son Joseph was
unquestionably an embroidered tunic, although probably made loose and
ample. The little coat which the mother of Samuel made for her child
when he was dedicated to the priesthood, and brought to him from year
to year, was doubtless of the same character.
Sir Henry Layard, describing the dresses of the Assyrians, says "many
are represented naked, but the greater number are dressed in short
chequered tunics with a long fringe attached to the girdle."
[Illustration: TUNIC, PETTICOAT AND GIRDLE, BRONZE AGE.
_From "Industrial Arts of Old Denmark" (Worsaae)._]
Some remarkable discoveries have been made during the last thirty years
in different portions of Scandinavia, which serve to give us a very
clear idea of the dress of both men and women of the remote period of
the Bronze Age. The dresses were found in coffins made of an oak-tree
split in two and hollowed out, the bodies having been buried completely
dressed. An illustration is given of a simple woollen tunic with short
sleeves and a petticoat with girdle. This was found at Borum, in the
neighbourhood of Aarhus, Jutland.
[Illustration: HUNEFER AND HIS WIFE IN ATTITUDE OF ADORATION.
_From the Papyrus of Hunefer, or "Book of the Dead," c. B.C.
1370._]
The tunic was worn by the Egyptians. It is seen in their sculptures,
paintings, and papyri, and may be said to have formed their principal
garment, after the mere loin cloth. The illustrations given are taken
from the papyrus of Hunefer, or "Book of the Dead," in the British
Museum. The first cut discovers Hunefer, "overseer of the palace of
the lord of two lands, Men-maât-Rā (Seti I., King of Egypt about
B.C. 1370), and overseer of the cattle of the lord of the two
lands, the royal scribe," and his wife Nasha, a lady of the college of
the god Amen-Rā at Thebes, in the attitude of adoration.
Hunefer wears a long tunic with sleeves, ornamented at the throat
and neck, with a broad sash around the waist. His wife also wears a
long tunic with sleeves, probably tied in with a band underneath the
breasts; it is not clear in the drawing. The material is of a light
tissue, semi-transparent.
The second illustration shows a priest wearing nothing but a loin cloth
and a leopard skin.
In the Victoria and Albert Museum is a child's tunic, discovered in a
tomb at Alkmîm (Panopolis), Upper Egypt. It is of unbleached linen,
dyed blue, with a pattern produced by means of what is called "a
reserve," the design being first stamped on the fabric by means of a
waxy substance which protected those portions of the dress from the dye
into which it was afterwards dipped. The "reserve" was then removed by
a second bath, leaving the pattern in the original colour of the fabric.
[Illustration: _From the Papyrus of Hunefer, or "Book of the Dead," c.
B.C. 1370._]
With the Greeks the tunic was the principal article of attire. It was
worn next to the skin, and was of a light tissue. In the earlier time
it was composed of wool, in later periods of flax, and in the latest
periods it was either of flax mixed with silk or of pure silk. The
illustration given will serve to show its construction. It was a simple
square bag, open at the two ends, made sufficiently wide to admit of
the folds being ample, and sufficiently long to allow of its being
gathered up about the waist and breasts. It was kept in its place by
various means, either by a simple girdle round the waist or by cords
drawn crosswise between the breasts, over the shoulders, looped at the
back, and again drawn round the waist, or by an arrangement of cords or
ribbons drawn over each shoulder and attached to the girdle.
Over the tunic was a second garment, intended to afford additional
protection to the upper part of the body. This was a kind of bib or
super-tunic, and was composed of a square or rather oblong piece of
stuff, suspended round the chest and back and secured at the shoulders
by means of fibulæ or buttons. In some cases the bib was made deeper
under the arms, so as to allow the garment to fall in regular zigzag
folds, ending in a point, which was weighted with little pellets of
lead in order to ensure a better falling of the folds.
[Illustration: THE TUNIC.]
The tunic, as well as the super-tunic, was often ornamented with rich
borders and diapered with sprigs, spots, stars, &c. The tunic of the
Roman women reached to the feet, with the exception of that worn by
the Lacedemonian girls, which was short, and also divided at the sides
so as to show their thighs; and "this indecency," says Strutt, was
countenanced by the laws of Lycurgus.
[Illustration: THE TUNIC.
_From Hope's "Costume of the Ancients."_]
Horace, in his twenty-fifth Ode, addressing an old woman affecting
youth--"flaunting wife of the indigent Ibycus"--exclaims--
"What becomes thee best is a warm woollen dress;
Get thee fleeces from famous Luceria."
Broadly speaking, classic dress consisted of but two elements--the
tunic and mantle, both being worn of a thicker material during cold
weather. Ulysses exclaims, in the "Odyssey"--
"I have no cloak; the fates have cheated me,
And left alone my tunic."
Dion Cassius has given us an account of the dress of Boadicea, Queen of
the Iceni. He says she wore a tunic woven chequerwise in purple, red
and blue, and over it a shorter garment open on the bosom. Her yellow
hair floated in the wind, and upon her shoulders was a mantle fastened
by a fibula. It was, in fact, a variation of the Roman dress of tunic
and mantle or toga. This was the dress which was common to all nations,
both Gaul, Goth, Visigoth, and Vandal, from the Roman period to the
time of Charlemagne, varied, however, according to climatic conditions,
and ornamented in the manner peculiar to the particular country.
Mr. Planché ("Cyclopædia of Costume") says: "That in this chequered
cloth we see the original _breacan feile_, the garb of old Gaul, still
the national dress of the Scotch Highlanders, there can be no doubt;
and that it was at this time the common habit of every Keltic tribe,
though now abandoned by all their descendants except the hardy and
unsophisticated Gaelic mountaineers, is admitted, I believe, by every
antiquary who has made public his opinion on the subject."
Eginhart, a writer of the ninth century, has left us a detailed
description of the dress of Charlemagne. It consisted of the following
parts: The shirt, the drawers, the tunic, the stockings, the leg
bandages, the shoes, the sword-belt, and sword. In the winter he added
the mantle and the _thorax_, which was, as its name implies, a covering
for the chest and throat. It was made of otter's skin, and was probably
worn underneath the tunic, as no pictured or other representation of
this garment is available.
His tunic was ornamented with a _border of silk_. The material of the
tunic itself is not mentioned, but Strutt thinks that, according to the
custom of the time, it was made of linen. It was the _short_ tunic,
as the historian positively asserts that he wore the longer tunic but
twice in his life.[6]
Another French writer quoted by Strutt mentions stockings and
_trowsers_, the latter of linen, but ornamented with precious
workmanship, _i.e._, embroidery as forming part of the dress of the
Franks.
[Illustration: GREEK FIGURE.
_From Hope's "Costume of the Ancients."_]
Fortunately, we are able to form a very complete idea of Frankish dress
from the sculptured effigies of Clovis and his Queen Clothilde on the
façade of the Cathedral of Chartres, and other records which have
come down to us. The pencil, or the sculptor's chisel, must necessarily
be more eloquent and convincing than any written description can
possibly be. The general appearance of the Queen may, however, be
described as follows: She wears a long loose tunic of soft material,
reaching to the ground, confined by a falling girdle with an oval clasp
in front, in which emeralds, amethysts and rubies vie with each other
in their brilliance. The sleeves are long and ample, the edges serrated
in the form of leaves. The long flowing embroidered mantle is fastened
by a gold fibula at the throat. Her flaxen hair falls in two long
double plaits in front of her person, reaching almost to the ground;
the plaits being first bound singly by a dark ribbon, and each pair
bound together by a lighter ribbon. A thin gauze veil covers the head,
which is surmounted by a crown of exquisite workmanship.
[Illustration: GREEK FIGURE.
_From Hope's "Costume of the Ancients."_]
The dress of the Byzantine women, at the time of the dismemberment of
the Roman Empire in 395, was still the loose or semi-loose tunic, with
sleeves added, elaborately ornamented in the rich diapered patterns
peculiar to that period and nation, and confined at the waist by a
girdle. This costume, with variations, obtained until the Norman
Conquest, when costume began to be more complex. The long loose gown
is variously described in documents of the period by the names of the
tunic, the _gunna_ or gown, and the kirtle. There was a short tunic,
with sleeves reaching only to the elbows, and there was a long tunic,
with tight sleeves, worn underneath. The kirtle, such as we are
familiarised with in the dress of a later period, had not come into
being. As a matter of fact, the term "kirtle" is indiscriminately used
in the description of various garments. Tyrwhitt describes it as "a
tunic or waistcoat."
In the "Romaunt of the Rose" the "damoselles right young" are arrayed--
"In kirtles and noon other wede,"
evidently here intended for a long gown or tunic.
The dress of the twenty young squires chosen by Guy of Warwick is thus
described:--
"Kyrtyls they had oon of sylke
Also whyte, as any mylke.
Of gode sylke and of purpull palle
Mantels above they caste all.
Hosys they had uppon, but no schone;
Barefote they were everychone."
Both Strutt and some other writers on the subject of costume appear to
be puzzled by the _colouring_ of the earlier illuminators, principally,
however, with respect to the colour of the hair and beard, but
also in regard to the various details of costume. They remark the
curious circumstance of the hair and beard being painted _blue_. "In
representations of old men this might be considered only to indicate
_grey hair_; but even the flowing locks of Eve are painted blue in
one MS., and the heads of youth and age exhibit the same cerulean
tint." Strutt argues from this that some art of tinting or dyeing was
practised. A writer who quotes Strutt says: "The hair being painted
sometimes _green_ and _orange_ is in favour of this argument, but
such instances are very rare, and may have arisen from the idleness
of the illuminator, who daubed it, perhaps, with the nearest colour
at hand." This, however, was not in the least so. The explanation
is, as any _educated_ artist knows (artists are not _all_ educated),
that with the old illuminator _the decoration of the page_ was his
first consideration--rightly so; and the colour of the hair and beard,
together with the precise tint of the gown, would incline to either
blue, red, or yellow, accordingly as the exigencies of the general
colour scheme demanded. This fact should always be kept in mind in
considering the colour of any illuminated MS.
This colouring is amusingly parodied by Mr. Punch in his book of
British costumes (1860). He gives a fragment of a love song, "commonly
believed to have been written by King Vortigern, who was inveigled into
marriage with the daughter of old Hengist":--
"Rowena is my ladye-love,
Her robe itte is a gunna;
Shee wears blewe haire her ears above,
O is shee notte a stunna!"
He adds: "Critics disagree as to the meaning of the word 'stunna,' but
we incline, ourselves, to think it was a bit of Saxon slang, and from
the context we imagine it was used by way of compliment."
[Illustration: "TREUTHE'S PILGRYME ATTE PLOW."
_From the MS. R. 3, 14 in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge._]
A development of the super-tunic was the surcoat, which was worn by
either sex during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It assumed
a variety of forms, and was either a long loose outer garment,
variously shaped and sleeveless, or, as during the reign of Richard
II., was a shorter, closely-fitting jacket or coat with sleeves, and
usually trimmed with miniver or other fur.
The surcoat, or super-tunic, during the Anglo-Saxon period, was worn by
the nobility only, and was therefore made of the most costly material,
of silk or of finest linen, and often richly embroidered. As a matter
of fact, embroidery always forms a conspicuous element in Anglo-Saxon
dress, the Anglo-Saxon women being famous for their skill with the
needle. We learn from Eginhart that the four Princesses, daughters of
Edward the Elder, and sisters to Æthelstan, were celebrated for their
skill in spinning, weaving, and embroidering, and Editha, the wife of
Edward the Confessor, was a perfect mistress of the needle.
[Illustration: ANGLO-SAXON DRESS (EIGHTH CENTURY).]
A somewhat remarkable feature of Anglo-Saxon dress of the eighth
century was the long super-tunic with long sleeves, worn in travelling
or during cold weather. The sleeves not only cover the hands, but
reach considerably below the tips of the fingers. The sleeves worn by
the Chinese mandarins at the present time are identical with the long
sleeves of the Anglo-Saxon period.
The tunic, so far as women's dress is concerned, may be said to have
finally disappeared by the time of the Tudors, when a woman's dress
consisted of kirtle or petticoat, and bodice or stomacher. Indeed, the
tunic proper may be said to have disappeared with the general change
which came about in costume immediately after the Norman Conquest,
the Saxon word "gunna" and the Norman "surcoat" better describing the
dresses of that period.
The term "tunic" is also applied to the military surcoat of the present
time, this article of military costume, however, bearing no sort of
affinity to the original tunic.
An important adjunct of the tunic was the girdle, by which the garment
was looped up and confined within reasonable limits. In the case of the
men, as Strutt observes, it served a double purpose, that of confining
the tunic, and supporting the sword.
Girdles were of various kinds--a sash of silk or other materials; or
formed of leather, either a simple thong or ornamented in various ways;
or of different cloths, richly embroidered and studded with jewels; or
of metal. The girdle of Charlemagne was composed of gold and silver.
"A girdel ful riche for the nanes
Of perry and of precious stanes."
_Ywaine and Gawin._
The Imperial girdle of the Holy Roman Empire was woven in silk and
gold, having a woven inscription upon the narrow border, and clasped by
means of a heavy gilt buckle.
It is recorded that upon the return of Henry VI. to England after his
coronation in France in 1432 the Lord Mayor of London rode to meet him
at Eltham, "being arrayed in crimson velvet, a great velvet hat furred,
a girdle of gold about his middle, and a baldrick of gold about his
neck trailing down behind him."
Numerous fine examples of the girdle occur among the early brasses. It
was used also by both sexes for the purpose of suspending or sustaining
the pouch or purse which was invariably worn during the Middle Ages, as
it was the only form of pocket--
"And by his gurdil hyng a purs of lethir,
Tassid with silk, and perled with latoun."
_Miller's Tale._
The name "cut-purse" applied to thieves is derived from the
circumstance of the leather thongs which attached the pouch to the
girdle being slit with a knife.
* * * * *
Some few years ago a movement, having its origin, singularly enough,
in the United States, above all places, was instituted for the purpose
of inducing the modern Greeks to adopt the ancient costume of their
forefathers, several prominent Americans masquerading in the streets
of Athens in tunic and peplum. The only result of the movement was to
create a diversion amongst the inhabitants, who probably regarded their
would-be instructors as harmless lunatics. The result was, indeed,
inevitable; such sentimental movements are predestined to failure.
A national costume is of slow growth; it is the natural outcome of
the general habits, mode of thought, and temper of a people. It is as
impossible to bring about a sudden change in dress as it is to create a
new style of architecture.
* * * * *
At the annual congress of Prussian female elementary school teachers
held recently at Altona, some interesting papers were read which are
germane to this subject of costume, and which serve to show that some
of the continental peoples are more alive to the importance of this
subject than we are. We give a short _résumé_ which appeared in the
pages of the _Daily Chronicle_ a short while ago. The italics are ours.
"School-Inspector Muller urged the necessity of reform of children's
clothes, stating _that the human body is a most magnificent work of art
which is frequently maltreated with corsets and other tightly fitting
garments_.
"Fraulein Lischnevska, of Spandau, said a return must be made to the
pure art of the ancient Greeks. During gymnastic exercises children
must be naked, and only immoral persons would regard this as immoral.
This remark was greeted with a storm of applause.
"Fraulein Bertha Jordan, of Mulhausen, _deplored the fact of people
becoming so greatly estranged from art, a circumstance which she
ascribed to the degradation of work and the severance from nature, both
resulting from industrialism_. The remedy, she considers, lies with
schools and school education, and she argued that much can be done by
a careful selection of pictures on the class-room walls, by awakening
faculties of observation in children and arousing their interest in
nature which surrounds them."
FOOTNOTES: