Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-08-09
THE TALE OF THE SHIRT.
Strange Changes IN the Fashions Within
Five Hundred Years.


Five Hundred Years.
The youngster who looks upon the
recent rebellion against the style of
starched shirt he was brought up in as
an evidence of something new in the
world has much to learn of the past,
says the New York Graphic, The plain
linen front, glossy and stiff, TO which
he has been accustomed as a part of
every gentlemans attire, is no monu-
ment of the usage of centuries, as he
may imagine. 1t is really result of
the conventional law prescribing the
stern simplicity of the evening dress.
This itself is the result of elimination,
every color and extraneous OF lament
which formerly adorned the exquisite
having been discarded and lines of
rigid severity being adopted as the ex-
treme effort Of elegance.
1t is not many yesxs-only about
twenty-five since it became common
for men to have their shirts made up
away from home. Until then women
of every economical household made
the shirts for the men, and it may be
said parenthetically well-ftting shirt
taste and fancy Of the fair seamstress
had every opportunity for display in
the way Of variety, and the result was
a surprising variety. Ruf1les had at
that time nearly gone out OF use, but
plaits, tucks, gathered fronts were
common enough The tendency to-
ward simplicity brought reduction
in the number of these plaits, until
three broad plaits, the last touch of
fancy work that was allowed, gave
way 70 the plain front that has been
the o., lie for dozen or more of years.
This last is the only thing that really
harmonizes with the "dress suit" So
called, or evening dress.
1t is not surprising that the fashion
should begin to change, and that new
materials should take this place, as they
are now taking it, of linen and muslin
for day wear and forneglige garments.
The very decided movement toward
white flannel that began last summer
is likely to be stronger this summer,
but every other available kind of
woven goods is now employed. Silken,
wooden. cotton, and linen cloths Of
numerous kinds find place, and the
taste that finds expression in colors and
even embroidery is no longer consider
ed outre.
These changes, however, are triiling
compared with those that have taken
place since five hundred years ago,
when the shirt became a thing of COM
mon use. Before that men had not
developed the under garment plan of
dressing, and wore their clothes in
very different fashion from that now
in vogue. Awriter in the San Francisco
Chronicle recently sketched in outline
the various radical changes that have
been introduced since the birth of the
shirt Habits of personal cleanliness,
he intimates, were not as rigid in the
fourteenth century rs in the nineteenth,
and for time the shirt was worn like
the modern undershirt, in concealment,
partly because it was seldom in a con-
dition to bear inspection. It's length
varied in different periods accordingto
the fashion of the outer garments, but
it was kept hidden until at length an
ornamented band, the precursor Of the
modern collar, began to show the neck.
Then display was in vogue Of the
lower part. between the doublet and
the long hose. Then portions of the
sleeve were exposed through slashes in
the doublet sleeves.
In the seventeenth century the collar
was all that was generally shown, and
this assumed, at some periods, enor-
nous proportions and fantastic shapes.
From 100 to 1900 A. D. there seemed
to be general desire to display as
much as possible Of the useful gar
ment. The waist-coat, worn over it,
was only caught together by loops at
the waist, and showed more than
modern observers would consider de-
corous. The reaction from this was
the closing up Of the waistcoat and
the growth of the eravat, which latter,
at first az big "a y shawl, gradually
subsidized to tho stock of our grand
fathers aud then to the modern tie.
The various changes, narrated care
fully in detail, would fill volume,
but these few outlines show the general
character Of the change. How soon
another revolution in dress may come
it is impossible to guess, but that it
will come some time it is certain, and
that the starehed shirt will suffer
change with tho other garments admits
Of 40 question.