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
Children's costume, though characteristic, is in some instances
connected with ceremonies, and in others with particular institutions;
it may therefore with advantage be considered at this point.
We find that for very many centuries in this country, children, except
when small babies and in their early years, were dressed practically
in the same way as their parents, and looked like men and women in
miniature.
The ludicrous effect that was sometimes produced is well seen in
Hogarth's engravings, which date from the time when infants were
powdered and patched as well as dressed in a way that made them truly
grotesque.
A relic of this custom is still to be seen in certain costumes which it
is now fashionable for children to wear. Possibly the sailor's suit
takes the most prominent place, and the Highland dress is also a
favourite. It is perhaps not very strange that we do not see little boys
going about in the uniform of policemen, and until the South African
war occupied the attention of this country, boys were seldom if ever
seriously dressed as soldiers, but during the struggle to which allusion
has been made, it was not an uncommon sight to see small boys in the
khaki uniform and slouch hats which were adopted by the troops in
Africa. Now, of course, the knickerbockers of the small boy, and the
short skirts of his little sisters, though not absolutely characteristic
of extreme youth, are recognized features of children's costume.
As regards small infants, it is still customary for some time after
they are born to wrap more or less of a bandage round them in order to
protect their tender bodies from injury. The modern "binder" is, of
course, a relic of swaddling clothes, or those which consisted of a
profusion of bandages. These still survive in the Holy Land. It may here
be said that we meet in the word "pupa," which is the scientific term
that we apply to a chrysalis, with the old Greek name for a baby in
swaddling clothes. It is used now because the wings and legs of the
future flying insect are hidden in something the same way as are the
legs and arms of the much trussed-up baby. From the same word we get the
name "puppet" and the French word "poupée," meaning a doll.
In Roman Catholic churches at the time of baptism it is still the
custom to place on the head of the baby a white cloth. It is now too
small to cover the body, and it is called the chrysome, or chrism cloth,
and with it once the newly-baptized infant was swathed. This was worn
for a month by the child, and if the latter died within that time the
cloth was used as a shroud. The chrysome is really the remains of a
series of vestments which in the sixth or seventh century were worn by
the newly baptized. The most important part of the costume was the albe,
which was probably similar to that worn by the clergy, and a chaplet of
flowers was also used to crown the child after baptism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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