Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-06-14
Dress rs a Fine Art.


oss to jack boot, red heel prnted.foe. from
deer skin brogue, sandal, moeasin--yet rilil the
-aine human foot ia each What clue are these
metafnarphoses TO the mind that allmhies the
bodies thus masked and hidden VANITY ana
love Of change from the time that Eve twisted
flowers among the fig leaves and set the fashions
| for the Young anleduyan maidens of some
twenty summers! What a clue to the manners
of people, their religion the climate, the couh-
try in which they live and from whence they
came. of their freedom. their wars, their CON
quests, and their slavery The highlander stlll
carries the Roman target. wears the adaptation OF
! the toga fastonedby the Roman brooeh.the Phry
gian cup is ON his head, aud the Roman crossed
garters are represented in his cheque ed stock
! ings The initiative Saxon seems to have de-
rived from the snme cDnquerors their robes AMI
! arms the Asiatic cap, the Asatic double headed
! axe, and the Asiatic shield. The Norman knight
wore the closed visor of the Roman gladiatorand
! the shield of the Grgco- Roman. From the East
! the Crusaders borrowed the long tunie over their
! armor, inc part .colored scarf wreathed round
! the helmet. and the scimetar-ike falchon.
But with all its change, dress falls into
| few simple divisions, into which are uncon.
sciously perpetually recurring. If men widen
their sleeves they go back Ia George the Second,
il they tighten them TO far earlier date: widen
the brim of the present hat and put in it feath-
| er, and you have the Spanish somArero OF van
dykes reign,-pn W tie brm and you have the
cooked hat,--take to cap. and you fall back to
the fiat bonnet of Elizabcth's reign,-wden the
band, and You haze the rich ornament ct Eliza
beth's courters; RI down the top of the boot,
and you have Charles the Seconds ''wear, y
render the top immoyable, it becomes the flush
ionahle boot of the ist half century or the far
mer's boot of to day.
One of the most curious features in the hlsto-
ry of d,ess is the vitality of the most absurd
f.ll,innS nd fbair 1nrarnr fnr az
the peasantry, long after they superseded in
the court Our own country has some curious
instances of this. Tie gu of the old Thames
water-men, still occasionally visible in the streets
j. that of the Elizabeth boatmen, even to the
brass badge, which was then worn by every re-
tainer. The Bue-coat boys rejoice in the semi
monastie robes of the age of Edward the Sixth,
the young founder of their school; and the char
ity- school gnls of the City wear the plain mob
cap and long white gloves of Queen Anne or
the earlier Georges. The shoulder knot ct the
modern footman was once the badge OF high NIL
itary rank. The stage smuggler struts in the
common sailors dress of the William OF Orange
era. The blue coat of the butcher reminds us
of the dsu. ctve dresses of the old guilds. The
University dress of the present year varies little
from that worn soon after the Reformation, ex-
cept that the square cap has stltiened AID wi
dened, and the falling collar has been clipped in
to II aditionnry bands. The Judges colt is GU
rous absnrdity borrowed from the silk cap worn
by monki>h lawyers to preserve their shaver
heads from the draughts of the courts. The
wigs introduced from France by Charles the
Second are enaned by the same judges, by our
barristers, and coachmen Our footmen still eX
ult in the powder which gave IA eiglteno lustre
10 Reynolds beauties The gypsy hat of the
same period is worn by the market women III the
west of England. Lahorers now wear the deep
tapped waistcoats and knee breeches of the
third George and the smock of very early
ugeA and is to meet III IA days
walk in London the Hessian boots tight
pantaloons so fashionable during the youth of
the Regent. The becfeaters at the Tower wear
the costume of Henry the Seventies body guard,
and our grOoms the doublet OF james the First.
Thou h we have been always borrowers of o.
ther nations fasl ions, even we sober English
have run strange lengths. Look at the fophng
Richard the Second, in Polish shoes with toes a
yard long, tied up to the knee with silver chains
and then in Henry the Eighth's time the broad
shoe widcned agt in to half-a yard, slashed and
| padded like sn all cushion. In Henry the
Sixth's time it was considered the thing TO wear
! forests of feathers nearly three feet hroad and
sweeping t the ground and little earer,d rcs
scs were par y per pale, of two colors, so that
one leg was blue and the other red-a favorite
attire, which died out very slowly. Then came
sleeves Jagged at the edges like leaves, and
reaching from mans wrist to the ground.
The diseases of kings have been the orgna-
tions of fashions "a bald king rules and all his
people shave,--a equity monarch establishes the
beauty of wide shoes. Scandal does say an un-
lucky princess mgenicusly invented hoops.
The most picturesque period of ehiValry was
the golden reign of Edwar the Third, who him
self realized half the dreams of nightly roman
ces. The rich steel arnor CHANGING through EN-
hrod.red surcoats, the silken wreath twisted
round the bel act streaming from behind it,
the bright feathers. the jeweled belt, sword hilt
and dagger sheath,-the glded housings of the
charger-the eolored pennon tlutterng from the
| lace, must. when seen in thick squadrons have
been II gorgeous sight and never utility
and splendor so thoroughly blended in the same
attire.
The Nandyke dress comes next point of
! picturesque grace and capabilities of contrast
The broad Spanish hat with its rich ieweled
band, its clasp of precious stones or its string of
pearls--the cloak capable of thousand varia-
tons of brightness and shade, fom mass of
broad, ripping daylight toa Spagnoletto gloom
the douhet fitting the form without ridiculous
eompresSon-the rich lace coll II, rather feme-
nine to eyes, did not the polished steel of the
breast-piece CLEAN through its fret work-the
! full Spanish hose and the small shoe, with the
rosette of ribbon constitute dress that delights
! the painter and the poet.
The nations of Europe have always slammed the
rich flower b d of colors in which their Asatc
! kinsmen delight. The Turk rejooes in the
primitive colors-rich reds, blues, and yeows
1.-The Englishman in inspd neutrals--lilacs,
huffs, and browns. The warmer the country the
| richer the taste for coors-very observable in
! Venice, Eastern in its associations, where
houses, people, and buildings form bright mo-
sale of intermingling hues, relieved by the deep
harmonious unties of the sky and the sea. We