The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-12-04
FoLLIEs OF MEN FASHIONS.
Men Who Starched Their Boards and
Wore Shoes Yard Long.

1t is little gratifying to reflect that.
however the man today may compare
with his ancestors of bygone centuries in
physique or morals his dress is much
more modest and inexpensive, even if it
is less picturesque, 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, son of well-known
peer who has the reputation of never
wearing suit twice. He has ward
robe of waistcoats of all the colors of the
rainbow ranging from light blue SPAN
gled with silver stars to a deep green
satin with buttons of Is carat gold, each
of which is adorned with the painted
face of beautiful woman.
Another wealthy aristocrat is credited
with having as many suits and uniforms
as there are days in the year, and with
spending on his tailor's bill sum which
would pay the yearly salary as a minor
cabinet minister. n i sss Hss
But such men are modestly arrayed
compared with the dandies of many a
past century. The Earl of Northumber-
land who lived in the latter part of the
fourteenth century boosted no fewer than
go suits of cloth of gold alone; and
the bishop of Ely of that time had a
change of raiment for every day of the
year. Much later. in Queen Mary's time.
the wardrobe Of a bishop might have
been the envy of Solomon for the variety
and costliness of it's contents; and even
simple village priest, according to Full
Ter. wore "a vestment of crimson satin, a
vestment of crimson velvet 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 a
blaze of crimson the other would be
tricked out in green or blue or yellow,
without any regard to harmony or con-
trast" l.
Even as late as the middle of the eight
zenith century dandy would deck him.
self in "a vivid green coat, waistcoat
of scarlet, yellow breaches and blue
stockings" and the gentleman of few
years later wore, among similar sartorial
vagaries. "a coat of light green, with
sleeves too small for the arms and but
tons too big for the sleeves; a pair Of
Manchester fine stuff breeches. without
money in their pockets: clouded silk
stockings; club of hair behind, larger
than the head that carries it: a hat of
the size of a sixpence on block not
worth a farthing."
At one fashionable epoch our ancestors.
to quote the words of quaint chrOnicler.
would weare clothes so tighte to We skin
that it might well be convinced they wore
no clothes at ALL" and at another they
would wear them 80 voluminOus that a
single suite might we'll have afforded
rayment for whole famillie, and SO
stuffed out with feathers that. of ver-
ity, their wearers resembled nothing so
much as walking sackes."
At another period it was the grotesque
fashion to combine on one person 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 walking epitome of
the dress of continent"
At one time shoes would be worn with
square toes of such width that 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 IFS time shoes with points
two feet long were worn by the fashion
able and in the reign of Henry Nv these
points had grown to such an inordinatc
length that in order to be able to walk at
all it was necessary to attach the tips to
the knees by chains, Wnlcn were OF gOi0
or silver, while the tops of the shoes were
carved with all kinds of fantastic de-
signs.
In the early part of the eighteenth cen-l
fury it was a common thing for man Of
fashion to spend several hours day with
his valet, among the many quaint opera
lions being 1.-The starching Of the beard
and the proper pertaining of garments.
the painting of the face and amounting
with oils, tinctures, quintessences and
pomatums." It Is even said that some
of the dandies of the time bathed in wine
and milk ''for the preservation of their
and the regeneration of their