recognized that costume and architecture are affected by the same
influences. When we come to the hat, we find that its name is connected
with a building of a primitive character, namely, a hut. Mr. Allan
Poe Newcombe, an architect, some years ago pointed out the curious
resemblance which has existed, and is still to be found in many
countries, between headgear and habitations or other buildings.[7]
It may be that the cases which have been collected together are mere
coincidences, though it must be allowed that they are both numerous and
striking. It may be that the same taste, or lack of it, has given rise
to the similarity of style, or in the beginning, the designer of the hat
may have taken the hut as a model.
In the Hawaiian Islands, long before the inhabitants troubled about
clothes, they built themselves grass houses, and at the present time the
characteristic Hawaiian hat is remarkably like the hut. The turbans of
Eastern Church dignitaries are still of the same shape as those worn
by the high priests among the Jews, and are remarkably like the
characteristic dome which surmounts a mosque. (See Figure 42.)
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--The turban of a Jewish priest (after Kitto)
compared with the dome of the Mosque of Omar.]
Looking about in other countries we shall find further instances that
support Mr. Newcombe's contention; our illustration of a Siamese
head-dress and building is a case in point. (See Figure 43.)
Again going back into European history, we find that the high pointed
spires of Gothic churches were cotemporaneous with the high horn-like
head-dress known as the hennin (see Figure 44). It is claimed, moreover,
that like results will be found after a comparison of other styles of
architecture with the costume of the period in which they flourished.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--A Siamese head-dress and a Pra Pang or Votive
spire (after P.A. Thompson).]
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--A Gothic spire (St. Stephen's, Caen) compared
with the hennin (the latter after Fairholt).]
Leaving this suggestive line of research, and coming to hats as we have
them at the present day, we find that they offer several remarkable
vestiges for our consideration. First of all there is the hat-band
outside, which sometimes ends in two tails or streamers that hang from
the back of the hat (see Figure 47). From the bow usually present it
is evident that the hat-band was tied, and the streamers represent the
loose ends. As a matter of fact, primitively, a head-dress was made from
a piece of cloth, round which a fillet was tied so that it fitted the
head. In this connexion Figure 45 is most interesting. It represents
the back view of the head of the Egyptian woman of the Sixth Dynasty,
who is seen in Figure 76, and shows a head-dress which is confined with
a fillet that is tied at the back so as to make two tails.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Band with streamers fastening on the head-dress
of an Egyptian woman. From a figure of the Sixth Dynasty, B.C. 3500.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--A lady's head-dress confined with a fillet,
fourteenth century (after Viollet le Duc).]
The modern Arab fastens his kefiyeh with a twist of camel's hair without
streamers, and the lady of the fourteenth century, shown in Figure 46,
has also an ordinary band.
The child's sailor hat and the Scotch cap are among the modern head
coverings which retain the strings (Figure 49). A twelfth-century
head-dress shown in a manuscript (Figure 48) has a great similarity to
the Scotch cap, as the band forms a kind of binding to the article in
both cases, and there are streamers to both.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--A sailor hat with band and streamers.]
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--A twelfth-century head-dress with streamers
from a MS. (after Viollet le Duc).]
The strings or streamers are to be found in many other head coverings,
including the mitres of bishops (see Figure 50). The particular mitre
illustrated is that of the See of Durham, which is distinguished from
others in being plumed.
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--A modern Scotch cap with streamers.]
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--A mitre of the See of Durham showing the
strings (after Millington).]
An interesting suggestion as to the origin of the slit in the top of the
mitre may be mentioned here. Head-dresses were used in very early times
which were in the form of a fish's head, and it has been thought that
the slit in the mitre, so distinctly shown in chess-men, represents the
fish's mouth.
On looking at the inside of a modern hat, a little bow of silk ribbon
will usually be found at the back where the two edges of the leather
lining meet. Here, again, is a vestige. (See Figure 51.)
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Small vestigial bow of ribbon in a modern hat.]
In some hats the ribbon does not simply make the bow, but it is threaded
through a greater or less number of holes in the leather, though now
fulfilling no useful purpose. (See Figure 52.)
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--A hat with the remains of lacing.]
In a hunting hat, however (see Figure 53), the lacing is continuous
round the hat, and the lining can be made to fit the wearer. It helps to
form a buffer, should the huntsman unfortunately fall on his head, and
it is claimed that many lives have been saved by this small detail.
[Illustration: FIG. 53.--A hunting hat with complete lacing inside.]
It may be gathered from the description that in times when hats could
not easily be got to fit their wearers, the lacing inside would be most
useful, as it ensured that the size could be adjusted.
It is possible also that in the lacing we have a means by which a hat
was originally shaped, and that the lace is really a hat-band threaded
through the material of the head-dress instead of being tied round
outside. The first diagram on page 57 shows a flat piece of leather
cut into a circular form; the next shows it perforated and a lace put
through the openings; the third indicates how by tightening the string a
crown could be made to the hat.
[Illustration: FIG. 54.--A disc of leather.]
[Illustration: FIG. 55.--The disc perforated and the lace inserted.]
[Illustration: FIG. 56.--The lace tightened to form a crown.]
[Illustration: FIG. 57.--The ends of the lace tied as a bow inside.]
In time, when the crown was made in different ways, it would be easy to
transfer the lacing to the lining as seen already in the hunting hat
(Figure 53).
It is interesting to note that a small bow is also found inside ladies'
hats, and often used as a place on which to put the name of the maker.
(See Figure 58.)
[Illustration: FIG. 58.--A bow fastened to the lining of a lady's hat.]
[Illustration: FIG. 59.--Plumes on the left side.]
Sir George Darwin has shown why plumes are, and used to be, on the left
side of a hat only. In the days when the feathers were particularly long
there was also plenty of fighting, and it only needs the attention to
be drawn to the point, to make one realize that if the plume had been
on the right side, it might often have got in the way of a sword and
thereby caused the overthrow or even death of its wearer. At the present
day in the army (see Figure 59), the plumes will be found on the left
side as in the days of cavaliers.
Sir George Darwin[8] has traced the origin of the busby, and has
shown that the little red flap that hangs on the left side as a
useless appendage is really the original cap. Busbies were the special
attributes of the Hussars, who were originally Hungarian soldiers. It
is the peasant's cap of Hungary that is the forerunner of the military
head-dress which we are considering, and it consisted of a red cap of
cloth with a band of fur round the edge. As time went on, the fur on the
cap, which was adopted in the end by various regiments, became wider and
wider, and the original red cap got smaller and smaller until the form
of the modern busby was reached. In some cases even the flap already
mentioned has gone, though the fact that the top of the busby is made of
cloth instead of fur still points to its origin. (See Figures 60 and
61.)
[Illustration: FIG. 60.--The red Hungarian cap, which was the forerunner
of the busby.]
[Illustration: FIG. 61.--A busby (of the Honourable Artillery Company)
in which the cap is a vestige only.]
Though we are not discussing armour at the moment, we may say while
speaking of military head-dresses that metal helmets are still in use in
a few regiments. The helmet also of the fireman deserves attention, as
it is practically of the same type as that worn by the ancient Greeks.
(See Figure 62.)
[Illustration: FIG. 62.--A fireman's helmet (of the ancient Greek
type).]
[Illustration: FIG. 63.--Buttons so arranged that the broad brim of a
hat can be fastened to the crown, thus forming a temporary "cock"
(Hudibras after Hogarth).]
The cocked hat should also claim our attention, and it gives us
another instance of temporary alterations which have ultimately become
permanent. The picture of Hudibras shows an early stage in the history
of cocking. The strings which connect the brim of a bishop's tall hat
to the crown are evidently connected with this practice. In the modern
cocked hat more of the right side is turned up than of the left.
A little careful examination will render its development from the
broad-brimmed hat easily understood, while the representatives of the
hat-band and the details of the cocking will be soon discovered.
The cock of the hat formed a convenient spot in which to fix an
ornament, and the name cockade has come to be applied to such an
addition, borne on the hat, as a mark to distinguish the wearer.
The part which cockades have played in history is considerable, but as
they are now chiefly associated with the liveries of men-servants they
will be considered later on in the book. Before, however, we leave, for
the present, the subject of head coverings, we ought to mention that a
piece of woven material as primitively used without even a restraining
band, still survives in the shape of the small shawl which north-country
girls and women very generally wear over their heads. The head-dress of
the nun is another case in point, and recalls that in vogue in Tudor
times, while the sun-bonnet of the barge and market women, though more
highly developed, still consists to a considerable extent of simple
drapery.
VII
SHOES AND STOCKINGS
EARLY FOOT-GEAR--THE ORIGIN OF THE CLOCK--A MODERN IMITATION OF
TATTOOING--GAILY COLOURED GARTERS
Many persons still go barefoot, so that ancient as foot-gear may be, the
stage preceding its adoption is even now represented. Moreover, sandals,
which are very primitive, have been much in use of recent years, and
have especially been worn by children.
If we turn to ordinary boots and shoes we shall not find many obvious
points about them which lead up to their history. Still we shall see in
the case of a large number that in places where one piece of leather
laps over another, it is perforated with rows of holes which form a kind
of simple ornamentation. (See Figure 64.)
The perforations do not go through the boot or shoe, and in a Roman
example in the British Museum, which is much more highly decorated,
there are two thicknesses of leather, of which the outer one only is
pierced. (See Figure 65.)
In many cases, however, the Roman shoe was truly of open work. It
consisted of but one thickness of leather, and from this, large pieces
were cut out so as to make a kind of lattice. Several examples of
this kind of shoe are exhibited at the British Museum, and we give an
illustration of one of these, which is in a very fair state of
preservation. (See Figure 66.)
[Illustration: FIG. 64.--A modern boot decorated with perforations made
in the leather.]
[Illustration: FIG. 65.--An ornamented Roman shoe, of two thicknesses.]
[Illustration: FIG. 66.--A Roman shoe of open-work leather.]
It seems very probable that the ornamentation on our modern shoes is
a survival of the open work which was in favour with the Romans,
especially as even then the apertures did not always expose the foot. In
pre-Roman times in this country there were perforations in some of the
shoes which were useful rather than ornamental, and one type (of which a
specimen figured by Fairholt is preserved by the Royal Irish Academy)
has survived until recently, if it is not to be found to-day, in
Scotland and Ireland. This shoe was made of raw hide (see Figure 67),
and the holes, it is said, were intended to allow the water to pass
through when the wearer was crossing morasses. An examination of the
figure will, however, show that the holes are really slits, and it would
appear that however useful they may have proved in the way described,
they were originally made for quite a different reason.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.--A hide shoe of pre-Roman type from Ireland
(after Fairholt).]
The most primitive kind of shoe would doubtless be a piece of hide
placed under the foot and brought up over the toes and round the heel.
It would make a rather unprepossessing bundle, and there would be
awkward puckers where the hide was gathered up. If the superfluous
material at the toe were cut away, we should have a slit in every case
where there had previously been a fold. This state of affairs is exactly
what is to be seen in the Irish shoe, where the strips of leather that
are left are held in place by a thong. In an ingenious way, apparently
with the help of the same lace, the difficulty of securing a fit at the
heel has also been got over. The result is a very neat shoe indeed,
though in reality it is only the original flat piece of hide.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--The original top boot with the upper part
temporarily turned down.]
One of the most perfect instances of vestiges, as Sir George Darwin
points out, is afforded by top boots. In their original form, still to
be seen in our streets on sewer men, the boots were made to come above
the knee, but fashion decreed that the top should be turned back (see
Figure 68), and so it came about that the inside became visible, as did
also the tags, with the help of which the boots were pulled on. When the
outside of the boots was blacked it would form a distinct contrast to
the inside, which remained brown, and in modern top boots the difference
in colour has been in many cases greatly accentuated. Indeed, the upper
parts are made of different leather, and as ordinary coat cuffs are now
incapable of being turned down, the tops of the boots are immovable and
cannot be turned up. It is curious, however, that the tags at the sides
are still represented and sewn to the boot so as to be quite useless,
while new tags placed inside the boot now do their duty. (See Figure
69.)
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--A modern top boot in which the upper part can
no longer be turned up.]
[Illustration: FIG. 70.--Puttees.]
Socks and stockings are, at the present time, the most usual coverings
for the lower parts of the legs, and there is at least one vestige which
remains in their structure that has an interest for us. Before we
consider this, however, we may look at another means of protecting the
lower extremities which tells of more primitive conditions. The leg
bandages so commonly worn by our regular soldiers and volunteers are the
case in point. (See Figure 70.) These appear to have been immediately
derived from the Indian Army, and their name--"puttees"--is evidence
of this; but such an arrangement is very widespread, and was that
generally adopted in this country in Anglo-Saxon times. Our illustration
is taken from an illuminated manuscript prepared for St. Aethelwold for
use at Winchester, which was completed between the years 963 and 964
A.D. Bandaged stockings are common on representations of Anglo-Saxons,
but according to Fairholt the example given shows them to greater
advantage than does any other known. The figure in question is dressed
in royal costume, and the bandages, which are of gold, are fastened just
below the knee with a knot from which hang tassels. (See Figure 71.)
[Illustration: FIG. 71.--Leg bandages of a royal personage at the end of
the tenth century (after Fairholt).]
It has been thought that leg bandages were originally derived from the
haybands which peasants wrap round their legs, and the writer has seen
it stated that ostlers in this country still perpetuate the Anglo-Saxon
fashion, though he has never met with an actual instance. The pfiferari
who some years ago used to play on bagpipes and other primitive
instruments in our streets, wore leg bandages or loose linen stockings,
and these were cross-gartered with bands which held in place a simple
sandal made of a piece of leather.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.--A stocking with clocks.]
The vestige in modern stockings to which allusion has been made is very
often present, and takes the form of the ornament which we know as a
"clock." The name signifies a gusset, and in modern socks and so on,
which are woven or knitted all in one piece, no such arrangement is
to be found. Stockings, however, like those at first worn by Queen
Elizabeth, and used at least by American settlers until the year 1675,
were made up from pieces of cloth. In these there would be seams down
the sides, and it is possible that where the ornamental lines meet in
Figure 72 there may have been a gusset. In any case, it is evident that
the intention of the clock was to hide the side seams.
Of recent years, when ladies have most sensibly adopted short skirts,
the clock has developed into a series of embroidered patterns which
cover the front of the foot and ankle. The parentage of these is quite
evident from the shape, which is shown in Figure 73.
[Illustration: FIG. 73.--An embroidered stocking showing the further
evolution of the clock (date 1900).]
[Illustration: FIG. 74.--An open-work stocking of 1905.]
This ornamentation has been carried still further, though it is not
produced in the same way. The patterns, instead of being embroidered,
are the result of perforations, or, in more technical language,
"open-work," and the background which shows up the design is no longer
the material of the stockings, but the skin of their fair wearers. (See
Figure 74.)
In many cases the stockings are dark in colour, and the effect of
tattooing is produced without the preliminary pain and inconvenience. We
have here an instance of the way in which the specially human instinct
of decorating the body persists, and at the same time a development of
the fashion for displaying, in the daytime under a thin veil of gauze or
lace, the necks and arms which since the time of our grandmothers have
only been allowed to appear uncovered in the evening.
Leather stockings were once worn, for example, by William Penn, and they
and the leggings of to-day may be a direct survival from the time when
our ancestors, though still wearing skins, had learnt to dress them.
Leggings, as such, are possibly connected more closely with the
protection of man against man than with that of man against the weather,
and in that case their history is bound up with that of armour. Gaiters,
under the name of spatter-dashes, were originally part of a soldier's
uniform. To-day, when worn by civilians in ordinary dress, they are
quite short, and go by the contracted name of "spats." Pedestrians still
wear the full-sized gaiters in conjunction with knickerbockers, and
white gaiters are a feature of Highland regiments.
Long Florentine hose, which practically took the place of trousers and
stockings together, are now represented by what are called "tights,"
and are to be seen in the dress of acrobats. We shall allude to these
again.
Garters when visible on men's legs become very ornamental, and one in
use now, merely as a decoration, gave its name to the celebrated Order
of Knighthood, among the insignia of which it is still to be found.
At the present day garters are hidden, and there is a tendency for
them to be replaced by more comfortable straps or "suspenders," but
those which ladies wear still retain their gaudy character. In this
connection an interesting ceremony may be mentioned, which is carried
in Haute-Vienne on the day of St. Eutropius. All the girls of the
neighbourhood troop to the church dedicated to the saint at St.
Junien-les-Gombes, and each damsel hangs her left garter on the cross
hard by, which becomes so smothered with garters of different colours
that when seen from a short distance it looks as if it were covered
with flowers.
VIII
PETTICOATS AND TROUSERS
THE BELTED PLAID AND KILT--EARLY SKIRTS--THE ANTIQUITY OF
TROUSERS--TROUSER STRIPES
We were at some pains to trace the evolution of the coat from the shawl,
and it is possible also to show that the petticoat, and through this
even trousers, have equal claims to the same ancestry.
The plaid as we saw it in Chapter III is only a shawl, and at one time
in Scotland it was used as a covering for practically the whole of the
person. It was ingeniously disposed, and part of it was fastened by a
belt round the waist so as to form a kind of kilt or petticoat. Hence
arose the name of belted plaid. It seems to have needed a considerable
amount of practice to put on this garment properly, and the method
customarily adopted by the wearer was to spread the plaid on the ground
and, after duly arranging it in its proper folds, to lie down upon it
and fix it with the belt. Some races seem to have recognized very much
earlier that it would be more convenient to separate the kilt from the
upper garment. In fact, if we examine the woven garments which the
Danish chieftain wore under his deer-skin cloak, at a time before the
use of iron had spread to Western Europe, we find that round his loins
he had a small shawl held in place by a girdle. (See Figure 75.)
[Illustration: FIG. 75.--A shawl used as a kilt by a chieftain of
Denmark in the bronze stage of culture (after Worsaae).]
The next stage in the evolution of the petticoat would be characterized
by the permanent joining of the edges of the cloth, so that a garment
would be formed which resembled the lower part of the tubular tunic
which played its part in the evolution of the shirt or coat. Such a
state of affairs is to be seen in the simple skirt of the Danish
chieftainess whose bodice we have already described. (See page 18.)
Here the petticoat was not shaped in any way at the top, but was
gathered in round the waist and fastened as in the case of the man with
a girdle.
[Illustration: FIG. 76.--A simple dress in the form of a petticoat from
an Egyptian figure of the Sixth Dynasty (3500 B.C.), from the Myers
collection in Eton College Museum.]
In a warm climate it would be easy to dispense with a covering for the
upper part of the body, and one of the simplest dresses imaginable was
adopted in ancient Egypt. This costume is to be seen on the figure of a
woman belonging to the Sixth Dynasty (3500 B.C.), which we have already
mentioned when tracing the development of the hat-band and ribbons. (See
Figure 45.) In this instance there is a simple tight-fitting skirt
reaching to the waist or a little above it, which is supported by two
straps passing between the bare breasts and over the otherwise naked
shoulders. (See Figure 76.)
[Illustration: FIG. 77.--A Korean servant (after Hough).]
It seems certain, as in the original carving the woman is shown with a
burden on her head and in the act of driving a calf before her, that she
is a representative of the peasant class. In the Korea at the present
day, women of the lower orders, although they adopt a jacket which
covers their arms and shoulders, wear so short an one that as there is
no garment beneath it leaves their breasts quite bare. (See Figure 77.)
Such an arrangement would obviously facilitate the nursing of children,
and this fact has been advanced as the reason for its adoption. Still
it may be merely a fashion such as some women, at the other end of the
social scale, once adopted in our non-tropical country. In the time of
James I of England, the noble ladies, while they wore an exaggerated
ruff round their necks, nevertheless had their dresses cut away from
just below it almost to their waists.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.--A short kilt.]