Official costumes, in so far as they are not, like the crowns and
tabards of heralds, the coronets of peers, or the gold keys tacked to
the coat-tails of royal chamberlains--consciously symbolical, are for
the most part ceremonious survivals of bygone general fashions. This is
as true of the official costume of the past as of the present; as may be
illustrated from ancient Rome, where the toga, once the general costume
of Roman citizens, in the 3rd and 4th centuries was the official robe of
senators and officials (see also under VESTMENTS). Thus, at the present
time, the lay chamberlains of the pope and the members of his Swiss
guard wear costumes of the 16th century, and the same is true of the
king's yeomen of the guard in England. In general, however (apart from
robes, which are much older in their origin), official costumes in
Europe, or in countries of European origin, are based on the fashions of
the 18th and early 19th centuries. Knee-breeches, however, which survive
in the full-dress of many British officials, as in ordinary court dress,
had practically disappeared on the continent of Europe, surviving only
in certain peasant costumes, when the emperor William II. reintroduced
them at the court of Berlin. The tendency in the modern democratic
communities of Anglo-Saxon race has been to dispense with official
costumes. In the United States the judges of the Supreme Court alone
wear robes; the president of the Republic wears on all occasions the
dress of an ordinary citizen, unrelieved by order or decoration, and
thus symbolizes his pride of place as _primus inter pares_; an American
ambassador appears on state occasions among his colleagues, gorgeous in
bullion-covered coats, in the ordinary black "evening dress" of a modern
gentleman. The principle, which tends to assert itself also in the
autonomous "British dominions beyond the seas," is not the result of
that native dislike of "dressing up" which characterizes many Englishmen
of the upper and middle classes; for modern democracy shares to the full
the taste of past ages for official or quasi-official finery, as is
proved by the costumes and insignia of the multitudinous popular orders,
Knights Templars, Foresters, Oddfellows and the like. It is rather
cherished as the outward and visible sign of that doctrine of the
equality of all men which remains the most generally gratifying of the
gifts of French 18th-century philosophy to the world. In Great Britain,
where equality has ever been less valued than liberty, official costumes
have tended to increase rather than to fall into disuse; mayors of new
boroughs, for instance, are not considered properly equipped until they
have their gown and chain of office. In France, on the other hand, the
taste of the people for pomp and display, and, it may be added, their
innate artistic sense, have combined with their passion for equality to
produce a somewhat anomalous situation as regards official costume.
Lawyers have their robes, judges their scarlet gowns, diplomatists their
gold-laced uniforms; but the state costume of the president of the
Republic is "evening dress," relieved only by the red riband and star of
the Legion of Honour. In the Latin states of South America, which tend
to be disguised despotisms rather than democracies, the actual rather
than the theoretical state of things is symbolized by the gorgeous
official uniforms which are among the rewards of those who help the
dictator for the time being to power. See also ROBES; for military
costume see UNIFORMS; for ecclesiastical costume see VESTMENTS and
subsidiary articles. (W. A. P.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Apart from the enormous number of books especially
devoted to costume, innumerable illustrated works exist which are, in
various degrees, useful for the study of the history of this subject.
It may be noted here, e.g. that the illuminators and painters of the
middle ages did not affect historical accuracy in their presentment of
biblical or secular subjects, but clothed their patriarchs, apostles
or Roman warriors in the dress of their own ages, their pictures thus
becoming invaluable records of the costume of their time. In this
respect the knowledge of classical antiquity revived during the
Renaissance introduced a certain confusion. Artists began to realize
the incongruity of representing antique figures in modern garb, but,
in the absence of exact knowledge, fancy began to play a greater part
than research in the dressing of their characters. Portraits and
representations of contemporary scenes (e.g. Rembrandt's "Night
Watch") continue to be first-hand authorities for the costume of the
period in which they were produced; but representations of biblical or
historical scenes have little or no value from this point of view.
Thus in Rubens's famous picture of St Ambrose repelling Theodosius
from the door of his cathedral, the bishop is vested in the mitre and
cope which only came into vogue centuries later, while the emperor
wears a military costume modelled on that of Roman imperators of an
earlier day. Even in portraiture, however, a certain conservatism
tends to make the record untrustworthy; thus, great men continued to
be painted in full armour long after it had in fact ceased to be worn.
Of authorities for English costume the following may be selected as
especially useful: J. C. Bruce, _The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated_
(London, 1856), with 17 plates; F. W. Fairholt, _Costume in England to
the end of the 18th Century_ (2nd ed., ib., 1860); William Fowler,
_Examples of Medieval Art_ (1796-1829), 116 plates; Froissart's
_Chronicles_, translated by T. Johnes (4 vols., 1844), 72 plates and
many woodcuts; R. N. Humphrey, _Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages_
(ib., 1849); _Facsimiles of Original Drawings by Holbein, in the
Collection of His Majesty, for Portraits of Persons of the Court of
Henry VIII._, engraved by F. Bartolozzi, &c. (London, 1884); John
Nichols, _Progresses, Pageants, &c., of Queen Elizabeth_ (3 vols.,
1823), and _of James I._ (4 vols., 1828), with numerous plates;
Hogarth's _Works_, engraved by himself, with descriptions by J.
Nichols (1822), 153 plates; Edmund Lodge, _Portraits of Illustrious
Personages of Great Britain_ (12 vols., 1823-1835), 240 plates; J. R.
Planche, _Hist. of British Costume_ (3rd ed., Bohn, 1874), and
_Cyclopaedia of Costume_ (2 vols., 1876-1877); Henry Shaw, _Dresses
and Decorations of the Middle Ages_ (2 vols., 1840-1843), 94 plates
and many woodcuts; Joseph Strutt, engraver, _Dress and Habits of the
People of England_ (2 vols., 1796-1799), and _Regal and Ecclesiastical
Antiquities of Great Britain_, new edition with notes by J. R. Planche
(1842), 153 plates; Westwood, _Miniatures of Anglo-Saxon and Irish
Manuscripts_ (1868), 54 plates; C. A. Stothard, _The Monumental
Effigies of Great Britain_ (1817-1832; ed. Hewitt, 1876); Herbert
Haines, _Manual of Monumental Brasses_ (Oxford, 1861), with many
woodcuts; J. G. and L. A. B. Waller, _A Series of Monumental Brasses_
(London, 1864); H. Druitt, _Costume on Brasses_ (London, 1906). Of
foreign works on costume the most important are Hefner-Alteneck,
_Trachten, &c., vom fruhesten Mittelalter bis Ende des 18.
Jahrhunderts_ (2nd ed., Frankfort, 1879-1890); Viollet-le-Duc,
_Dictionnaire raisonne du mobilier francais_ (6 vols., Paris,
1858-1875), the first four volumes devoted to armour and costume;
Friedrich Hottenroth, _Trachten der Volker alter und neuer Zeit_ (2nd
ed., Stuttgart, 1882-1890), with excellent plates, Fr. transl. by J.
Bernhoff, _Les Costumes chez les peuples, &c._ (Paris, 1885), and
_Handbuch der deutschen Tracht_ (1898); Bonnard et Mercuri, _Costumes
historiques des XII^e, XIII^e, XIV^e et XV^e siecles_ (2 vols., Paris,
1867), 200 plates; Burgmair, _Triomphe de l'empereur Maximilien I_.
(Vienna, 1796), 135 plates; Chapuy, _Le Moyen Age pittoresque_ (2
vols., 1837), 180 plates; Chevignard et Duplessis, _Costumes
historiques des XVI^e, XVII^e et XVIII^e siecles_ (2 vols., Paris,
1867), 150 plates; du Sommerard, _Les Arts au moyen age_ (10 vols.,
Paris, 1838-1848), 510 plates; Duflos, _Recueil d'estampes,
representant les grades, les rangs, et les dignites, suivant le
costume de toutes les nations existantes_ (Paris, 1779-1780), 240
plates; _Espana artistica y monumental_ (3 vols., Paris, 1842-1859),
145 plates; Fabri, _Raccolta di varii vestimenti ed arti del regno di
Napoli_ (Naples, 1773), 27 plates; Jaquemin, _Iconographie methodique
du costume du V^e au XIX^e siecle_ (Paris), 200 plates; Lacombe,
_Galerie de Florence et du palais Pitti_ (4 vols., Paris, 1789-1807),
192 plates; Paul Lacroix, _Manners, Customs and Dress during the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance_, Eng. trans. (London, 1874),
_Military and Religious Life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance_
(London, 1874), and _The 18th Century, its Institutions, Customs,
Costumes_ (London, 1875-1876); L. M. Lante, _Galerie francaise de
femmes celebres_, atlas (Paris, 1841), 70 plates; Malliot et Martin,
_Recherches sur les costumes, les moeurs, les usages religieux,
civils et militaires des anciens peuples_ (3 vols., Paris, 1809), 228
plates; Pauly, _Description ethnographique des peuples_ (St
Petersburg, 1862); Pauquet Freres, _Modes et costumes historiques et
etrangers_ (2 vols., Paris, 1873), 196 plates; Auguste Racinet, _Le
Costume historique_, in two forms, large and small (Paris, 1876,
another ed. in 6 vols., with 500 plates, 1888); G. M. Straub,
_Trachten oder Stammbuch_ (1600), several hundreds of curious woodcuts
of costumes; Vecellio, _Habiti antichi et moderni di tutto il mondo_
(3 vols., Venice, 1859-1863).
Examples and illustrations of early costume of great interest and
value may be found in the _Archaeologia_, M. Didron's _Annales
archeologiques_, the _Journals_ of the Archaeological Societies, the
various county histories, the _Monumenta Vetusta of the London Society
of Antiquaries_, and other kindred works.
Besides works on costume generally, there are a large number devoted
specially to national or "folk" costumes. Of these may be mentioned:
F. Hottenroth, _Deutsche Volkstrachten, stadtische und landliche, vom
XVI. Jahrhundert his zum Anfange des XIX. Jahrhunderts_ (Frankfort,
1898, 1900, 1902, &c.), including German, Bohemian, Swiss and Dutch
local costumes, with references to further works; L. M. Lante,
_Costume de divers pays_ (undated, c. 1825), 177 coloured plates of
female costumes, mainly French, some Spanish, German, &c.; A. Hard,
_Swedish Costumes_ (Stockholm, 1858), 10 coloured plates; Felix
Benoist, _La Normandie illustree_ (2 vols, fol., Nantes, 1854), with
excellent coloured lithographs of costumes by Hyppolite Lalaine; E. H.
T. Pingret, _Galerie royale de costumes_ (Paris, undated), beautiful
lithographs of costumes, principally Italian with some Spanish and
Swiss, lithographed from paintings by Pingret by various artists;
Edward Harding, _Costume of the Russian Empire_ (London, 1811), with
70 hand-coloured plates, including costumes of many of the
semi-barbaric tribes of central Asia; for Turkish costume in the 18th
century see _Recueil de cent estampes representant differentes nations
du Levant_, engraved by Le Hay (Paris, 1714); for Greek costume at the
time of the War of Independence see Baron O. M. von Stackelberg,
_Costumes et usages des peuples de la Grece moderne_ (Rome, 1825),
with 30 beautiful plates. For Highland costume see R. R. MacIan,
_Costumes of the Clans_ (Glasgow, 1899), with letterpress by J. Logan.