The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-09-22

GENTLEMEN's FASHION IN OLDEN
T1MEs.-In all the short-lived splendcrs
Of which the old chrohiclers tell so much,
women had but little part, whether as
the wearers or the makers. The first
millinors were bearded men. It was q
tailor, not mantuamaker, in the modern
sense OF the word, who brought home
Katharine's new gown to the house of
Petruohio. Nor did the comparatively
simple and becoming attire of the ladies
OF the feudal times change by any means
80 often from the deoorous grace of its
original type as that Of their more fickle
lords. There is less difference, sarto-
rally speaking. between Queen Eleanor
and Margaret of An jou, between Beren-
garia and Isabel of France. than be-
tween the men of their respective times.
They never made themselves sublimely
ridiculous, as masculine vanity so con-
stantly urged the fops Of the period to
do. Until we reached the bristling ruffs
aud steeple hats of Elizabeth's reign,
there is nothing-unless it be the fantas-
tic contrast OF oolors brought in by
Henry the Sixth's imperious consort-to
provoke O smile from the days of the
Uonfessor to those of the Defender of
tho Faith.
But the men of those centuries were
arrnyed as superbly rs so many bright
winged butterflies. flushing with rainbow
tints and powdered with gold. In every
household of any pretension to rank,
even In tboSe of the poorer gentry, who
groaned over tho fashioner's charges and
haggled smartly with the chapman who
sold the wares, large slice of the family
income was devoted to clothing its head.
And not merely vanity and ostentation,
but the gregarious instinct which we
share with sheep, pushed medieval man
kind into a practical compliance with
fashions which were directly injurious to
health. The warm clothing, and in par
ticular the weighty hoods, worn in Ed
ward the Thirds reign, we're excellent
allies to the deadly epidemics of the
time. and may even have whetted the
scythe of that black death that moved
among our forefathers rs among thick
grass, and that swept nway half the po-
puIation of Europe. The extravagant
tightness of the French hose and doublet
worn under Louis the Eleventh-and of
which Charles the Bold's towering effigy,
as he stands in stone. larger than in nfe,
besides the famous chimney pieces of the
Bruges Town Hall, is the best example,
the bombasted garments of Francis Of
France and bluff Harry of England
Trunk hose and Flanders coats, stuffed
out with hair and wool. with bran or
straw. according to the liberality of the
customer, WAS what tailordom had then
to offer to discerning public; and soon
afterwards the stiff EIlzabethan ruff, ex
cruciatingly starohed. and with it's brist-
ling points Us sharp as the spiked leaves
of holly hedge, began to eucase the
much-enduring necks OF both sexes.
Then to the brocaded doublets and short
hose of the originals of the Vandyck
portraits there succeeded the lnce falls,
the knee.buokles. tapped coats. fathom-
less waistcoats, and majestic periwigs OF
that Augustan age Of which the Cm sar
held his revels at Whitehall, and spent,
in O month of eAsy-goipg, careless,
almost joyless prodigAlity, the yearly in
come which England and the French
King subscribed for Charles the Second.