FASHION NOTES FROM HISTORY

Wilda (20-0-1)

One sees almost daily in the press, magazines and other news media, indications of a departure from the norm in the trends of male and female attire and while most of us welcome what might be termed progress, it is perhaps not as swift as we would like it to be. It should also be of some satisfaction to know that through out history this process of divergence has been going on, at least in varying degrees.

In our limited journey through a few periods of history on the subject of dress, let us first consider the word costume, taken from the Latin "customa" which at first meant any fashion, but in modern use is applied to personal clothing and adornment. A bit of research into some of the historical trends in modes of attire is most interesting, when one considers for example that the ancient Roman "tunica", a full dress garment for special occassions, was worn by both men and women and ornate jewelry was worn by both sexes.

It is reported that when Caesar landed on the shores of Gaul, he found the inhabitants wearing striped or checkered frocks (kilts) so that their dress was similar to the Highland costume, which is still called the "garb of old Gaul". While we may credit these inhabitants of Kent with the innovation of the "short skirt" we find that here "trousers" worn in the wintertime make almost their first known appearance!

The dress of the old Anglo-Saxon Kings and leaders was a plain tunic, short cloak, fastened with a fibula (clasp) and long hose, drown up over short trousers and cross-gartered. Better class women wore a long gown with loose sleeves, over which a super-tunic was worn. The ordinary dress was a linen shift and plain gown for women; tunic and belt for men.

There was practically no change in the prevailing

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