Shorter Prose Pieces | Page 4

dress is
unsuited to our climate, and, to me the somewhat new assertion, that
the men's dress of a hundred years ago was preferable to that of the
second part of the seventeenth century, which I consider to have been
the exquisite period of English costume.
Now, as regards the first of these two statements, I will say, to begin
with, that the warmth of apparel does not depend really on the number
of garments worn, but on the material of which they are made. One of
the chief faults of modern dress is that it is composed of far too many
articles of clothing, most of which are of the wrong substance; but over
a substratum of pure wool, such as is supplied by Dr. Jaeger under the
modern German system, some modification of Greek costume is
perfectly applicable to our climate, our country and our century. This

important fact has already been pointed out by Mr. E. W. Godwin in his
excellent, though too brief handbook on Dress, contributed to the
Health Exhibition. I call it an important fact because it makes almost
any form of lovely costume perfectly practicable in our cold climate.
Mr. Godwin, it is true, points out that the English ladies of the
thirteenth century abandoned after some time the flowing garments of
the early Renaissance in favour of a tighter mode, such as Northern
Europe seems to demand. This I quite admit, and its significance; but
what I contend, and what I am sure Mr. Godwin would agree with me
in, is that the principles, the laws of Greek dress may be perfectly
realized, even in a moderately tight gown with sleeves: I mean the
principle of suspending all apparel from the shoulders, and of relying
for beauty of effect not on the stiff ready-made ornaments of the
modern milliner--the bows where there should be no bows, and the
flounces where there should be no flounces--but on the exquisite play
of light and line that one gets from rich and rippling folds. I am not
proposing any antiquarian revival of an ancient costume, but trying
merely to point out the right laws of dress, laws which are dictated by
art and not by archaeology, by science and not by fashion; and just as
the best work of art in our days is that which combines classic grace
with absolute reality, so from a continuation of the Greek principles of
beauty with the German principles of health will come, I feel certain,
the costume of the future.
And now to the question of men's dress, or rather to Mr. Huyshe's claim
of the superiority, in point of costume, of the last quarter of the
eighteenth century over the second quarter of the seventeenth. The
broad-brimmed hat of 1640 kept the rain of winter and the glare of
summer from the face; the same cannot be said of the hat of one
hundred years ago, which, with its comparatively narrow brim and high
crown, was the precursor of the modern "chimney-pot": a wide
turned-down collar is a healthier thing than a strangling stock, and a
short cloak much more comfortable than a sleeved overcoat, even
though the latter may have had "three capes"; a cloak is easier to put on
and off, lies lightly on the shoulder in summer, and wrapped round one
in winter keeps one perfectly warm. A doublet, again, is simpler than a
coat and waistcoat; instead of two garments one has one; by not being

open also it protects the chest better.
Short loose trousers are in every way to be preferred to the tight
knee-breeches which often impede the proper circulation of the blood;
and finally, the soft leather boots which could be worn above or below
the knee, are more supple, and give consequently more freedom, than
the stiff Hessian which Mr. Huyshe so praises. I say nothing about the
question of grace and picturesqueness, for I suppose that no one, not
even Mr. Huyshe, would prefer a maccaroni to a cavalier, a Lawrence
to a Vandyke, or the third George to the first Charles; but for ease,
warmth and comfort this seventeenth-century dress is infinitely
superior to anything that came after it, and I do not think it is excelled
by any preceding form of costume. I sincerely trust that we may soon
see in England some national revival of it.

MORE RADICAL IDEAS UPON DRESS REFORM

I have been much interested at reading the large amount of
correspondence that has been called forth by my recent lecture on Dress.
It shows me that the subject of dress reform is one that is occupying
many wise and charming people, who have at heart the principles of
health, freedom, and beauty in costume, and I hope that "H. B.