Costume, as readers of Carlyle's _Sartor Resartus_ know, always has a
significance deeper than the mere whims of fashion. In the cosmopolitan
society of modern times dress everywhere tends to become assimilated to
a common model, and this assimilation, however regrettable from the
picturesque point of view, is one of the most potent forces in the
break-down of the traditional social distinctions. In the middle ages in
Europe, and indeed down to the French Revolution, the various classes of
the community were clearly differentiated by their dress. Everywhere, of
course, it happened that occasionally jackdaws strutted in peacock's
feathers; but even in England, where class distinctions were early less
clearly marked than on the continent of Europe, the assumption of a
laced coat and a sword marked the development of a citizen into a
"gentleman" (q.v.). Nothing has more powerfully contributed to the
social amalgamation of the "upper-middle" and the "upper" classes in
England than the fashion, introduced in the 19th century, of extreme
simplicity in the costume of men. But, apart from the properties of
richness in material or decoration as a symbol of class distinction--at
one time enforced by sumptuary laws--there have been, and still are,
innumerable varieties of costume more or less traditional as proper to
certain nationalities or certain classes within those nationalities. Of
national costumes properly so called the best known to the
English-speaking world is that of the Highlands of Scotland. This is,
indeed no longer generally worn, being usually confined to gentlemen of
birth and their dependents, but it remains a national dress and is
officially recognized as such by the English court and in the uniforms
of the Highland regiments in the British army. The chief peculiarity of
this costume, distinguishing it from any others, is the tartan, an
arrangement of a prevailing colour with more or less narrow checks of
other colours, by which the various clans or septs of the same race can
be distinguished, while a certain general uniformity symbolizes the
union of the clans in a common nationality. Thus, e.g. the tartan of the
clan McDonell is green with narrow checks of red, that of the clan
Gregarach red with narrow checks of black. The costume consists of a
short tunic, vest, a kilt--heavily pleated--fastened round the waist,
and reaching not quite to the knees (like a short petticoat), stockings
gartered below the bare knee, and shoes. In front of the person, hanging
from a belt round the waist, is the "sporran" or "spleuchan," a
pocket-purse covered with fur; and a large "plaid" or scarf, usually
wrapped round the body, the ends hanging down from a brooch fastened on
the left shoulder, but sometimes gathered up and hanging from the brooch
behind, completes the costume. The head-gear is a cloth cap or "bonnet,"
in which a sprig of heather is stuck, or an eagle's feather in the case
of chiefs. A dirk is worn thrust into the right stocking. Up to the end
of the 16th century the tunic and "philibeg" or kilt formed a single
garment; but otherwise the costume has come down the ages without
sensible modification. Kilt and plaid are of tartan; and sometimes
tartan "trews," i.e. trousers, are substituted for the former.
Among other national costumes still surviving in Europe may be mentioned
the Albanian-Greek dress (characterized by the spreading, pleated white
kilt, or _fustanella_), and the splendid full-dress of a Hungarian
gentleman, the prototype of the well-known hussar uniform; to which may
be added the Tirolese costume, which, so far as the men are concerned, is
characterized by short trousers, cut off above the knee, and a short
jacket, the colour varying in different districts. This latter trait
illustrates the fact that most of the still surviving "national" costumes
in Europe are in fact local and distinctive of class, though they conform
to a national type. These "folk-costumes" (_Volkstrachten_), as the
Germans call them, survive most strongly in the most conservative of all
classes, that of the peasants and naturally mainly in those districts
least accessible to modern "enterprise." These peasant costumes, often of
astonishing richness and beauty, vary more or less in every village, each
community having its own traditional type; and, since this type does not
vary, they can be handed down as valuable heirlooms from father to son
and from mother to daughter. But they are fast disappearing. In the
British islands, where there were no free peasant cultivators to maintain
the pride of class, they vanished long since; the white caps and
steeple-crowned hats of Welsh women were the last to go; and even the
becoming and convenient "sun bonnet," which survives in the United
States, has given place almost everywhere to the hideous "cloth cap" of
commerce; while the ancient smocked frock, the equivalent of the French
peasant's workmanlike _blouse_, has become a curiosity. The same process
is proceeding elsewhere; for the simple peasant women cannot resist the
blandishments of the commercial traveller and the temptation of change
and cheap finery. The transition is at once painful and amusing, and not
without interest as illustrating the force of tradition in its struggle
with fashion; for it is no uncommon thing, e.g. in France or Holland, to
see a "Paris model" perched lamentably on the top of the beautiful
traditional head-dress. Similarly in the richer Turkish families women
are rapidly acquiring a taste for Parisian costumes, frequently worn in
absurd combination with their ordinary garments.
The same process has extended far beyond the limits of Europe. Improved
communication and industrial enterprise have combined with the prestige
of European civilization to commend the European type of costume to
peoples for whom it is eminently unsuited. Even the peoples of the East,
whose costume has remained unchanged for untold centuries, and for whom
the type has been (as in India) often determined by religious
considerations, are showing an increasing tendency to yield to the
world-fashion. Turkey, as being most closely in touch with Europe, was
the first to feel the influence; the introduction of the fez and the
frock-coat, in place of the large turban and flowing caftan of the old
Turk, was the most conspicuous of the reforms of Sultan Mahmud II.; and
when, in 1909, the first Turkish parliament met, only a small minority
of its members wore their traditional costumes. The introduction of
Japan into the comity of nations was followed by the adoption of
European costume by the court and the upper classes, at least in public
and on ceremonial occasions; in private the wide-sleeved, loose,
comfortable _kimono_ continues to be worn. China, on the other hand, has
been more conservative, even her envoys in Europe preserving intact
(except sometimes in the matter of boots) the traditional costume of
their nation and class, while those of Japan, Corea and Siam appear in
the conventional diplomatic or "evening" dress in Europe. In the
Mussulman East, even when European dress has been adopted, an exception
has usually been made in favour of head-gear, which has a special
religious significance. In Turkey, for instance, the hat has not
succeeded in displacing the fez; and in India, though the Parsis had by
the beginning of the 20th century begun to modify their traditional high
turban-like hat into a modified "bowler," and Hindus--abroad at
least--were affecting the head-gear of the West, those Mussulman princes
who had adopted, wholly or partially, European dress continued to wear
the turban. On the other hand, the amir of Afghanistan, when he visited
India, had--out of doors at least--discarded the turban for the ugly
"solar topee." In spite of the natural conservatism, strengthened by
religious conventions, of the Eastern races, there is a growing danger
that the spread of European enlightenment will more or less rapidly
destroy that picturesque variety of costume which is the delight of the
traveller and the artist. For Indian costumes see INDIA: _Costume_; for
Chinese see CHINA; &c.