English Costume Part 32

Notice the broad collar and deep cuffs. The dress is simple but rich. The bodice is laced with the same colour as the narrow sash.

The hair is arranged in a series of elaborate curls over the forehead.]

This was the day, then, of satins, loosened hair, elbow sleeves, and little forehead curls. The stiffness of the older times will pa.s.s away, but it had left its clutch still on these ladies; how far it vanished, how entirely it left costume, will be seen in the next royal reign, when Nell Gwynne was favourite and Sir Peter Lely painted her.

ENGRAVINGS BY HOLLAR

These excellent drawings by Hollar need no explanation. They are included in this book because of their great value as accurate contemporary drawings of costume.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Four women}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Four women}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Four women}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Four women}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Four women}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Four women}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Four women}]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Four women}]

THE CROMWELLS

1649-1660.

THE MEN AND WOMEN

'I left my pure mistress for a s.p.a.ce, And to a snip-snap barber straight went I; I cut my hair, and did my corps uncase Of 'parel's pride that did offend the eye; My high crowned hat, my little beard also, My pecked band, my shoes were sharp at toe.

'Gone was my sword, my belt was laid aside, And I transformed both in looks and speech; My 'parel plain, my cloak was void of pride, My little skirts, my metamorphosed breech, My stockings black, my garters were tied shorter, My gloves no scent; thus marched I to her porter.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: {A man of the time of the Cromwells; a type of jacket}]

It is a question, in this time of restraint, of formalism, where anything could be made plain, cut in a c.u.mbrous fas.h.i.+on, rendered inelegant, it was done. The little jackets were denuded of all forms of frippery, the breeches were cut straight, and the ornaments, if any, were of the most severe order. Hats became broader in the brim, boots wider in the tops, in fact, big boots seemed almost a sign of heavy religious feeling. The nice hair, love-locks, ordered negligence all vanished, and plain crops or straight hair, not over long, marked these extraordinary people. It was a natural revolt against extravagance, and in some more sensible minds it was not carried to excess; points and bows were allowable, though of sombre colours.

Sashes still held good, but of larger size, ruffs at the wrists were worn, but of plain linen. The bands or collars varied in size according to the religious enthusiasm of the wearers, but all were plain without lace edgings, and were tied with plain strings. Black, dark brown, and dull gray were the common colours, relieved sometimes, if the man was wearing a sleeveless coat, by the yellow and red-barred sleeves of the under-jacket, or possibly by coloured sleeves sewn into the coat under the shoulder-wings. Overcoats were cut as simply as possible, though they did not skimp the material but made them wide and loose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A CROMWELLIAN MAN (1649-1660)

Notice the careful plainness of his dress, and his very wide-topped boots.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Three men of the time of the Cromwells; a type of sleeve; two types of breeches and boot; a type of collar}]

The women dressed their hair more plainly, the less serious retained the little bunches of side curls, but the others smoothed their hair away under linen caps or black hoods tied under their chins. Another thing the women did was to cut from their bodices all the little strips but the one in the middle of the back, and this they left, like a tail, behind. Some, of course, dressed as before with the difference in colour and in ornament that made for severity. It had an effect on the country insomuch as the country people ceased to be extravagant in the materials for garments and in many like ways, and so lay by good fortunes for their families--these families coming later into the gay court of Charles II. had all the more to lavish on the follies of his fas.h.i.+ons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {A man of the time of the Cromwells; a type of coat}]

The Puritan is as well-known a figure as any in history; an intelligent child could draw you a picture or describe you a Puritan as well as he could describe the Noah of Noah's Ark. He has become part of the stock for an Academy humourist, a thousand anecdote pictures have been painted of him; very often his nose is red, generally he has a book in his hand, laughing maids bring him jacks of ale, jeering Cavaliers swagger past him: his black cloak, board shoes, wide Geneva bands are as much part of our national picture as Punch or Harlequin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF THE CROMWELLS (1649-1660)

This is not one of the most Puritanical dresses, but shows how the richness of the reign of Charles I. was toned down. She carries a m.u.f.f in her hand, wears a good wide collar and cuffs, and neat roses on her shoes.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Two women of the time of the Cromwells; a type of jacket; two types of head-dress for women}]

The Puritaness is also known. She is generally represented as a sly bird in sombre clothes; her town garments, full skirts, black hood, deep linen collar are shown to hide a merry-eyed lady, her country clothes, ap.r.o.n, striped petticoat, bunched up skirt, linen cap, her little flaunt of curls show her still mischievous. The pair of them, in reality religious fanatics, prepared a harvest that they little dreamt of--a harvest of extravagant clothes and extravagant manners, when the country broke loose from its false bondage of texts, scriptural s.h.i.+rts, and religious petticoats, and launched into a bondage, equally false, of low cut dresses and enormous periwigs.

In the next reign you will see an entirely new era of clothes--the doublet and jerkin, the trunks and ruffs have their last eccentric fling, they become caricatures of themselves, they do all the foolish things garments can do, and then, all of a sudden, they vanish--never to be taken up again. Hair, long-neglected, is to have its full sway, wigs are the note for two centuries, so utterly different did the man become in the short s.p.a.ce of thirty-five years, that the buck of the Restoration and the beau of the Jacobean order would stare helplessly at each other, wondering each to himself what manner of fool this was standing before him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WOMAN OF THE TIME OF THE CROMWELLS (1649-1660)

This shows the modification of the dress of the time of Charles I.

Not an extreme change, but an endeavour towards simplicity.]

CHARLES THE SECOND

Reigned twenty-five years: 1660-1685.

Born 1630. Married, 1662, Katherine of Portugal.

THE MEN AND WOMEN

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Two men of the time of Charles II.}]

England, apparently with a sigh of relief, lays aside her hair s.h.i.+rt, and proves that she has been wearing a silk vest under it.

Ribbon-makers and wig-makers, lace-makers, tailors, and shoemakers, pour out thankful offerings at the altar of Fas.h.i.+on. One kind of folly has replaced another; it is only the same G.o.ddess in different clothes. The lamp that winked and flickered before the stern black figure in Geneva bands and prim curls is put to shame by the flare of a thousand candles s.h.i.+ning on the painted face, the exposed bosom, the flaunting love-locks of this Carolean deity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Two men of the time of Charles II.}]

We have burst out into periwigs, monstrous, bushy; we have donned petticoat breeches ruffled like a pigeon; we have cut our coats till they are mere apologies, serving to show off our fine s.h.i.+rts; and we have done the like with our coat-sleeves, leaving a little cuff glittering with b.u.t.tons, and above that we have cut a great slit, all to show the marvel of our linen.

Those of us who still wear the long wide breeches adorn them with heavy frills of deep lace, and sew bunches of ribbons along the seams.

We tie our cravats in long, stiff bows or knot them tight, and allow the wide lace ends to float gracefully.