Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-07-13
ANCIENT FASHIONS.
How the Ladies Of Pompeii Dressed

From the Galaxy.I Sa t 80 -
The Pompeii women obtained from the
east an unguent with which they satura-
ted their hair, and then sat for hours in
the sun until the foreign substance was
dried in, and the hair was transformed
Sometimes the process took days to be
perfected, and then, if the lady has so
large a circle of acquaintance that she
could secure no privacy in her city house,
she betook herself to the country, and
remained there till her hair was made
more silken and more rich with golden
hue. &
The style of dressing the hair varied
as it varies with us, fashion being more
of an arbitress than taste in that lmpor-
liant detail Of woman costume. Rats"
and cushions were skillfully adjusted by
the slave cOi6eure to the head Of her
mistress, and we find some traces of the
water fall Curls seem TO have been he
favorite style Of dressing the hair for
time-curls thrown back of the head
and flowing on the neck, such as we call
Grecian curls, Wearing the hair in
large knot on the summit of the head or
in short ringlets around the forehead,
was also favorite mode with the exquls-
ties of those days of exquisite elegance.
But what adorned most the head of the
Pompean bellies were the jeweled combs
and jeweled pins with which they used to
fasten their hair Some of these were
marvelously beautful-not in color only
but in poetical design. One of those
pins found in Herculaneum, and about
seven or eightinch long, is surmOunted
by Venus chiseled in gold she is
twisting her hair, and looks at herself in
mirror held by Cupid Another is or
namented with a small figure of Psyche
kissing Love These jeweled pins are,
perhaps, the most interesting feature of
woman pdrure They seem to have
been selected with such dainty care as
best harmonized with the occasioR in
which they were worn, showing at once
that the symbols they represented we're
not overlooked, nor their poetical mean
ing unremembered. mL
We moderns cannot admire those pins
without wonder at the perfect taste which
the pagan artists used in forming the
least trihe Would it be possible to use
with more effect or with more grace so
small cpace as the head of pin for the
hair.
Our aigrets, our diamond constella
tons, and our koh-i-noors are very beau
tiful, but among all our modern designs
for jewels aud parurs, none awaken in
our mind associations of ideas so ex-
quisite as those suggested by the taste OF
those graceful pagans.
Young girlsin Pompeii wore nets and
exercised the charming capriciousness of
their tickle taste in choice of colors, tex
lures and style. Some of them were
made of gold thread, studded with pearls
and other precious stones.
But with that same passion for beauty
and dress which now, as then, lies at the
very heart of womans nature, nothing
conld be more unlike our modern female
costume than that of the Roman women,
Their ideal was naturalness, and hence
genuine beauty of form They did not
wear corsets, nor had they the remotest
idea of barreling up their busts with
whaebone or steel Next to the skin
they wore garment of finest cambric,
very much like the modern chemise.
Then straight band or scarf, called
strophium, which served TO support the
bosom with that grace we so admire in
antique paintings. The makers of that
part of woman's wardrobe were as much
patronized by Pompeian bellies as our
French corset-makers are to-day pat
ronized by wemen of elegance. Over
that band was worn a sort Of jacket with
long sleeves, and made of the finest
white wool.
When at home the tunic covered the
whole and the length Of that ample, flow
ing drapery measured somewhat the vlr-
tue Of the wearer, for it seems that the
purple women of those days preferred
TO wear their tunics very short, to show
their legs laden with bracelets, while the |
Roman matrons heightened their vesture
by hounce embroidered with gold, The
tunic was fastened around her waist by !
belt artistically hidden under the folds Of
the tucked up drapery. For the prone
made women of fashion wore the mantle, 4
the beauty Of which was best displayed |
by the style in which itexposed the right |
breast, and was thrown over the right |
shoulder. These mantels were invariably |
white. and so fine in texture that the in |
corrigible Petronius speaks Of them as of /