GAY PLUMAGE.

Matamata Record, Volume XI, Issue 933, 2 July 1928, Page 2

GAY PLUMAGE.

THE PAST GLORIES OF MEN. - I Zffgsai' Wives, subjecting their husbands’ wardrobes to the annual inspection and; turning over the grey or ’sad-col-oured assortment of garments jherein, must sometimes wish that the mono ony could bb _ relieved by ionie variety in colour or style. The straight, tube-like suits may reveal a multitude of differences to a masculine survey, but to the feminine eye they have a deadly sameness. The only relief is supplied by the spring suit, which sometimes blossoms out into mauve shades—is not the livelier iris one of the poet’s signs of spring ? But except for these and Oxford trousers, which certainly did for a time introduce a revolutionary outline into the masculine silhoutte, variety and novelty are alike sternly discouraged (says B.N.S. in the ManchestervGuardian). . How much more interesting the task must have been in the olden days when men strutted about in gay plumage and silks and velvets and feathers were not the monopoly of women. Turning oyer such garments must have been 14 pleasant—and profitable too, for no doubt there were pickings for a canny wife, and some of the finery forgotten or discarded by my

lord would frequently figure again, unrecognised by him, as a part of my lady’s costume or of those of the children. .Old inventories of clothes make fascinating reading. The very descriptions of stuffs" and styles are full of colour and opulence and roll off the tongue, when repeated, with a musical sound. There is, for instance, the fifteenth-century inventory of Sir John Fastolf’s goods, which includes “this stuffe of clothy s and other harnays” in. his “wardrope'.”, How nobly the list starts off !’

First a gowne of' clothe of golde, with sleevis, sirples wise. How it seizes on one’s imagination—and how drab and) ordinary the decent serge suit you have just put away seems in comparison. The list goes on with a pleasing variety—- * Item, halfe a gowne of red felwett (how much more romantic this sounds than “one odd sports coat.”). . Item, j gowne of r blewe felwett (velvet) upon felwett longe furrid with martyn and perfold (trimmed) of the same, slevys sengle. tern, j broken gowne of sangweyne graynd with slevys. Item, iij quartres of a russet gowne with ought slevys.

Here is a really satisfying variety. You picture his lady and her maids holding up the “halfe gowne,” and discussing how, if it can be plausibly abstracted from the collection, it wih’ make up into a charming “whole gowne” for John junior. We know there was a lady, for in anchor part of the inventory, two “dissches” of silver are mentioned as “founden in my Lady is ch&.nbre,” and we wonder how they got there. But the “gownes” only begin the list. There are records, with full des- ! criptions, of no less than nineteen “jakkets, dowbelettes, or pettecotes” —one of the pettecotes being made rather uncomfortably, of “lynen clothe s toff yd with flokys.” Perhaps our grandmothers, who loved a red flannel petticoat would appreciate the warmth of one stuffed with flocks more than we should be inclined to do so. Sir John must really have been something of a dandy, for his “warderope” contained thirty “hodes, typpets, hattes, or cappes.” Think of a gathering of men to-day—the throng of spectators at a football match, for instance—with its unrelieved ranks of hideous tweed caps and neutral tinted soft felt hats. How much would be added to ttye interest of the scene if the wearers could only be persuaded to adopt a few ideas from Sir John Fastolf’s headgear. Here is a “hode of blakke felwet with a typpet, halfe damask and half felwet, y jaggyd.” But there are more cheerful effects than this:

Item, j hatte of bever, lynyd withe damaske gilt, girdell, bokkell, and penaunt, withe ijj barrys of the same. 1 Item, j hode of scarlet, with a rolle of purpill felwet, bordered' with the same felwet. /'. . . Item j hode of damaske russet, v/ith j typpet, fas’yd with a lase of silke.

One wonders wfiy man has deliberately turned his* back on the splenours qf indeed of much later—days, and assumed his present severe uniform. It would be pleasant to see a goyvne of clothe of golde or a

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broken gowne of sangweyne walking the streets of our grey cities, and pur “warderope” investigations would benefit, by the cheerfulness. But, of course, there is* -another side to the question. The laces and frills may have required a deal of mending and keeping in order; what modern wife w<j*jid care to be responsible for “getting up” an Elizabethan ruff, or the lace collars and the sashes of Cavalier days? Perhaps it is, after all, mor§ convenient merely to read about them.