The Heritage of Dress. Wilfred Mark Webb

pleased to allude to what are called the vagaries of fashion, but it is curious to notice how little real change is made in costume at the present time. The really useful characters are always retained, and our modern clothes can be reduced to a very few types. A skirt is a skirt whether it falls naturally, is held out all round with a hoop, or crinoline, or is only supported behind by what at one time was known as an “improver.” And in the same way it may be said that trousers remain trousers whether they have bell bottoms or are peg tops.

      Even types which we recognize as being quite distinct, are often so closely related as to cause surprise when their family history is made known. Although it constantly alters as regards details, which from a constructional point of view are quite unimportant, woman’s dress does not seem to have varied to any very great extent. Consequently, there are not quite so many curious features to be seen as in the ordinary clothes or uniforms of men. On the other hand, however, we may with greater reason hope to find that some primitive characters have survived until the present day.

      No article of clothing could well be simpler than the shawl, and though there is an art in its arrangement, the only point in its structure that would appear to invite attention is the presence of a fringe on only two sides. This seems to be a small matter, but it takes us straight back to the time when men had ceased to be hunters merely, and having become agriculturists had learned, as we have already indicated, to weave fibres with the help of simple looms. From the cloth thus made clothes were constructed, though skins continued to be used as outer mantles. When the stuff was taken from these early looms, the threads of the warp were left hanging from two opposite edges, and the fringe that we have now on our shawls is a direct survival of this accidental occurrence.

      There seems not the slightest doubt but that we can trace the coat from the shawl. A simple improvement in the latter is to join two edges of the shawl together and make a tunic. Such a tubular garment was used in Greece, and, with some slight modifications, is worn by Egyptian women to-day. It came up to the armpits, was gathered up on to each shoulder and fastened with two brooches. (Figure 2.)

      Fig. 2.—Sketch showing the development of the tunic.

       In this stage it has no arms.

      The next stage in development would be a sleeved tunic, and how easily this could be derived from a shawl can be seen by putting a narrow one over the shoulders and lifting up the arms as shown in Figure 3. The material has only to be sewn together under the arms, and if necessary cut into shape.

      

      Fig. 3.—Diagram showing the way in which a sleeved tunic is derived from the shawl.

      If the front be not sewn up, we get the coat as we know it; if the edges be joined along half their length or more, then we have a sleeved tunic, a shirt, or vest (see Plate III). The smock-frock (see Figure 4) and gown are more voluminous, while the jersey is short again, and has only a small opening at the neck. An interesting garment is found among the costumes of the Bronze Age chieftains of Denmark and their wives, which have been preserved in the oak coffins of these people, owing to the action of tannin from the wood which has preserved the woven material.5 The article in question belonged to one of the women, and though the front edges are joined for a short distance, it is practically a jacket. The sleeves are made all in one piece, and the garment is very nearly as highly evolved as the Cardigan jacket, which it very much resembles. (See Figure 5.)

      The silk vest worn by Charles I on the scaffold. Illustrating the sleeved tunic opening for a short distance down the front.

      (From a photograph by Mr. Henry Stevens.)

      PLATE III.

      

      Fig. 4.—A smock frock.

      Fig. 5.—Jacket of a woman, made in one piece.

       Bronze stage of culture (after Worsaae).

      

      It is by this time clear, that several important garments are the descendants of the shawl, which is still used by men in the British Isles under the title of the plaid, or maud.

      Fig. 6.—Man’s dress showing buttons on the right side.

      Though differing, of course, in detail, the upper garments of men and women agree in general construction. One of the points alluded to is worthy of mention, namely, that the buttons on a man’s coat are on the right side and the buttonholes on his left, while in the case of women’s attire the exact opposite is found—at least, so far as one can ascertain—in European countries. In the East, the little knobs which are passed through loops and take the place of buttons, may in the women’s dress be on the right side, and in other Asiatic costumes the same thing holds good. In connection with this peculiarity, it may be pointed out that men and women have different ways of doing up buttons. The man takes hold of the button with his right hand, puts his left thumb into the buttonhole and pushes the button against it. Then he pulls the stuff over with his right forefinger and pushes the button through with his right thumb while he guides it with his left.

      Fig. 7.—Woman’s dress showing buttons on the left side.

      The woman, on the other hand, puts her right thumb through the buttonhole, takes hold of the button with the fingers of the same hand, and finally, if the other hand is at liberty, brings it up to finish the process. (See Figures 6 to 11.)

      

      To explain the difference in the position of the buttons is not by any means easy. In the correspondence which has arisen out of lectures which the writer has given on the evolution of dress, it has, in the first place, been suggested that the arrangement of his clothing permitted a man to thrust his right and fighting arm into his jacket in order to keep it warm. This explanation, of course, does not account for the variation in the case of women.

      Dr. Lyman, of Baltimore, has submitted the theory that a man wearing a loose cloak, toga, or plaid, would grasp it with the left hand and thrust the left side over the right so as to leave the right-hand free in order to hold a weapon or implement. A woman would grasp her attire with her right hand, and push it over the left side and leave her left arm unencumbered, wherewith to carry a child. It would, however, seem more natural for the right side to be pulled over the left, but it is unlikely that a man would fight in a loose cloak, and the toga was only worn in times of peace. Moreover, the jacket, as we have seen, was developed from the cloak through the tunic. A tunic was worn under the toga, and as the only loose edge of the latter lies in the same way as the buttonhole side of a man’s coat, it is feasible that the edges of the tunic beneath would for convenience be made to lap the same way.