The Heritage of Dress: Being Notes on the History and Evolution of ClothesWebb, Wilfred Mark
History
The Heritage of Dress: Being Notes on the History and Evolution of Clothes
Webb, Wilfred Mark
Clothing and dress; Clothing and dress -- History
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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