Chapter I: Preface

In compiling this volume on Costume (portions of which originally appeared in the _Ludgate Illustrated Magazine_, under the editorship of Mr. A. J. Bowden), I desire to acknowledge the valuable assistance I have received from sources not usually available to the public; also my indebtedness to the following authors, from whose works I have quoted:--Mr. Beck, Mr. R. Davey, Mr. E. Rimmel, Mr. Knight, and the late Mr. J. R. Planche. I also take this opportunity of thanking Messrs. Liberty and Co., Messrs. Jay, Messrs. E. R. Garrould, Messrs. Walery, Mr. Box, and others, who have offered me special facilities for consulting drawings, engravings, &c., in their possession, many of which they have courteously allowed me to reproduce, by the aid of Miss Juliet Hensman, and other artists.

The book lays no claim to being a technical treatise on a subject which is practically inexhaustible, but has been written with the intention of bringing before the general public in a popular manner circumstances which have influenced in a marked degree the wearing apparel of the British Nation.

FLORENCE MARY GARDINER.

_West Kensington, 1897._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER. PAGE.

I. THE DRESS, B.C. 594--A.D. 1897 3

II. CURIOUS HEADGEAR 15

III. GLOVES 25

IV. CURIOUS FOOTGEAR 31

V. BRIDAL COSTUME 39

VI. MOURNING 51

VII. ECCENTRICITIES OF MASCULINE COSTUME 61

VIII. A CHAT ABOUT CHILDREN AND THEIR CLOTHING 71

IX. FANCY COSTUME OF VARIOUS PERIODS 79

X. STAGE AND FLORAL COSTUME 89

THE EVOLUTION OF FASHION