The measuring, cutting, sewing and fitting of garments were dominated by the tailor s guilds, which had as much importance as other artisan and professional guilds, and were as male-dominated. Although professional seamstresses were hired to do the necessary handwork on seams, trims and finishing, and women were responsible primarily for shirts, underwear, household linens and children s clothes, they were never permitted, much less trained, to participate in the more complex technology of patterning, cutting and fitting garments. In 1675, a group of French seamstresses successfully petitioned Louis XIV for permission to form a guild of female tailors for the making of women s clothes, thus becoming the first professional dressmakers. This split was to have profound consequences as women dressed women and men dressed men. There is continual debate about an individual s impact on fashion and the development of a definite style over a period of time.
Some scholars are loathe to attribute any serious trends in style to one person.
Others contend that these trends can be attributed to a specific person precisely because fashion depends so much on individual taste. The design for The Scarlet Letter illustrated the debate. Both Dimmesdale and Bellingham wore similarly tailored garments. The costume consists of a shirt, breeches, waistcoat and frock coat and represents approximately fifty years of evolution and experimentation in men s tailored garments. However, the frock coat itself was a fairly recent innovation for the period and is based on the kaftan.