In consequence of the relations existing between France, Europe, and the East, and notwithstanding the deep religious convictions of the time, innumerable artisans and working women were employed in the service of Fashion; drapers or weavers, dress cutters and makers, trimmers, ribbon-makers, manufacturers of thread, or silk-fringers who made coifs; weavers of the coarse flaxen thread called “canevas,” sellers of precious stones or jewellers, who exhausted their ingenuity in hundreds of new inventions; goldsmiths, whose art astonished the world; gold-beaters and silver-beaters, dyers, skilful in altering the colours of materials; moulders of buckles and delicate clasps; furriers who possessed the rarest and most costly furs; and makers of brass, copper, and wire buttons. It was at the shops of haberdashers that the wives of the nobles bought the splendid “parures” with which they ornamented their heads. Gowns of siglaton and cendal (a material like modern silk) were ornamented with rubies and sapphires. Head-dresses in Paris were sometimes surmounted with peacock’s feathers; and these soon called into existence “paoniers” or peacock-hatters. One Geneviève had great custom as a feather-seller, and after having made a large fortune by her trade, she devoted it to the decoration of a chapel. A very striking head-dress, though simpler than that of peacock’s feathers, consisted of wreaths of natural flowers, principally roses, and was prepared by the herbalists or floralists who abounded in several parts of the capital. Epernon, the haberdasher of Rue Qui-qu’en-poist (Quincampoix), had certainly the largest choice of ornamental finery for feminine attire. His fame was in every one’s mouth, and his shop always crowded with customers. A large number of embroideresses obtained a living in Paris; there were also many who made up purses with beautiful embroidery, or elegantly worked borders. These purses were fastened to the waist-band, and were called “aumônières sarrasinoises,” or Saracen alms-bags. Their name recalled their benevolent object to the wearers, though they were used to hold other articles besides coin for the poor. Within their castles noble ladies employed their long hours of leisure in needlework, imitating and sometimes excelling the work of the East. They embroidered veils, scarfs, armlets, belts, alms-bags, gloves, and shoes; they copied the family coat-of-arms in silken, gold, or silver embroidery on their gowns, their surcoats, and their mantles. The bourgeoises also devoted their time to needlework, so as to increase the elegance of their dress, without infringing the regulations of the sumptuary laws.