The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-31 00:00:00

ART IN DRESS-FASHION'S FOLLY.

There are few things more curious to contem-
pl,:te than the "whirligig" of fashioo—which
never s:a.ids still, hut is inc scantly presenting
to the i w a few original devices, mixed with
more which have seerning!y become fixtures in
the wheel, and are copied, as it turns round, to
a greater or less extent from time to time. Au
old sea-faring character in one of Captain
Marryat's novels, had an idea that in seventeen hun-
dred and so many years events rotated, and that in
seveutcen hundred and so on, he would be engaged
upon the identical employment on which lie was
then busy : a similar belief might, with more means
of proof, be attaclied to the revolutions of fashion.
No doubt the ingenious artist who devised the flow-
ing and full-bottomed wig for the fair and youthful
French monarch, the use of which was presently
adapted to the grim-visaged Charles 11., thought .
that he had hit upon an original device. A visit,
however, to the Brit'sh Museum will show that
" there are few things new under the sun," for
there will be found a flowing wig just
similar to that named, which was worn
by s mae eminent Egyptian, probably two
or three thousand years ago. While amongst
th• peasant class, the wheel has in a measure stood
still, changes have been constantly going on amrUgst
others : we note the burly Saxon in his flowing lam.'
graceful robes, the taste of which was partly bor-
rowed from the Romans, and the elegant:costly:nog
of their wives and daughters derived from the Bailee
source : then came the warlike covering, which so
well displayed the stalwart forms of the Norinau
warriors : the female dress of this period is singe-
' larly tell ued and elegant. It would require a velunie
to notice the numerous changes which were COy
stantly made. The armour, from being made to lit
to the shape of the human body,, grew to monstrous
cases unlike anything in the natural creation, which
enveloped both men and horses. Many strange de-
vices were turned out by fashion ; at one time the,
toes of the gentleman's shoes gi ew longer and
longer, until is was found necessary to fasten the
end of the point to the knee. This would seem t°
us ridiculous enough, but many fashions in na°i
dern times might fe mentioned to show equal
absurdities : for instance, when that extraordi-
nary cut, the swallow-tailed coat, was intro-
duced, tho length of the tails was moderate ; it,
however, grew in longitude, until the ends
were nearly even with the heels, and it was 0011
some merciful turn of the wheel which caused the
majority of the long tails to be turned into " spew
cers." That preventedthe long necessity of tying the
" swallow-tails" to the pig tails," in the same vesi
that the shoe-toeswere formerly fast enedto the kne°6
It is curious to remark that the liveried servants 0,
the rich are a means of preserving the costumes 0'
various periods for many years : the silk bags °1
the backs of the state footmen, the long-tailed
coats, the cocked hats, knee-breeches, and sit'
stockings, were the ordinary apparel of the gentle'
men themselves. The hair powder, so much in 111,
60 or 70 years ago, by nearly every one of respect,
able condition, has now descended to the servann
hall, and the neat wigs of other days may be st,l;:,
seen surmounting the craniums of fashionnwf
coachmen, and in due course, as the wheel 39
fashion moves round, the present dress coats, Willi,
waistcoats, and neck-ties all have lost their po,
Con and taken the place of the laced coats and CO'
resdonding paraphern.alia.--:-The Builder.