In 1864, the _Bulletin des Lois_ published an edict, by which eighteen hundred and eighty-five inventions patented in that one year were registered. On every page is something concerning dress, viz.: an instrument for waving the hair; steel skeleton skirts, called “Victoria cages,” “corset à jour,” or Indian stays; petticoats for supporting trains, called “porte-trains;” bonnets with faded American creeper, feather parasols, a “transformable and multiple system of clothing,” iron shoes, wicker head-dresses, petticoats with movable flounces, “bijou” garters, &c. We must not forget that the year 1864 was famous for the adoption of the “Titian” tresses. Red hair or yellow hair was an ideal eagerly sought after by many ladies, who either concealed their own beautiful dark hair, or dyed it to the desired shade. In a certain section of society there was quite a rage for Titian-coloured hair. There were some quite impossible hues, intended to harmonize with the thickly laid-on paint of the face,—for faces were painted,—just as in the eighteenth century. Laughter frequently greeted the appearance of these painted idols in places of public resort, but it was quite ineffectual. An elegant costume, worn in 1865, consisted of a pearl grey dress, with braidings of the same colour, a black belt and silver buckle, and a black bonnet with red ribbons. The “peplum” of 1866 was formed of a small “corslet,” to which a basque was attached, square in front and at the back, and very long at the sides. This was called the Empress peplum. With this new garment, crinoline was decidedly an anomaly, and its fall commenced. The “peplum,” regarded from that point of view, marks an epoch in history, and deserves our gratitude. Unfortunately all gowns of heavy material were shaped “à l’Empire.” The skirts were cut straight at the back, and worn with melon-shaped dress-improvers in horsehair. Stiff muslin or a small down cushion was sometimes used instead of horsehair. One manufacturer invented a petticoat with springs, of which part could be detached at pleasure; another, a transparent parasol; a third advertised his system of aëration for the hair; and a fourth sold notched steels for petticoats, called “épicycloïdes.” There were “aquarium” earrings, consisting of small globes in rock crystal suspended to little branches of water-grasses in enamel; the globes contained fishes. Chains called “Benoîton,” after Sardou’s famous play, were worn below the chin and underneath the bonnet strings, like a curb chain.