Marguerite de Valois was certainly mistaken in lengthening the waists of dresses to a preposterous degree; in inventing sleeves puffed out at the top and tight at the wrist; and, finally, in replacing vertugadins by masses of padding on the hips, which made the skirt look like a big drum, and took away all lightness and elegance from the figure. Marguerite de Valois had magnificent black hair, but, setting little value on this gift of nature, she usually covered it with false hair of a light shade. She is said to have selected fair-haired pages, whose long locks were occasionally shorn for her benefit. Much the same custom prevails at the present day, the hair-market being supplied by peasant girls. According to the Gaignières collection in the National Library, which consists of thousands of drawings and engravings, the ladies at the court of Henri III. wore sleeves of enormous size, the whole dress, bodice, and skirt being of the same material. Servants of the period wore bodices with busks, and carried keys in the right hand and a basket over the left arm. The costume was grave, and yet not without elegance. But however full of absurdities were feminine fashions under Henri III., those for men far exceeded them; their whims and eccentricities were unbounded. The enormous starched collars that rose from a fine lady’s shoulders, and made a sort of hollow niche behind her head, could not long retain their freshness, however carefully worn, and the padded “busts,” somewhat like a piece of armour, must have greatly impeded all natural movement; while the goffered ruff, separating the head from the shoulders, was far from graceful, notwithstanding the “bichons,” or rolls of hair, on the temples. All these constituted an affected and ungraceful costume, and the wearers were called “poupins” by the ill-natured wits of the time. The courtiers and favourites of Henri III. imitated the court ladies, not only by wearing pearl necklaces, earrings, and rings of gold, silver, precious stones, enamel, &c., but also wore their “bourets” of velvet, and their “bichons” or rolled hair. They were “fraisés et frisés,” that is, they wore both ruffs and curls. Their pourpoints were open, so as to display the point lace, at that time recently imported from Venice. The fans of these “curled darlings” were also ornamented with lace; and at night they wore masks and gloves saturated with various cosmetics and unguents to preserve the whiteness of their skin. The dress worn by the Duc de Joyeuse, the favourite of Henri III., on the occasion of his marriage with the queen’s sister, is worthy of note. The event made a great sensation in the high and perfumed circles of the day. The king gave fêtes, which cost at least 200,000 crowns, and this at a time when France was impoverished by civil war.