The second was made tight-fitting in the body and bust, all of one elastic material, and the skirt of loose thin stuff. The third was a loose tunic reaching half-way between the knees and feet, showing the camise, and tied about the waist and hips by a long girdle. The sleeves of these garments showed as many variations as those of the men, but with the poor folk they were short and useful, and with the rich they went to extreme length, and were often knotted to prevent them from trailing on the ground. The collar and the borders of the sleeves were enriched with embroidery in simple designs. In the case of the loose upper garment the border was also embroidered. In winter a cloak of the same shape as was worn by the men was used--_i.e._, cut exactly semicircular, with embroidered edges. The shoes of the ladies were fitted to the foot in no extravagant shape, and were sewn with bands of pearls or embroidery. The poorer folk went about barefoot. The hair was a matter of great moment and most carefully treated; it was parted in the centre and then plaited, sometimes intertwined with coloured ribbands or twists of thin coloured material; it was added to in length by artificial hair, and was tied up in a number of ways. Either it was placed in a tight silk case, like an umbrella case, which came about half-way up the plait from the bottom, and had little tassels depending from it, or the hair was added to till it reached nearly to the feet, and was bound round with ribbands, the ends having little gold or silver pendants. The hair hung, as a rule, down the front on either side of the face, or occasionally behind down the back, as was the case when the wimple was worn. When the ladies went travelling or out riding they rode astride like men, and wore the ordinary common-hooded cloak. Brooches for the tunic and rings for the fingers were common among the wealthy. The plait was introduced into the architecture of the time, as is shown by a Norman moulding at Durham. Compared with the Saxon ladies, these ladies of Stephen's time were elegantly attired; compared with the Plantagenet ladies, they were dressed in the simplest of costumes. No doubt there were, as in all ages, women who gave all their body and soul to clothes, who wore sleeves twice the length of anyone else, who had more elaborate plaits and more highly ornamented shoes; but, taking the period as a whole, the clothes of both sexes were plainer than in any other period of English history. One must remember that when the Normans came into the country the gentlemen among the Saxons had already borrowed the fashions prevalent in France, but that the ladies still kept in the main to simple clothes; indeed, it was the man who strutted to woo clad in all the fopperies of his time--to win the simple woman who toiled and span to deck her lord in extravagant embroideries. [Illustration: {A woman of the time of Stephen}]