RIDDLE OF CLOTHES

Hawera Star, Volume L, 20 December 1930, Page 18

RIDDLE OF CLOTHES

modern woman claims that since Adam watched Eeve give the first fashion parade: in: the Garden of Eden none of her species has diressed' as well a-s she does. Is she right)? Or is she wrong? This article, translated by Mr. )S. Stedman, of .Sydney, from a Russian nc'ws'paper, and published in the “Sydney Sun," supplies an answer. 'History has immortalised 1 one of the 1 dresses iu which lOtcopatra met Julius Caesar. Anthony was her slave already, and 'Cleopatra made up her mind to conquer Caesar too, says the article. In order to surprise an'di dazzle him, she decided! to have, a dress made of snake skins studded with precious stones. I fifty slaves, were hastily dispatched [to collect snakes. More than half of them! has perished from the bites l of the snakes .and under the lashes of the men driving theimi on, but. Cleopatra encountered' Julius 'Caesar in the most original dress of the period. I It was the; Queen of Sheba’s desire to capture the heart o'f King Solomon. To Syria, she gent: messengers for silks,. | to Egypt for gold .brocades,; and to the i Persian Ctulf for pearls. The first ret turned in CO days, the second in 90, 1 and the third-in.- 1120 days'—all leading i caravans of camels laden with the most previous gifts l of the East. In. medieval times, Lucrezia. Borgia —the notorious daughter of an equally i notorious father and the most beautiful woman of her time —takes the stage as the leader in the- world of fashion. In. the social chronicles of that period is found 1 a description of the dowry she brought with her from '.Romo to 'Ferrara. where she was ‘ married to her first husband. 1 The transport which carried the dowry stretched over a distance of two miles. There were .almost a thousand valuable horses, half o'f which bore beautiful and richly ornamented’ saddles and) scores of vehicles' were laden Vvith all sorts of articles of clothing ■end. materials. Among- them were 200 nightdresses of the finest silks, with exquisite laces, 03 dresses of silk and velvet, and hundreds' of pieces' of the finest linen. In a special hancl-wrought. cask was the wedding dress. Down to the waist it was covered) with real (pearls, so that on the breast the material of the dress was invisible under the, gem's. The crinolines, or dresses' on hoops, the fashionable .wear for the women of last century, were the creation of Em press Eugenie, wife of Napoleon ITT.

Are Women Better Dressed

Victor Hugo, the famous author, who escaped: to Brussels* in 1831, wrote from there about the new 'fashion: “The Imperial husband oppresses men, while his wife has' invented a neW torture for women.” And a torture it really was. It .took hours for a woman to dress, and dressing was weompaniedi by bodily pain. It was impossible to- dress with.-at another person’s aid. A woman wea*-- ' I ing a dress with hoops was—to use the words of Hugo —“an unapproachable fortress.” A caricature of those times , depicts a. young man climbing the i wooden scaffolding of her dress to reach ithe lips of the woman, j With the fall of the second Empire ; the reign of the crinoline came to an (end. The German guns unier Sedan j destroyed the dresses on hoops. ’ 'Dresses became plainer, and were no longer an obstacle to movement, and a I source of pain. But. they were still far from the ideal dress of to-day. Tim | trains gradually disappeared, but the I skirt's were still too long, and contained too many frills, tucks and flounces. In the oldon-days- the deciding voice ,in th.e matter of’fashion was that of (the upper classes. Even the middle . j class had no say, and was compelled to ; submit to the dictates of t'he higher circle. ' To the women of the lower steps in ; the social pyramid, the fashions arrived llate; in fact, when they were already ' out of fashion in the upper spheres. No- ' body mas interested in flic likes and dislikes of the women workers and the small traders. -Bur those times have passed. The ■ process of democratisation has touched every phase of life, and has not neglected fashion. 'The Great War played a tremendous part in this process. Women took men’s places in offices, ■ factories, and workshops. In accordance with her new social position, her costume changed. The long skirts were ;• replaced by short— thus giving her freedom of movement The frills and . flounces were discarded. The only ones who objected to these (innovations were the tailors, modistes, and manufacturers, ancl members- of the aristocracy, who objected to wearing drosses similar to their maids. : I So these women have again turned , their backs upon the fashion of democracy, and begun to wear long dresses of very intricate designs and patterns. Will t'he next fa-shion revolution be the adoption of a modified form of trousers? Time, will tell.