Shorter Prose Pieces | Page 6

should take its shape from the way one
chooses to wear it, and not from any stiff, stereotyped design of hat or
boot maker. In a hat made on right principles one should be able to turn
the brim up or down according as the day is dark or fair, dry or wet; but
the hat brim of Mr. Huyshe's drawing is perfectly stiff, and does not
give much protection to the face, or the possibility of any at all to the
back of the head or the ears, in case of a cold east wind; whereas the
bycocket, a hat made in accordance with the right laws, can be turned
down behind and at the sides, and so give the same warmth as a hood.
The crown, again, of Mr. Huyshe's hat is far too high; a high crown
diminishes the stature of a small person, and in the case of any one who
is tall is a great inconvenience when one is getting in and out of
hansoms and railway carriages, or passing under a street awning: in no
case is it of any value whatsoever, and being useless it is of course
against the principles of dress.
As regards the boots, they are not quite so ugly or so uncomfortable as
the hat; still they are evidently made of stiff leather, as otherwise they
would fall down to the ankle, whereas the boot should be made of soft
leather always, and if worn high at all must be either laced up the front

or carried well over the knee: in the latter case one combines perfect
freedom for walking together with perfect protection against rain,
neither of which advantages a short stiff boot will ever give one, and
when one is resting in the house the long soft boot can be turned down
as the boot of 1640 was. Then there is the overcoat: now, what are the
right principles of an overcoat? To begin with, it should be capable of
being easily put on or off, and worn over any kind of dress;
consequently it should never have narrow sleeves, such as are shown in
Mr. Huyshe's drawing. If an opening or slit for the arm is required it
should be made quite wide, and may be protected by a flap, as in that
excellent overall the modern Inverness cape; secondly, it should not be
too tight, as otherwise all freedom of walking is impeded. If the young
gentleman in the drawing buttons his overcoat he may succeed in being
statuesque, though that I doubt very strongly, but he will never succeed
in being swift; his super-totus is made for him on no principle
whatsoever; a super- totus, or overall, should be capable of being worn
long or short, quite loose or moderately tight, just as the wearer wishes;
he should be able to have one arm free and one arm covered or both
arms free or both arms covered, just as he chooses for his convenience
in riding, walking, or driving; an overall again should never be heavy,
and should always be warm: lastly, it should be capable of being easily
carried if one wants to take it off; in fact, its principles are those of
freedom and comfort, and a cloak realizes them all, just as much as an
overcoat of the pattern suggested by Mr. Huyshe violates them.
The knee-breeches are of course far too tight; any one who has worn
them for any length of time--any one, in fact, whose views on the
subject are not purely theoretical--will agree with me there; like
everything else in the dress, they are a great mistake. The substitution
of the jacket for the coat and waistcoat of the period is a step in the
right direction, which I am glad to see; it is, however, far too tight over
the hips for any possible comfort. Whenever a jacket or doublet comes
below the waist it should be slit at each side. In the seventeenth century
the skirt of the jacket was sometimes laced on by points and tags, so
that it could be removed at will, sometimes it was merely left open at
the sides: in each case it exemplified what are always the true
principles of dress, I mean freedom and adaptability to circumstances.

Finally, as regards drawings of this kind, I would point out that there is
absolutely no limit at all to the amount of "passably picturesque"
costumes which can be either revived or invented for us; but that unless
a costume is founded on principles and exemplified laws, it never can
be of any real value to us in the reform of dress. This particular drawing
of Mr. Huyshe's, for instance, proves absolutely nothing, except that
our grandfathers did not understand the proper