Chapter XIV: Special Dresses

FASHIONS KEPT UP BY CEREMONIES--SURVIVALS IN SPECIAL COSTUME--FLOWING GARMENTS

In the foregoing pages we have been concerned chiefly with individual parts of costume, and while showing how various garments have reached their present form, we have busied ourselves with discovering the origin of many important survivals. We have not however hesitated, in dealing with these details, to touch on all kinds of costumes, and here and there we have left civilians' dress for a moment to take an illustration from that of the soldier or the member of some other profession.

At the same time, we have indicated that on occasions of ceremony, whether religious or otherwise, the dress adopted is, as a rule, more primitive or older in style than that which is customarily worn. This is what might be expected, as, on the one hand, innate conservatism and objection to change come into play, and, on the other, ordinary everyday practical matters being for the time put on one side, it is possible to wear clothes which otherwise would be inconvenient and liable to get damaged.

When we ourselves dress for dinner we go back nearly a century, but nothing could be more primitive than the Court etiquette of certain tribes,[16] where the subjects of the king may only approach him when entirely unclothed. Livingstone was received by the Queen of the Balonde Negroes in South Africa when she was in a state of complete nudity. The women of neighbouring tribes and members of other races, for instance those in Australia, entirely remove their clothing on festive occasions.

Among some black races, also, the girls who are sent as official messengers to important persons are not clothed. There are still certain tribes of "leaf wearers" in India, while at a yearly festival in Madras the whole low-caste population throw off their ordinary clothing and put on aprons of leafy twigs. Another case in point is that of the priests who conducted the sacrifices in ancient Italy and Greece, for they are often represented on monuments as being naked, while the rest of those present at the ceremony are fully clothed.

In taking up the question of ceremonial dress among civilized peoples, we find that we have a very wide field in which to wander. We have the Court, which might alone occupy our whole attention; we have naval, military, ecclesiastical, and legal dress, the garb of the universities, the costume of pantomime characters, of the acrobat, of the athlete, and the liveries of servants, besides the costumes adopted for special ceremonies and in connection with particular institutions. In treating of survivals in the case of the army, where the variety in uniform--if we may use this paradoxical expression--is so great, we may content ourselves with discussing matters in a way similar to that which we have adopted before. On the other hand, we may also describe and illustrate particular costumes, as a whole, while showing how far their history may carry us back.

In addition to the clothes actually worn by persons, there are those which are found on dolls. These may be on the representations of personages such as St. Nicholas, on the Continent and elsewhere, and they are interesting because in many cases they may show a national costume which is no longer worn. In the same way, puppets such as are used in the play which we know as Punch and Judy, and their dresses, like others which we have studied, may bring to our notice chapters of history in a way that is exceedingly attractive.

There is no doubt but that long flowing garments produce a more elegant effect, and give rise to a more stately appearance than those which are short or tight fitting. In the case of men, such garments would now be too much in the way on ordinary occasions, or when any physical exertion is required. The king and noblemen on state occasions wear robes, as do also the members of City companies and borough councillors when they assemble together. The case of the clergy will occur to every one, and legal and academical dress may also be mentioned.

In the privacy of the home it is possible for every man to wear a dressing-gown, and pyjamas have not in all cases superseded the more primitive nightshirt. In the case of ladies, we find that they cling lovingly to long dresses, though, as we know, there is much effort being made to dispense with skirts under ordinary conditions, and the fact that short skirts have for some years been fashionable for outdoor use looks as if some progress were being made.