The Heritage of Dress. Wilfred Mark Webb
and afterwards fastened for the sake of warmth or to give a neat appearance. It is therefore possible that the ring of buttons is more properly a survival of the time when cuffs were turned back to preserve them, and that the vertical row is really of earlier origin. A uniform represented by Hogarth (Figure 30) shows both the row of buttons and the turned-back cuff, which seems to be quite independent of them.
In this instance we may have the degenerated turned-back cuff and one revived, shown together. Such a case, we need scarcely point out, could hardly occur in the case of an animal structure, for if by a “throw back” or “reversion to type” we get a vestigial character once more fully reproduced, we cannot expect the original structure and the vestige to be shown at the same time.
The adoption of buttons more or less for ornament has long been practised. John Brandon, who died in the year 1364, is shown on his brass (in the church of St. Mary, King’s Lynn) with no less than forty buttons on the sleeves of his undervest, which has embroidered cuffs and is buttoned to the elbow (see Plate IV). We shall, however, have something more to say with regard to buttons from this and other points of view as we proceed.
Reproduction of a brass to John Brandon and his two wives, in the Church of St. Mary, King’s Lynn. Date 1364. On the male figure a continuous row of buttons runs from the wrist to the elbow of the under vest. The women wear the wimple and the gorget or throat cloth.
PLATE IV.
An interesting case of superfluous buttons on the front of clothes is to be seen in the case of the short jackets of the postilions, belonging to His Majesty the King. There is a useful row down the middle which closes the garment, and two ornamental rows which start from each shoulder and curve downwards towards the middle row. These are probably vestiges of buttons that were once of use, and to seek an explanation it might be well to study some uniforms of the past. We shall find that in the eighteenth century it was customary to button back the revers of the uniform coat, as in the case of the French coast-guard officer of 1775. (See Figure 31.)
Fashion afterwards decreed that the coats should be fastened again with hooks, but the two rows of buttons remained.
Fig. 31.—The uniform of a coast-guard officer of 1775
(after Racinet).
In the coat of the postilion there is no trace of the revers which showed the lining, and were consequently of a different colour from the rest of the coat. We find, however, in the peculiar uniform of the Lancers that there are the two side rows of buttons, to which is fastened a red front. This appears to represent the two revers combined. In the present year, 1907, a number of ladies’ dresses are to be seen in which the revers trimmed with a different material from the dress are buttoned back against the latter.
In some ceremonial dresses and uniforms there are cross stripes on the breast (see Figure 61) which, it has been pointed out, represent series of buttonholes which have become hypertrophied, and are now exaggerated beyond recognition. The braid on the cuff of the London Scottish Volunteers seems also to represent buttonholes.
Such features as turned-back cuffs occur in women’s clothes, and, as we have seen, the arrangement of buttons may be copied from masculine attire. In other cases buttons seem to appear which have, it would seem, no hereditary right to their position; but it may be well, before dismissing them, to see whether they have not a pedigree. We might cite the case of the buttons that are sewn on to the frocks a little below the knee. They are often at the head of a plait, and it would be worth while to look into their history.
V
COLLARS AND BANDS
NICKS IN COAT LAPELS—THE WHY AND WHEREFORE OF THE WHITE SHIRT FRONT
Let us carry on our work of dissecting the clothes of a modern man, and as we once more survey our subject, we may glance a little higher than heretofore, until our eyes rest upon the collar of his coat. This structure passes into the lapels, and at the point of junction there is a curious nick which is repeated in the waistcoat if this be similarly provided with lapels. (See Figure 32.)
Fig. 32.—The nicks in the coat and waistcoat.
Fig. 33.—A stage when the nick was useful (Lucien Bonaparte, after Paul Lacroix).
There is always a temptation to invent some interesting theory in order to explain the origin of vestiges, and a penny paper, which hardly boasts of scientific accuracy, not long ago informed its readers that the slit in the coat lapel is the outcome of a “unique and beautiful custom among the orthodox Jews,” for in former days, when death visited a Jew’s household, he cut the lapel of his coat. It was undoubtedly a custom of the Jews to rend their garments, but it does not, on the face of it, seem likely that the practice would have influenced modern costume. It would appear, however, that the slit in the lapel has a much more prosaic origin, and owes its existence rather to a practical requirement than to a sentimental observance. When the collar of a coat is made to stand up, it is absolutely necessary that a piece should be cut out of the cloth, or the lapel will not lie down. In the exaggerated garment of which we give an illustration (see Figure 33) this need is most manifest; but a moment’s thought will show that the provision must be made, even if the collar be small. A trifling experiment will indicate that at the present day the cut is not usually made deep enough to allow of the collar being turned up without disturbing the lapels.
Fig. 34.—The “toothpick” on a dress coat.
Another remarkable variation is to be found in the collars of some dress suits. A little point is left on the collar known to tailors as the “toothpick,” which runs across the nick into the lapel (see Figure 34). This structure is probably a survival of some particular kind of collar.
It might be pointed out here that the facings and collar that are of silk or velvet represent the lining of the coat which came into view when the collar was turned down and the lapels turned back. The case is quite similar to that of the cuffs on uniforms, and to be quite consistent, the whole coat should be lined with what is usually used now only as a kind of trimming.
It is but a short step from the features that we have been discussing, to the linen collar and the shirt front. The cutting away of the outer garment to bring the shirt into view is a relic of the time when only those who were very well to do could afford to wear linen, and they showed it, in order to indicate their social position, or at any rate their financial resources. At the same time, the women cut their dresses low so as to show their underlinen; and not content with this, they further, at the end of the thirteenth century, slit their gowns from the armpits to the hips. The openings thus made were laced across, so that the linen garments beneath could easily be seen.