_Shirt Collars._--In Hone's _Every-day Book_, vol. ii. p. 381., I find the
following, which I think is after the present ridiculous fashion of wearing
shirt collars, viz. so tight round the neck, and so stiff, that it is a
wonder there are not some serious accidents.
These collars, at present worn by the fast young men of the day, are called
"The Piccadilly three-folds." Now, if this goes on until they get to a
"nail in depth, and stiffened with yellow starch, and _double wired_," I
think it will only be proper to put a heavy tax upon them.
"_Piccadilly._--The picadil was the round hem, or the piece set about
the edge or skirt of a garment, whether at top or bottom; also a kind
of _stiff collar_, made in fashion of a band, that went about the neck
and round about the shoulders: hence the term 'wooden piccadilloes'
(meaning the pillory) in _Hudibras_; and see Nares' _Glossary_, and
Blount's _Glossographia_. At the time that ruffs and picadils were much
in fashion, there was a celebrated ordinary near St. James's, called
_Piccadilly_: because, as some say, it was the outmost, or skirt-house,
situate at the hem of the town: but it more probably took its name from
one Higgins, a tailor, who made a fortune by picadils, and built this
with a few adjoining houses. The name has by a few been derived from a
much frequented shop for the sale of these articles; this probably took
its rise from the circumstance of Higgins having built houses there,
which however were not for selling ruffs; and indeed, with the
exception of his buildings, the site of the present Piccadilly was at
that time open country, and quite out of the way of trade. At a later
period, when Burlington House was built, its noble owner chose the
situation, then at some distance from the extremity of the town, that
_none might build beyond_ him. The ruffs formerly worn by gentlemen
were frequently _double wired_, and _stiffened_ with _yellow starch_:
and the practice was at one time carried to such an excess, that they
were limited by Queen Elizabeth '_to a nayle of a yeard in depth_.' In
the time of James I., they still continued of a preposterous size: so
that, previous to the visit made by that monarch to Cambridge in 1615,
the Vice-chancellor of the University thought fit to issue an order,
prohibiting 'the fearful enormity and excess of apparel seen in all
degrees, as, namely, _strange piccadilloes_, vast bands, huge cuffs,
shoe roses, tufts, locks, and tops of hair, unbeseeming that modesty
and carriage of students in so renowned a university.'"
It is scarcely to be supposed that the ladies were deficient in the size of
their ruffs, &c.