The Washington herald., 1911-01-05
NEWS AND GOSSIP
OF OTHER LANDS

4 OI O1HEA A<7VDO
The former use Of extraordinary hair
ornaments u being recalled by the
present agitation in China to abolish the
pigtail. Most Of these ''superstructures''
hsve been reformed out Of existence al
together; some Of them have been modi-
fed through more modern usages
Any kind Of adornment Of the human
Uranium means its reformation. In an
cient Peru, the severest penalties failed
to eradicate the habit Of reshaping the
head to suit the requirements Of fashion.
Just think OF it! "Fashion' among the
aborigines OF far-away Peru. the '.Incas."
In some cases the head was elongated.
IN others 1t was given the conical form
Of \ sugar loaf. The natives OF the
Hebrides were satisfied with q simple
depression of the forehead. And, ac-
cording to Bancroft, the Chinook mother
who did not properly mold. the Uranium
of her child was lazy" while her or
spring. through this neglect" earned
the ridicule of his playfellows. So des-
potic was fashion," even among the
uncivilized nations Of the long ago.
But very few Of us know the exact
origin Of the wig. 1t was used first at
the fair of st. Germain. in France, in
1914. where some performers" sprinkled
their hair with flour to make themselves
look ridiculous, and the French, who
liked the idea, adopted 1t at once and
with their usual enthusiasm concerning
novelties. Within a century the wig had
gained such vogue in France that, to
quote historian Of the times, 'every
peasant girl was trying to sell her hair 80
the craving Of the better classes being
for hair from any head. living or dead %
During the reign Of George II the wig
in England took a variety of forms,
serving as 4 sort Of professional dis
tinction and given such names as bob
wig" the "'prentice minor bob" the
Citizens bob major" or Sunday buckle
the flat-top wig of students, the short
cut bob Of nine hairs a side for country
gentlemen and fox hunters. and the
tail wig used by the soldiery Then
there also were bag wigs and tie wigs.
worn by doctors; wigs made Of calves
tails. tower wigs. and half wigs.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centu-
ries. also during the Stuart period. mems
hair was cropped short. the Puritanic
style showing well with their somber
cloaks. dark cloth doublets, and hose.
But the hair flowed out in long and lux
uriant curis from beneath the cooked
hat and over the graceful attire Of the
cavalier Of the times. Under Charles II
curls rose above curls i'm rows and de-
scended over the shoulders and back in
heavy masses. Noblemen, gentlemen.
divines, learned men, soldiers, grave
judges. and lawyers all followed eagerly
this fashion. True, some few clergy
men tried to oppose the craze from their
pulpits, yet to no purpose. For in every
profession each one tried to rival his
follnuy in, fho ci1 Nh Af hiS ssporvlnne " n
til at last they became quite enormous.
The eighteenth century brought various
forms Of the triangular hat into use.
giving the wearer his choice between the
military cock" the mercantile cock,
and the 'three-cornered cock" The
small Nivernais succeeded the immense
Khevenmueller. and then came in success
sion round hats. turbans. hats with man.
moth brims. hats without brims. cylinder
hats, felt hats. derbies. and straw hats.
But the head ornaments of women have
passed through an endless variety of
fashions. Simple. buttoned bonnets sat
isfied the feminine taste in Chaucer's S
time. The horned" hatdress for women
came into use in Henry VS. time. By
about 1880 the cannon bonnet and the
sugar Loaf hats were in vogue. Tower
and steeple headgear came into fashion
able use in the Middle Ages.
In 1888, We read that John Edward
cried out against exalted ladies. who,
with their lofty towers, threaten the
skies and even defy heaven itself" An
other writer of the same period declared
that 1T was impossible for a lady who
wore a hat to sit inside Of an ordinary
hackney COACH On the introduction of
the one-horse chaise called cabriolet
q modiste in Paris invented the cab
riolet" heatdress, with sides initiating
the wheels of cabs. and went on to de-
| velop other feminine headgear in the
shape of post chaises and broad-wheeled
wagons.
The Duchess Of Maine. in France. IL
The seventeenth century, wrote. concern
ing Nine. de Maintenon, that "sh,
brilliants. her headgear being heavie
than herself
| The couture a Ia belle poule" was al
the rage during the reign Of Louis XVI
/ 1t represented a ship in full sail. re
posing upon q sea of curls. There alst
were certain bonnets nodded into tn,
| shapes Of birds and rendered immens,
by extravagant accumulations Of trim
mings. Addison. in the Spectator. as
serted that he had seen the headdres!
Of ladies rise and fall above thirty de
L
ladies that once were very near seveI
feet high who at present want SOM
Inches to FIVE"
It was such headgear as that which
gave rise to an amusing satire in tn,
days Of George II. which 1 repeat here
Here o. . fair ones head-dre8 sparkling sticks
Swinging On silver springs. q coach and six;
There on spring OF . stopped pompon you So
chariot, suIky. ehaise. o. viSa-yiA
The head of an eighteenth centur,
| beauty of fashion. whom Col Landhan
describes In his Adventures and Recol
lections." was '.frizzed up a yard high.
Fairholt speaks Of heaps Of tow an,
pads over which the false hair was ar
ranged Of ''plumes Of feathers Of enor
nous magnitude or combinations Of flow
ers;" Of coaches, horses, and other alb
surdities.''
When the wife Of Charles v Of Franc
put on q '.two-horned' headdress, &C
cording to Dardin, 1.-The women OF tn
time WED with each other as to VIII.
| should wear the most handsome head
gear peaked like a steeple and TALES
horns" When the Paris Opera Hous
burned down in 1760. femininity in tina
city would hear OF nothing else in Golf
fures except burned opera house head
dress" The comet of 1772 gave its aam
| to . headdress Of flaming colored rib
bons.
The Iphigenia coiffure-''a wreath o
flowers surmounted by silver crescen:
with long. white veil flowing behind,
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