, 1877-07-29


fore his dcath, the fashionable cbronicler Of LIE
Sport traces the changes which have taken place
in French costumes since the last Of the Valois,
of whom NJ. Chapus says: = lie (l1enri lily tor
ruptcd the morals Of his period, as his sister
Marguerite dc Valois did the fashions" n.
Chapus says that, though she had an abundance
Of beautiful blnck hair, she had 8 great fond
ness, like ladics Of more modern time, for golden
locks, aud wore wigs OF her favorite color. She
selected rs pages only those lads who had hair
OF this color, and did not scruple to have it cut
oil when she wanted new perruque. She wore
q number OF gold chains twisted into the hair
and several more around her neck; and in this,
as in other fashions, her example was generally
followed By the ladies' O. the nobility and OF the
borrgeois:e. Among these customs, most OF
then involving considerable expeuse- were those
OF wearing p:rIuineI gloves bordcrcd with
masks of black velvet or satin, which were at
taclled to tIc face By means OF piece u string,
with pearl At the end Of it, the pearl being
placed in the mouth; anu belts, from which
were suspended a mirror and folding fan made
OF yclluin with d trimming Of lace. n. Chapus
might have added that the Hotel de Sens, in
which Marguerite lie Valois resided in Paris, is
about to be demolished. During the league
there WAS marked Elimination in the luxury Of
dress, but when Henri w. had established hls
~
cd themselves: and D'Aubigne speaks Of no
fewer than sixty-four new shades ofco!or, among
them being the " Dying Ape, "the Seven Cap
ital Sins,' tile u Dead Man to Life Again. and
the ~ Sick spaniard - The length OF the sleeves
was so great that it deemed necessary to in
vent spoons with very long handles, in order
that ladies might be able to cat their soup With
out soiIing their dress.
For hundred years France had shared the
empire Of fashion with Italy and Spain, but in
the reign Of Louis Mi. she had it almost Gu
tirclr to herself. For the first time after the
lapse Of several centuries, ladies wore dresses
which did not spoil their figures. The ladies OF
the old school still retained masks, but the
Younger ones merely wore wells OF black cr'pe,
(which served Us q relief to the WhltencSs OF
their skn.'' Young amt old alike made plen-
tifu1 use OF perfumes, powder, rouge, and
patches cut to initiate stars, flowers, and AMI,
mails. The pcrfumcd gloves. red, green, and
sky-blue stockings, and morocco shoes OF dill
ferent colors, also continued to be the fashion.
The male dress priscd short mantle draped
round the bust, q pourpont with long basqucs
pier a fiat hat with broad brim and feathers,
fiat collar turned down upon the pourpont,
and the hair was worn long with the
mustachc curlcd. There was but little change
i'll the general character Of the fashions under
Louis XIV, aud the ladies continued to wear
such low dresses tiiEt ono Of the priests III Paris
wrote book deriouncing the practice, being
followed By Ahbe Boilcau, q brother OF the poet.
who published Il work on the Abuses Of
Nudity.'' These cffnrts we're made to no pur-
pose; but Nine. dc Alaintcnon was more Success
ful, and her habit Of wearing hlatk lace upon her
shoulders was generally followed. In the six
teenth century the public baths, which had been
opened fifty years before, gave rise to such
close them, and tho only baths then existing
were those in the hotels Of wealthy
persons and the nyer baths used in the
summer. The result was that at the beginning
L. knA$,-
lad gone entirely ont ot fashion; water was
replaced BY perfumes. and even the great ladies
OF the court went week without washing their
hands. The King, who had himself felt the
Inconvenience arising from the absence Of baths
had measures taken 10 reopen them with due
regard for property, and all Paris washed and
was clean. Up to this time ladies had always
had their hair dressed by their own 'naics, but
henceforward they employed the professional
BARRIERS who managed the public baths. Onc
Europe, and, to use his own expression, worked
upon ali the ROYAL aud PTinccty heads" The
wig makers bud their share in this success,
and the mania for false hair was SO great
that learned theoiogiau. one Jean Baptiste
Theirs, wrote a long essay to show that !" arti-
fetal hair was an outrage to God, because it
distorted the person whom He had made in
His own image"
In the eighteenth century France began to
copy from other nations, and in ZIG English To-
dies appeared in Paris with panicT dresses, the
hoops having 4 circumference Of twelve feet
This fashion gave rise TO an incident which
created 4 great coumotion both at Court and
among the nobility, as well Us in Government,
circles. According To etiquette. the Quecn,
when she went to the play, was accompanied by
two Of the RoyaI Princesses, who we're seated
right and left Of her 1t was found, however,
that the hoop4lresscs Of the two Princcsses,
spread out like fans, concealed the Queen from
the view Of her liege subjects; SO Cardinal
Fleurv decided that for the future the chairs
SHOULD remain un0ccupicd. The Princcsses
would oniy aequiesce il. this arrangement upon
condition that there should be row at unoccu-
pied chairs between them and the Duchrsscs,
who sat in their The husbands OF the latter
protested against this as all Insult to theirwi
and published IN ANONYMOUS pamphlet, which.
after being condemned by the Parliament. Was<
burned BY the public cxceutiouCr. During the
minority of Louis NV. the ancient mooe o.
dress renamed in vogue. but Moutesquieu in
troluced English fashions, and the rcdingotc
{ridingEoat} made its appearance in ITO. Ad-
ycrsarics of what was termed -Angloman!a met
the redingote with the habit u In franchise, and.
to show that they we're no Puritans, they cover
ed it with gold aud silver lace At this period
the Indies dressed in imitation OF stage snep-
hcrdcsscs, but, concession to nature, wore
straw hats a In Bastienne with broad bFiu1s}-
There were as many as forty-fVe varieties OF
wigs, and Duyue, the chief of tho hair-dressers,
went his rounds IN carriage and pair. Lcsros
published treaties upon his art, founued IN
academy Of hair-dressng, and exhibited upon