The _bonnet à canon_ and sugarloaf headdress--Headdress of the
women of Normandy at the present day--Odd dress of King Louis
XI.--Return of Charles VIII. from Naples--A golden time for
tailors and milliners--General change of fashion--Costumes
of the time of Francis I. of France and Maximilian of
Germany--General use of pins in France and England--Masks worn
in France--Establishment of the empire of Fashion in France--The
puffed or _bouffant_ sleeves of the reign of Henry II.--The
Bernaise dress--Costume of the unfortunate Marie Stuart--Rich
dresses and long slender waists of the period--The tight-lacing
of Henry III. of France--The Emperor Joseph of Austria,
his edict forbidding the use of stays, and how the ladies
regarded it--Queen Catherine de Medici and Queen Elizabeth of
England--The severe form of Corsets worn in both France and
England--The _corps_--Steel Corset covers of the period--Royal
standard of fashionable slenderness--The lawn ruffs of Queen
Bess--The art of starching--Voluminous nether-garments worn
by the gentlemen of the period--Fashions of the ladies of
Venice--Philip Stubs on the ruff--Queen Elizabeth's collection
of false hair--Stubs furious at the fashions of ladies--King
James and his fondness for dress and fashion--Restrictions and
sumptuary laws regarding dress--Side-arms of the period.
From about 1380 to some time afterwards headdresses of most singular
form of construction were in general wear in fashionable circles. One
of these, the _bonnet à canon_, was introduced by Isabel of Bavaria.
The "_sugarloaf_" headdress was also in high esteem, and considered
especially becoming and attractive. The accompanying illustration
faithfully represents both of these. The latter in a modified form
is still worn by the women of Normandy. Throughout the reign of
Louis XI. dress continued to be most sumptuous in its character.
Velvet was profusely worn, with costly precious stones encircling the
trimmings. Sumptuary laws were issued right and left, with a view to
the correction of so much extravagance, whilst the king himself wore a
battered, shabby old felt cap, with a bordering of leaden figures of
the Virgin Mary round it. The rest of his attire was plain and simple
to a degree.
[Illustration: LADIES OF FASHION IN THE COSTUME OF 1380.]
[Illustration: NORMAN HEADDRESS OF THE PRESENT DAY.]
Next we see his successor, Charles VIII., returning as a conqueror
from Naples, dressed in the first style of Italian fashion. Then came
a period of intense activity on the part of milliners and tailors, and
a short time sufficed to completely metamorphose the reigning belles
of the nation. Smaller, much more becoming and coquettish headdresses
were introduced, and a general change of style brought about. Germany
participated in the same sudden change of fashion, which lasted until
the reign of Francis I. Accompanying illustrations represent a lady
of the court of Maximilian I. of Germany, and a lady of the court of
Francis I. of France. During his reign pins came into general use
both in France and England, although their use had been known to the
most ancient races, numerous specimens having been discovered in the
excavations of Thebes and other Old World cities. Ladies' masks or
visors were also introduced in France at this period, but they did not
become general in England until the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was
about this time that France commenced the establishment of her own
fashions and invented for herself, and that the ladies of that nation
became celebrated for the taste and elegance of their raiment.
On Henry II. succeeding Charles this taste was steadily on the
increase. The _bouffant_, or puffed form of sleeve, was introduced,
and a very pretty and becoming style of headdress known as the
_Bernaise_. The illustration shows a lady wearing this, the feather
being a mark of distinction. The dress is made of rich brocade, and
the waist exceedingly long (period, 1547.) The right-hand figure
represents the unfortunate Marie Stuart arrayed in a court dress of
the period, 1559. On the head is a gold coronet; her under-dress is
gold brocade, with gold arabesque work over it; the over-dress is
velvet, trimmed with ermine; the girdle consisted of costly strings of
pearls; the sleeves are of gold-coloured silk, and the puffings are
separated from each other by an arrangement of precious stones; the
front of the dress is also profusely ornamented in the same manner;
the frill or ruff was made from costly lace from Venice or Genoa, and
was invented by this very charming but unfortunate lady; the form
of the waist is, as will be seen on reference to this illustration,
long, and shows by its contour the full influence of the tightly-laced
corset beneath the dress, which fits the figure with extraordinary
accuracy.
At this time Fashion held such despotic sway throughout the continent
of Europe, that the Emperor Joseph of Austria, following out his
extraordinary penchant for the passing of edicts, and becoming
alarmed at the formidable lures laid out for the capture of mankind
by the fair sex, passed a law rigorously forbidding the use of the
corset in all nunneries and places where young females were educated;
and no less a threat than that of excommunication, and the loss of
all the indulgences the Church was capable of affording, hung over
the heads of all those evil-disposed damsels who persisted in a
treasonable manner in the practice of confining their waists with
such evil instruments as stays. Royal command, like an electric
shock, startled the College of Physicians into activity and zeal, and
learned dissertations on the crying sin of tight lacing were scattered
broadcast amongst the ranks of the benighted and tight-laced ladies of
the time, much as the advertisements of cheap furnishing ironmongers
are hurled into the West-End omnibuses of our own day.
It is proverbial that gratuitous advice is rarely followed by the
recipient. Open defiance was in a very short time bid to the edicts of
the emperor and the erudite dissertations of the doctors. The corsets
were, if possible, laced tighter than ever, and without anything very
particular happening to the world at large in consequence.
[Illustration: LADY OF THE COURT OF CHARLES VIII., 1560.]
[Illustration: LADY OF THE COURT OF MAXIMILIAN OF GERMANY AND
FRANCIS OF FRANCE.]
[Illustration: CORSET-COVER OF STEEL WORN IN THE TIME OF
CATHERINE DE MEDICI.]
[Illustration: CORSET-COVER OF STEEL WORN IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN
ELIZABETH (OPEN).]
[Illustration: THE BERNAISE HEADDRESS, AND COSTUME OF MARIE
STUART.]
On Queen Catherine de Medici, who, it will be seen, was a contemporary
of Queen Elizabeth of England, assuming the position of power which
she so long maintained at the court of France, costume and fashion
became her study, and at no period of the world's history were its
laws more tremendously exacting, and the ladies of her court, as
well as those in distinguished circles, were compelled to obey them.
With her a thick waist was an abomination, and extraordinary tenuity
was insisted on, thirteen inches waist measure being the standard of
fashionable elegance, and in order that this extreme slenderness might
be arrived at she herself invented or introduced an extremely severe
and powerful form of the corset, known as the _corps_. It is thus
described by a talented French writer:--"This formidable corset was
hardened and stiffened in every imaginable way; it descended in a long
hard point, and rose stiff and tight to the throat, making the wearers
look as if they were imprisoned in a closely-fitting fortress." And
in this rigid contrivance the form of the fair wearer was incased,
when a system of gradual and determined constriction was followed
out until the waist arrived at the required degree of slenderness,
as shown in the annexed illustration. Several writers have mentioned
the "_steel corsets_" of this period, and assumed that they were used
for the purpose of forcibly reducing the size of the waist. In this
opinion they were incorrect, as the steel framework in question was
simply used to wear over the corset after the waist had been reduced
by lacing to the required standard, in order that the dress over it
might fit with inflexible and unerring exactness, and that not even
a fold might be seen in the faultless stomacher then worn. These
corsets (or, more correctly, corset-covers) were constructed of very
thin steel plate, which was cut out and wrought into a species of
open-work pattern, with a view to giving lightness to them. Numbers
of holes were drilled through the flat surfaces between the hollows
of the pattern, through which the needle and thread were passed in
covering them accurately with velvet, silk, or other rich materials.
During the reign of Queen Catherine de Medici, to whom is attributed
the invention of these contrivances, they became great favourites, and
were much worn, not only at her court, but throughout the greater part
of the continent.
They were made in two pieces, opened longitudinally by hinges, and
were secured when closed by a sort of _hasp and pin_, much like an
ordinary box fastening. At both the front and back of the corsage a
long rod or bar of steel projected in a curved direction downwards,
and on these bars mainly depended the adjustment of the long peaked
body of the dress, and the set of the skirt behind. The illustration
at page 71 gives a view of one of those ancient dress-improvers.
[Illustration: CORSET-COVER OF STEEL WORN IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN
ELIZABETH (CLOSED).]
[Illustration: HENRY III. OF FRANCE AND THE PRINCESS MARGARET OF
LORRAINE.]
[Illustration: LADY OF THE COURT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.]
The votaries of fashion of Queen Elizabeth's court were not slow in
imitating in a rough manner the new continental invention, and the
illustrations at pages 72 and 76, taken from photographs, will show
that, although not precisely alike, the steel corset-covers of England
were much in principle like those of France, and the accompanying
illustration represents a court lady in one of them. We have no
evidence, however, that their use ever became very general in this
country, and we find a most powerful and unyielding form of the corset
constructed of very stout materials and closely ribbed with whalebone
superseding them. This was the _corps_ before mentioned, and its use
was by no means confined to the ladies of the time, for we find the
gentlemen laced in garments of this kind to no ordinary degree of
tightness. That this custom prevailed for some very considerable time
will be shown by the accompanying illustration, which represents Queen
Catherine's son, Henry III. (who was much addicted to the practice of
tight lacing), and the Princess Margaret of Lorraine, who was just
the style of figure to please his taste, which was ladylike in the
extreme. Eardrops in his ears, delicate kid gloves on his hands; hair
dyed to the fashionable tint, brushed back under a coquettish little
velvet cap, in which waved a white ostrich's feather; hips bolstered
and padded out, waist laced in the very tightest and most unyielding
of corsets, and feet incased in embroidered satin shoes, Henry was
a true son of his fashionable mother, only lacking her strong will
and powerful understanding. England under Elizabeth's reign followed
close on the heels of France in the prevailing style of dress. From
about the middle of her reign the upper classes of both sexes carried
out the custom of tight lacing to an extreme which knew scarcely any
bounds. The corsets were so thickly quilted with whalebone, so long
and rigid when laced to the figure, that the long pointed stomachers
then worn fitted faultlessly well, without a wrinkle, just as did the
dresses of the French court over the steel framework before described.
The following lines by an old author will give some idea of their
unbending character:--
"These privie coats, by art made strong,
With bones, with paste, with such-like ware,
Whereby their back and sides grow long,
And now they harnest gallants are;
Were they for use against the foe
Our dames for Amazons might go."
On examining the accompanying illustration representing a lady of the
court of Queen Elizabeth, it will be observed that the farthingale,
or verdingale, as it is sometimes written, and from which the modern
crinoline petticoat is borrowed, serves to give the hips extraordinary
width, which, coupled with the frill round the bottom of the
stomacher, gave the waist the appearance of remarkable slenderness as
well as length. The great size of the frills or ruffs also lent their
aid in producing the same effect.
It was in the reign of Elizabeth that the wearing of lawn and cambric
commenced in this country; previously even royal personages had been
contented with fine holland as a material for their ruffs. When
Queen Bess had her first lawn ruffs there was no one in England who
could starch them, and she procured some Dutch women to perform the
operation. It is said that her first starcher was the wife of her
coachman, Guillan. Some years later one Mistress Dinghen Vauden
Plasse, the wife of a Flemish knight, established herself in London
as a professed starcher. She also gave lessons in the art, and many
ladies sent their daughters and kinswomen to learn of her. Her terms
were five pounds for the starching and twenty shillings additional for
learning to "seeth" the starch. Saffron was used with it to impart
to it a yellow colour which was much admired. The gentlemen of the
period indulged in nether garments so puffed out and voluminous that
the legislature was compelled to take the matter in hand. We read
of "a man who, having been brought before the judges for infringing
the law made against these extensive articles of clothing, pleaded
the convenience of his pockets as an excuse for his misdemeanour.
They appeared, indeed, to have answered to him the purposes both of
wardrobe and linen cupboard, for from their ample recesses he drew
forth the following articles--viz., a pair of sheets, two tablecloths,
ten napkins, four shirts, a brush, a glass, a comb, besides nightcaps
and other useful things; his defence being--'Your worship may
understand that because I have no safer storehouse these pockets do
serve me for a roome to lay up my goodes in; and though it be a strait
prison, yet it is big enough for them.'" His discharge was granted,
and his clever defence well laughed at.
[Illustration: A VENETIAN LADY OF FASHION, 1560.]
[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH.]
The Venetian ladies appear to have been fully aware of the reducing
effect of frills and ruffs on the apparent size of waist of the
wearer, and they were, as the annexed illustration will show, worn of
extraordinary dimensions; but the front of the figure was, of course,
only displayed, and on this all the decoration and ornamentation that
extravagant taste could lavish was bestowed. The Elizabethan ruff,
large as it was, bore no comparison with this, and was worn as shown
in the accompanying portrait of the "Virgin Queen," who indulged in
numerous artifices for heightening her personal attractions. The ruffs
and frills of the period so excited the ire of Philip Stubs, a citizen
of London, that in his work, dated 1585, he thus launches out against
them in the quaint language of the time:--
"The women there vse great ruffes and neckerchers of holland, laune,
cameruke, and such clothe as the greatest threed shall not be so big
as the least haire that is, and lest they should fall downe they are
smeared and starched in the devil's liquor, I mean starche; after
that dried with great diligence, streaked, patted, and rubbed very
nicely, and so applied to their goodly necks, and withal vnderpropped
with supportasses (as I told you before), the stately arches of
pride; beyond all this they have a further fetche, nothing inferiour
to the rest, as namely--three or four degrees of minor ruffes placed
_gradation_, one beneath another, and al under the mayster deuilruffe.
The skirtes, then, of these great ruffes are long and wide, every way
pleated and crested full curiously, God wot! Then, last of all, they
are either clogged with gold, silver, or silk lace of stately price,
wrought all over with needleworke, speckeled and sparkeled here and
there with the sunne, the mone, the starres, and many other antiques
strange to beholde. Some are wrought with open worke downe to the
midst of the ruffe, and further, some with close worke, some wyth
purled lace so cloied, and other gewgaws so pestered, as the ruffe is
the least parte of itselfe. Sometimes they are pinned upp to their
eares, sometimes they are suffered to hange over theyr shoulders, like
windemill sailes fluttering in the winde; and thus every one pleaseth
her selfe in her foolish devises."
In the matter of false hair her majesty Queen Elizabeth was a perfect
connoisseur, having, so it is said, eighty changes of various kinds
always on hand. The fashionable ladies, too, turned their attention
to artificial adornment of that kind with no ordinary energy, and
poor old Stubs appears almost beside himself with indignation on the
subject, and thus writes about it:--"The hair must of force be curled,
frisled, and crisped, laid out in wreaths and borders from one ear to
another. And, lest it should fall down, it is underpropped with forks,
wires, and I cannot tell what, rather like grim, stern monsters than
chaste Christian matrons. At their hair thus wreathed and crested are
hanged bugles, ouches, rings, gold and silver glasses, and such like
childish gewgaws." The fashion of painting the face also calls down
his furious condemnation, and the dresses come in for a fair share of
his vituperation, and their length is evidently a source of excessive
exasperation. We give his opinions in his own odd, scolding words:--
"Their gownes be no less famous than the rest, for some are of silke,
some velvet, some of grograine, some of taffatie, some of scarlet,
and some of fine cloth of x., xx., or xl. shillings a yarde. But if
the whole gowne be not silke or velvet, then the same shall be layd
with lace two or three fingers broade all over the gowne, or els the
most parte, or if not so (as lace is not fine enough sometimes), then
it must bee garded with great gardes of velvet, every yard fower or
sixe fingers broad at the least, and edged with costly lace, and as
these gownes be of divers and sundry colours, so are they of divers
fashions--chaunging with the moone--for some be of new fashion, some
of the olde, some of thys fashion, and some of that; some with sleeves
hanging downe to their skirtes, trailing on the ground, and cast over
their shoulders like cows' tailes; some have sleeves muche shorter,
cut vp the arme and poincted with silke ribbons, very gallantly tied
with true love's knottes (for so they call them); some have capes
reachyng downe to the midest of their backes, faced with velvet, or
els with some wrought silke taffatie at the least, and fringed about
very bravely (and to shut vp all in a worde), some are peerled and
rinsled downe the backe wonderfully, with more knackes than I can
declare. Then have they petticoates of the beste clothe that can
be bought, and of the fayrest dye that can be made. And sometimes
they are not of clothe neither, for that is thought too base, but
of scarlet grograine, taffatie, silke, and such like, fringed about
the skirtes with silke fringe of chaungeable colour, but whiche is
more vayne, of whatsoever their petticoates be yet must they have
kirtles (for so they call them), either of silke, velvett, grogaraine,
taffatie, satten, or scarlet, bordered with gardes, lace, fringe, and
I cannot tell what besides."
History fails to enlighten us as to whether the irascible Stubs
was blessed with a stylish wife and a large family of fashionable
daughters, but we rather incline to the belief that he must have been
a confirmed old bachelor, as we cannot find that he was ever placed
in a lunatic asylum, a fate which would inevitably have befallen him
if the fashions of the time had been brought within the sphere of
his own dwelling. It is somewhat singular that, writing, as he did,
in the most violent manner against almost every article of personal
adornment, and every artifice of fashionable life, the then universal
and extreme use of the corset should have escaped censure at his hands.
King James, who succeeded Elizabeth, manifested an inordinate fondness
for dress. We read that--"Not only his courtiers, but all the youthful
portion of his subjects, were infected in a like manner, and the
attire of a fashionable gentleman in those days could scarcely have
been exceeded in fantastic device and profuse decoration. The hair was
long and flowing, falling upon the shoulders; the hat, made of silk,
velvet, or beaver (the latter being most esteemed), was high-crowned,
narrow-brimmed, and steeple-shaped. It was occasionally covered with
gold and silver embroidery, a lofty plume of feathers, and a hatband
sparkling with gems being frequently worn with it. It was customary
to dye the beard of various colours, according to the fancy of the
wearer, and its shape also differed with his profession. The most
effeminate fashion at this time was that of wearing jewelled rings in
the ears, which was common among the upper and middle ranks. Gems were
also suspended to ribbons round the neck, while the long 'lovelock' of
hair so carefully cherished under the left ear was adorned with roses
of ribbons, and even real flowers. The ruff had already been reduced
by order of Queen Elizabeth, who enacted that when reaching beyond 'a
nayle of a yeard in depth' it should be clipped. In the early part
of her reign the doublet and hose had attained a preposterous size,
especially the nether garments, which were stuffed and bolstered with
wool and hair to such an extent that Strutt tells us, on the authority
of one of the Harleian manuscripts, that a scaffold was erected
round the interior of the Parliament House for the accommodation of
such members as wore them! This was taken down in the eighth year of
Elizabeth's reign, when this ridiculous fashion was laid aside. The
doublet was afterwards reduced in size, but still so hard-quilted that
the wearer could not stoop to the ground, and was incased as in a coat
of mail. In shape it was like a waistcoat, with a large cape, and
either close or very wide sleeves. These latter were termed _Danish_.
A cloak of the richest materials, embroidered in gold or silver, and
faced with foxskin, lambskin, or sable, was buttoned over the left
shoulder. None, however, under the rank of an earl were permitted to
indulge in sable facings. The hose were either of woven silk, velvet,
or damask; the garters were worn externally below the knee, made of
gold, silver, or velvet, and trimmed with a deep gold fringe. Red
silk stockings, parti-coloured gaiters, and even 'cross gartering'
to represent the Scotch tartan, were frequently seen. The shoes of
this period were cork-soled, and elevated their wearers at least two
or three inches from the ground. They were composed of velvet of
various colours, worked in the precious metals, and if fastened with
strings, immense roses of ribbon were attached to them, variously
ornamented, and frequently of great value, as may be seen in Howe's
continuation of Stowe's Chronicle, where he tells us 'men of rank
wear garters and shoe-roses of more than five pounds price.' The dress
of a gentleman was not considered perfect without a dagger and rapier.
The former was worn at the back, and was highly ornamented. The latter
having superseded, about the middle of Elizabeth's reign, the heavy
two-handed sword, previously used in England, was, indeed, chiefly
worn as an ornament, the hilt and scabbard being always profusely
decorated."
[Illustration]