The Portland daily press., 1880-01-12
Outline History of Costume.

Traditions may carry us back further, but
the first costumes of which we have any accu-
rate knowledge are those OF the ancient Assy-
rians and Egyptians, as displayed in the lately
exhumed bas relief of long buried Nineveh,
and in the sculptures and paintings discovered
in the desecrated tombs of Egypt. These rec
ords of almost forgotten dynasties show that,
while they had attained much skill in many OF
the useful arts, and could build temples and
palaces which still astonish us with their
grandeur, the ideas of these ancient people had
not been turned so much toward beauty as
toward magnifcence.
Especially is this shown in matters Of Dress
Richness of attire was the thing desired III 1t
is true as has been said, that the tendencies OF
people are as strikingly displayed in its cos
TUNES as in its laws, then the most elevated
aims of all nations, previous to the rise OF the
Greeks, must have been the subjugation OF
their neighbors and the acquisition OF wealth:
Their garments seemed formed with special
reference to convenience, when attacking an
enemy; and to show, when triumphing over
the yanuuished Grace of form is sacrificed to
utility in the time of war, and TO cumorous
decoration during the festivities OF peace.
Harmony of coloripg is less considered than It's
yiyidness and quantity Nature seems to have
been entirely disregarded and to have been
made the standard of beauty. Thus, II dye
stuff is expensive, it must not only be used IN
coloring the robe, but the cheeks. the lips, the
finger tips must be made flaming with scarlet,
or ghastly with blue. As the possession OF
gold and of precious stones is token OF wealth
and correspondent social importance, the first
must be woven into silk or linen garments TIL
they become so stiff that the Zine OF beauty
| is ysxed into graceless angles; and the second
are strung in glittering ropes about the head,
neck arms, ankles or waist until the whole
overloaded person seems ablaze with them.
| All this is of course, with the higher classes.
| With the lower there is not only no attempt at
| beauty, but none even at display. Vanity is
| ever a selfish sentiment, and the powerful have
| never allowed their social interiors TO initiate,
| even at distance, the extrayagant costumes
| so eomplacently worn by themselves. FOR the
| laborerS, 5000 years ago, there were no tunes
| heavy with gold or robes of fine linen fretted
| with unceuth designs in toilsome needlework.
| The weaver of scarlet and tne llnen, and
| the cunning worker" in brass and IN gold,
| wore only coarse woolen apron, or, at most, q
| short and sleeveless tunic of the same material
| bound at the waist with rope of cameps hair
1t was not until the rise of the Greeks that
| dress, ceasing to be mere exhibition OF 1ts
wearer's rank and wealth, became an exponent
| of ideas of beauty. This race, always Joy ana
| afterward from cultivation, though devoting
| less time and labor to the manufacture OF arti-
cles of dress than any Of the great peoples, tnat
| had preceded, or were contemporaneous Win
| it, was the first to make fine art OF dress
! Discarding all that was cumbrous, gaudy and
unnatural they adopted costumes which re-
main our best models of grace, and, in similar
| ly genial climes, of utility.
But it must not be inferred that the drapery
| of Grecian art is intended as a representation
| of the dresses worn in the common OCCUPATIONS
of life The drapery of the old Greek sculptors
was founded ON artistic principles and ideas
not ON those of practical utility; while the
| every day dress, beautiful and simple though
| it ALWAYS remained was ''conformed to the
| protection and comfort of the body, and the
| convenience of the wearer. Andrew Bazaar.