Our fair countrywomen laid aside the sombre garments of the time of Louis XI., and began to wear the brightest colours, as well as several materials of Milanese or Venetian manufacture. Many Italian fashions were added to our national costume—viz. tight-fitting bodices, highly ornamented; very wide sleeves; white gowns trimmed with many-coloured fringes; and black veils. The ladies would no longer wear the hennin, which had been so fashionable in the reign of Charles VI., and declared it was horrible. For poulaines “sollerets” were substituted; these were rounded to the shape of the feet. Very light slippers were made in velvet or satin, of the same shape as sollerets; and shoes, something like high pattens, that were worn over the slippers. “Nos mignonnes,” says the poet Guillaume Coquillart, in “Les Droits Nouveaulx,”— “Nos mignonnes sont si trèshaultes, Que, pour paraître grandes et belles, Elles portent pantoufles haultes Bien à vingt et quatre semelles.”[12] Hose, or stockings, were composed of several pieces of stuff sewed together. Chemises of woollen stuff were in general use. The “gorgerette” or gorget, a linen collar, either plain or plaited, reached as high up as the collar-bones, and was worn over the “piece” or “plastron” of stuff that was laced across the chest. The “demi-ceint” was a small silken scarf, wound about the waist and fastened in front by a rosette. The “ceinture” was a wide ribbon, worn flat over the hips and ending in an angle on the skirt, where it formed a rosette with two floating ends. Among the accessories of dress were garters, either fastened by a buckle or simply tied. These were ornamented, in the fifteenth century, with mottoes or initials. Women also made use of pincushions, of purses in the shape of bags, of knives, of “rings”—meaning probably necklaces, and of paternosters or rosaries of gold, pearls, or other valuable materials. These were fastened to the knot of the girdle, and hung down in front of the gown. We have already mentioned these rosaries. In the reign of Louis XII., the successor of Charles VIII., the dress of women was but slightly changed. The upper gowns were made shorter, reaching only to the knees, and resembled a wide cloak or cape, cut low on the bosom. One great novelty was the shape of the sleeves, which in the upper gown remained wide and flowing, but those belonging to the under bodice consisted of several separate pieces fastened together by ribbons. We can picture to ourselves the elegant appearance of a sky-blue bodice, of a dark blue cloth gown, and of green sleeves in superfine cloth. Some women dressed in Genoese, or Milanese, or Greek fashion. The poet Jean Marot is unsparing in his criticisms on such women:— “De s’accoustrer ainsi qu’une Lucrèce, A la lombarde ou la façon de Grèce, Il m’est avis qu’il ne se peut faire Honnestement.