The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-12-24
FOLLIES OF FASHION
sARToRlAL vAGARIEs OF THE CEN
TURlEs THAT ARE GONE.

Grotesque Styles That Reigned In
the Time of Chaucer - Raiment
Tint Rivaled the Rainbow and
Men Who stnrched Their Boards.
1t is little gratifying to reflect that,
however the man of today may com
pare with his ancestors Of bygone cen
turtles in physique and morals, his
dress is much more moderate and in
expensive. even if it is less pictur-
esque, than theirs.
1t is true that here and there one
may find some foolish young man
whose taste in dress is as extravagant
as that of any buck" of the days OF
the Georges. There is, for instance, a
son of a we'll known peer who has the
reputation of never wearing suit
twice. He has wardrobe of waist
coats of all the colors of the rainbow,
ranging from a light blue spangled
with silver stars to deep green satin
with buttons of eighteen carat gold,
each of which is adorned with the
painted face of beautiful woman
Another wealthy aristocrat is credit
ed with having as many suits and uni
forms as there are days in the year
and with spending on his tailors bill
a sum which would pay the yearly
salary of a minor cabinet minister.
But such men are modestly arrayed !
compared with the dandies of many a |
past century. The earl of Northum-
berland who lived in the latter part of |
the fourteenth century boasted no few
er than sixty suits of cloth of gold
alone. and the bishop of Ely of that
time had a change of raiment for ey-
cry day Of the year.
Much later, in Queen Mary's time, |
the wardrobe of bishop might have
been the envy of Solomon for the va
riety and coStliness of its contents, and
even a simple village priest, according
to Fuller wore "a vestment of crimson
satin, vestment of crimson velvet, a
stole and fanon set with pearl, gowns
faced with taffetas, etc"
In the days of Chaucer fashionable
men wore clothes as many colored as
Joseph's coat, SO that while one leg
would be tricked out in greea or blue
or yellow. without any regard to har-
mony or contrast.
Even as late as the middle of the
eighteenth century dandy would deck
himself in q vivid green coat, a waist
coat of scarlet, yellow breeches and
blue stockings and the gentleman OF
a few years later Wore, among SINH
lar sartorial vagaries, "a coat of light
green, with sleeves toe small for the
arms and buttons too big for the
sleeves: a pair of Manchester fine stuff
breeches, without money in their peck
cts; clouded silk stockings, a club of
hair behind larger than the head that
carries it, q hat of the size of a six
pence on block not worth far
thing
At one fashionable epoch our ances-
tors, to quote the words of a quaint
chronicler. would weare clothes SO
tighte to We skin that it might well be
conceived they wore no clothes at ALL =
and at another they would wear them
$50 voluminous that a single suite
might well have afforded Payment for
a whole fanilie, and SO stuffed out
with feathers that, of a verify, their
wearers resenlbled nothing SO much as
walking sackes."
AT another period it was the gro
tesQue fashion to combine on one per-
son the dress of all the countries of
Europe-the hat would be Spanish, the
coat French. the trousers Turkish, and
so on-so that the wearer was walk
ing epitome of the dress of a cont
| nent.
| At one time shoes would be worn
| with square toes of such width that a
royal proclamation was issued limiting
| the width to six inches, and these
shoes were succeeded by others which
| came to the finest of points at the toes.
In Henry Ills time shoes with points
| two feet long were worn by the fash
| ionables, and in the reign of Henry
| ". these points had grown to such an
| inordinate length that in order to be
able to walk at all it was necessary to
attach the tips to the knees by chains,
which were of gold or silver, while the
tops of the shoes We're carved with all
kinds Of fantastic designs.
In the early part of the eighteenth
century it was a common thing for q
man of fashion to spend several hours
a day with his valet, among the many
quaint operations being the starching
of the beard and the proper pertaining
of garments, the painting of the face
and amounting with oils tinctures, quin-
tessences and pomatums.' 1t is even
said that some of the dandies of the
time bathed in wine and milk .Efor the
preservation of their compilations and
the regeneration of their energies.'-
London Iit-Bits.