Chats on CostumeRhead, G. Woolliscroft (George Woolliscroft)
History
Chats on Costume
Rhead, G. Woolliscroft (George Woolliscroft)
Clothing and dress
In the reign of Edward IV. the short jackets, doublets, or pourpoints,
were provided with closely fitting sleeves, which were divided at the
elbow and shoulder, allowing the shirt or under-garment to appear as
puffing, tied with ribbons at these points, and laced underneath up the
whole length of the arm.
[Illustration: FIGURE FROM THE MIRACLE OF ST. BERNARD.
_By Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, Pinacoteca, Perugia._]
Another development of the sleeve, which lasted for a long period, was
the addition of an outer sleeve with a slit in the middle to allow of
the arm with its tight sleeve being passed through, the rest of the
sleeve hanging down. This was ornamented in a variety of ways, either
by edgings of fur or by embroidery.
Hose, that is, the more or less tightly fitting nether garments,
be they breche, hosen, or what not, have been worn from a very
early period. An illustration is given, from Hope's "Costume of the
Ancients," of Paris on Mount Ida, in which he is figured as wearing a
closely fitting garment which covers the whole body and limbs, being
buttoned all the way up the legs and arms; a short tunic, also buttoned
up the front, being worn over this dress. A similar tightly fitting
dress was, in fact, worn by the Amazonian women.
The cross-gartering, worn by the Goths, Franks, Anglo-Saxons, and other
nations, is referred to under the "shoe," of which it usually formed
a part. Some kind of hose, stockings, or bandages was invariably worn
underneath the gartering, which often extended the whole length of the
leg. This cross-gartering probably originated with the practice among
the peasants of enswathing the legs with hay-bands.
The short trouser of the Normans, or tunic and trouser in one, with
short sleeves attached, of which so many examples occur in the Bayeux
tapestry, is a garment which has puzzled many writers, on account of
the apparent difficulty of putting it on. It appears to have been put
on from below upwards, by being drawn on the thighs, and afterwards
putting the arms in the sleeves. In the illustration given of a similar
dress (p. 116), the metal plates or pieces of leather which serve as
armour are added to the front of the dress only. The cross-gartering in
this instance would probably not reach above the knees.
[Illustration: PARIS ON MOUNT IDA.
_From Hope's "Costume of the Ancients."_]
From the Norman period onwards, tight hose continued to be worn, and
presented little variation except in the matter of colour and material.
The parti-coloured hose of the Plantagenet period and later called
forth many strictures from the satirists and moralists, chiefly
clerical, of the time. "The red side of a gentleman, they declared,
gave them the idea of his having been half roasted, or that he and his
dress were afflicted by _St. Anthony's fire_!"[12]
[Illustration: ANGLO-SAXON RETAINER.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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