The Heritage of Dress. Wilfred Mark Webb
white shirt has long survived, and in spite of its depreciated value has up to quite recently posed as a badge of respectability. Now at last there are signs that its sway is over, and that soon it will come to be only a garment of ceremony.
The linen collar of to-day is quite a small affair compared with some of its forerunners. An interesting relic is to be seen in the two little linen flaps which we call bands (see Figure 35). These are still worn by preachers in conjunction with the Geneva gown, by barristers, and by Blue-coat boys (see Figure 36), and we can easily trace their relationship to the collar. Until a few years ago the choristers at Jesus College, Cambridge, wore a peculiar collar which ended in two flaps much resembling bands, and the descent of this from the large structures which were called falling bands is not difficult to trace.
Fig. 35.—Modern bands.
Fig. 36.—A blue-coat boy’s bands.
Fig. 37.—A chorister of Jesus College, Cambridge, showing the collar worn until recently.
(From a photograph by the courtesy of Mr. H. Austin Wheaton.)
The portrait of Jan Steen, which we reproduce, shows bands which are less stiff and formal, but of ampler proportions. (See Figure 38.)
Going a little further back, we find the collar that covered the shoulders, such as Milton wore, and which is shown in our picture of John Pym. (See Figure 39.)
Fig. 38.—A stage in the reduction of the bands (portrait of Jan Steen from the Illustrated Magazine of Art).
Fig. 39.—Full-sized bands (portrait of John Pym from the Illustrated Magazine of Art).
At this point we may pause to recall a simple article which is known as a bandbox, but which has been diverted from its original purpose of holding bands, and is now commonly used as a receptacle for hats. Though not itself part of dress, the bandbox furnishes an interesting instance of adaptation to circumstances. It was well suited to contain articles of dress other than those for which it was primarily intended, and hence it has survived in the struggle for existence. (See Figure 40.)
Fig. 40.—A modern bandbox, now used for hats.
Fig. 41.—Bands that survive at the present day.
We must not, however, jump to the conclusion that bands are now only represented by vestiges, for they are still to be seen in their full glory on very small boys (see Figure 41), and the writer recalls a lad of fourteen or so who had reached the dignity of trousers who wore the same kind of collar. As he also had a trencher, or in common parlance, a “mortar-board,” it is possible that he was not an isolated survival, but belonged to some school which adopted a special costume.
As linen collars are one of the articles of dress in regard to which the wearer is allowed in a great measure to follow his own taste, it is not surprising that a great many forms have from time to time been invented. Quite a number are still to be seen here and there, while the development of the more fashionable shapes one from the other would, in itself, form a chapter in the Evolution of Dress. The clerical collar may be singled out, as it fastens behind like the bands, though the reason for this is not at all obvious.
In recalling the great ruffs and expanded collars of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, one may be inclined to smile at the lengths to which a fad may be carried, and the curious, not to say monstrous, structures that are its culminations. These, like the huge creatures of bygone ages, die out, but differ in this respect that they sometimes revive for a time. For instance, only a few years have passed since the collars of ladies’ mantles stood up round the back of their heads; but as the collars usually lacked the decoration and colour of the Elizabethan period, they appeared as if they were intended merely to keep the draught from the necks of their wearers, and they did not last for long.
VI
VESTIGES IN THE HAT
HOW HATS WERE EVOLVED—WHY PLUMES ARE ON THE LEFT SIDE—THE GROWTH OF THE BUSBY—HELMETS AND COCKED HATS
Those who have written upon dress from an artistic point of view have recognized that costume and architecture are affected by the same influences. When we come to the hat, we find that its name is connected with a building of a primitive character, namely, a hut. Mr. Allan Poe Newcombe, an architect, some years ago pointed out the curious resemblance which has existed, and is still to be found in many countries, between headgear and habitations or other buildings.7 It may be that the cases which have been collected together are mere coincidences, though it must be allowed that they are both numerous and striking. It may be that the same taste, or lack of it, has given rise to the similarity of style, or in the beginning, the designer of the hat may have taken the hut as a model.
In the Hawaiian Islands, long before the inhabitants troubled about clothes, they built themselves grass houses, and at the present time the characteristic Hawaiian hat is remarkably like the hut. The turbans of Eastern Church dignitaries are still of the same shape as those worn by the high priests among the Jews, and are remarkably like the characteristic dome which surmounts a mosque. (See Figure 42.)
Fig. 42.—The turban of a Jewish priest (after Kitto) compared with the dome of the Mosque of Omar.
Looking about in other countries we shall find further instances that support Mr. Newcombe’s contention; our illustration of a Siamese head-dress and building is a case in point. (See Figure 43.)
Again going back into European history, we find that the high pointed spires of Gothic churches were cotemporaneous with the high horn-like head-dress known as the hennin (see Figure 44). It is claimed, moreover, that like results will be found after a comparison of other styles of architecture with the costume of the period in which they flourished.
Fig. 43.—A Siamese head-dress and a Pra Pang or Votive spire (after P.A. Thompson).