The times., 1899-08-06
1,eoo-YEAR-oLp FASHIONS.
Egyptian Discoveries Prove How We
Duplicate Ancient styles.

Egyptian Discoveries Prove How We
Duplicate Ancient styles.
There is in progress in France an ex
hibition of clothes and stuffs, taken from
the graves of Egyptian patricians and i'm
perial Roman officials who were buried In
the second and third centuries after Christ
From these relics it Is brought home tc
Paris that its latest novelties in stuffs and
colors are not novelties at all, as they
were common on the Nile sixteen or sew
enteen centuries ago, says writer to the
''St Louis STAR
The graves were unearthed at Antiooe,
Egypt at one time the seat of a Roman
Governor. TIE well-known Psychologist
Gayet. superintended the work and brought
his finds to Paris. AS the inscriptions on
some of the graves showed, many of the
occupants were Christians. The bodies OF
| the women were clothed in silk and WOOL,
their undergarments being of fine linen.
| When the silk dresses were shown to a
! Lyons silk manufacturer he was dunn
! founded. The weaving process /, myself,
have invented" he said, seems to have
been known to the ancients" And con-
tinuing his Investigations with strong
| magnifying glass, he added: faey knew
well our tricks of manufacturing.
Pieces of silk cut from the garment OIL
/ one of the Egyptian women were sent &c
the Government school for silk weaving.
and the pupils were invited to guess the
| texture and manufacturing place The
| brighter ones concluded that it was JAG
quart work. one OF the latest products
OF silk manufacturing But" they added,
! the color distribution is finer than We
have ever SEEN"
/ Another piece of goods from the graves
/ was adjudged to be from the factory OF
! Raute Lisse, one of the first weaveries or
| France. And the eolors of these sixteen
centuries-old grave clothes were of the
most fashionable hue; 'ByZantinian," it is
called in Lyons, only finer. more delicate,
and more lasting.
Here is a dress of noblewoman buried
at Antipoiis: A long linen shirt of the finest
| batiste, as the stuff is called today, with
| insertion of lace. The ground color is
white, with blue polka dots and heart
| shaped dots of white interviewer Inc
| borders round the shoulders and in front
| are of raised embroidered work, the pat
| tern of which is fashionable just now. This
| embroidery is visible through the over
dress. also a modern fashion. The dress
material is yellow crepon cut decollete,
| square. The dress has insertions over the
breast, and is done UP with many feunces
and frills The woman wore AN opera
cloak, bright red silk, with white feather
collar, and hat made of narrow bands of
red silk sewed together. She had on tan
shoes, on which figures are impressed in
gold. The dress is edged with an en-
broidered border of many colors.
Some time ago an article appeared III
many papers stating that the handker-
| CHIEF was an invention of the sixteenth
century. NJ. Gayet says that most OF the
| female corpses excavated by him held
handkerchiefs between their fingers.
On the Paris boulevards one sees nova
days many women wearing dresses with
! embroidery in high relief The Roman
Egyptian women of the second and third
| centuries thought SO, too. as their dresses
prove. And those big buttons pastels oi
| rocco, women framed in bright metal
/ which were all the rage now long ago. Our
sisters at the beginning of the Christian
era thought them pretty, also, though they
used, of course, different subjects-god-
desses and nymphs.
| The sleeves of all the Roman dresses are
of peculiar pattern. They must have
| swept the ground. as they measure more
than a yard and a half.
A woman whom her tombstone desig.
mated as a musician" had on cloak
of orange-coiored linen: her dress of pur.
pie cloth was enliyened by red and greer
fringes and borders; the collar was en-
broidered beautifully; also the sleeves
She wore a red leather belt and liner
shirt, with fine colored insertion. Her tar
shoes were decorated with gold. Hel
handkerchief had many furbelows. The
comb in her hair was set with bright
pieces of glass. II ii were of eelluloid, in
stead of turtle shell, one might think Il
had come from a Paris one franc bazaar
This girl wore signet ring adorned witt
the head of Apollo. Around her neck she
had a string of imitation pearls, witt
clasps of gold bronze: upon her breasi
was suspended picture of Venus.
The Romans believed that persons de.
parting this life take up their earthly
occupations in their new abode, and there.
fore provided the dead with means of earn
ing a livelihood. This musicians gray,
contained a bronze Tyre. castanets, and {
box OF rouge, some OF the last-named still
intact.
The graves of two circus riders wer,
likewise unearthed-each containing, be
sides the corpse, what was left of a leath
or saddle. The leather work on the boot!
Of all the ancient women is beautiful
They could not do better in Vienna OF
Russia today. One of the circus womer
must have been a Christian, being desig.
mated as THE Sainted Euphemia." Hel
corpse was dressed in sea green garment
with black fringe and braids set V-shap'
upon the lower half of the skirt. The colol
of the braid is alternately white and vio,et
The sleeves have embroidery in white ant
green on violet ground In this grave 1
pair OF house shoes was found similar (
those worn in Egypt today.
The graves of the men contained al
sorts of implements besides arms. One o
the ancient corpses must have been a lit
erary man when in the flesh. for he wa.
accompanied by full outfit of writing ma
terial-ink, stylus, parchment, and books
OF reference.
NJ. Gayet could not understand why al
the men had black and all the women hat
yellow hair A chemist solved the riddle
The hair of the females was dyed Of
bleached.
The Lyons Chamber of Commerce is 81
much interested in the silk finds that i
has agreed to pay for further excavation
in the same spot.
THE PUNCH WAS FINE, BUT
oh, the DeceitfuIness of That Cleyc