Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-07-11
ANCIENT EMBARRASSING.
Some Of the VaSaries OF the Great
Grandtnother Generation.

grandmother Generation.
Towards the end of the thirteenth cen
| fury in France, under Philip the Fair, the
| head-dress was nothing more than q simple
| arrangement of the hair. This mode came
! from Italy, where simple and elegant head
| dressing was the fashion during the middle
ages In the first style adopted the parting
passed over the head from one ear to the
| other, the front portion of the hair being
carried to the forehead and fried, while
the latter part was divided into two long
piaits, which, being crossed over the neck,
were made TO meet egain at the top Of the
| forehead, and formed diadem Of hair.
A rather curious arrangement Of the hair
came into vogue In 1890. The - was
parted in the middle, tG very short locks
/ being made to curve on either side of the
| forehead the two hind plajts were then
crossed and brought under the ears up the
sides of the face being fastened among the
hair, which hung loosely on the sides Of
the head. In 1910 the two plaits were car
ried up the sides Of the face, having be
tween them and the checks q long piece Of
straight hair cut squaTely to the lengths of
the paits. In the frescoes of the chanel Of
st. Stephens, Westminster, Queen Philippe
and her three daughters were repre-
scented with their hair thus ar
ranged This fashion produced very stiff
| and ugly result, and the next was little
| better. The front and back hair having
| been divided into two tresses, the skull was
covered with q Golf and the front tresses
| each carried under the ears and made into
! large rolls, while the back hair was brought
! forward over the border of the Golf. The
result was to produce two great bosses of
| hair, resembling short horns, on either side
of tie head. An English Royal MS, of
the date of 1885, says: What shall We
say of the ladies when they come to festi-
walls? They look at each others heads,
and carry bosses like horned beasts. If any
one be without she IS an object Of scandal. ~
This dependence on hair led those who
! had not good supply to have recourse to
| artificial additions. But during the four
tenth century there was reaction against
| this practice, the women adopting for q
time the wimplc which did not require
such aids. The wimple appears to have
! been q development OF the hood or caplI-
| chOn which the women wore as well as the
men. In thes thirteenth century they fast
ened a veil round the capuchon, and the
part of the headdress left unveiled was
called the guimpe, or wimple. It. was
made Of fine white linen, and came to be
worn right over the chin and swathed
round the throat Sometimes it was drawn
still higher, and the veil being dropped
as low As the eyebrows, ii became
tolcrably good disguise. Az first
little lock of hair was worn
on each side OF the temples, but as the four
teenth century advanced it vanished. The
hair was still dressed in plaits and twists,
and might be seen under the folds of the
white linen In statue of the widow of
a count Of Flanders, killed at Crccy, origj-
nalIy in the cathedral of St. Denis, the veil
is almost fitted to the shape Of the head and
face by a stiff border OF fine plaits, the
lower part falling in exactly arranged folds
over the dress while the wimple passes
~. the chin and throat; and 1 similar
fashion obtained in Germany. Later on
the veil vas drawn together under the
chin, and lappets became more ample
Have we not here The origin Of the widows
cap? To realize its likeness, one ought to
recall It's form aquarter of century back
Magazine Of Art for judy.