GOWNS OF MEN AND WOMEN.

Otago Witness, Volume 25, Issue 2321, 25 August 1898, Page 56

GOWNS OF MEN AND WOMEN.

In the long ago our Saxon ancestors, equally Avith their women folk, Avore gowns. The early Saxon called this garment a "gunna," Avhile his Welsh contemporary spoke of it, as a " gwn.' A little later there crept into our language the Avord " cote," although a coat as Aye understand costume did not make its advent in the realms of fashion until the second half of the seA renteenth century. But just as Aye of to-day use indifferer<lv the terms frock, dress, costume, gown the Anglo-Saxon and Norman Danes ,s, ul:e of their cotes, surcotes, and robes. When the Normans came over and polished our manners and — as an attendant sequence^ — our costumes, they found the Romanised British female wearing tAvo tunics, the upper one shorter than the lower. & bishop of Winchester describes a present he sends 'as " a short gunna scAved in «A.r manner." Female costume in the tenth century Avas classical in its simplicity. The women Avore long, loose, flowing skirts reaching to the feet, and. a draped cote or upper garment. Chaucer, Avho died in 1400, Avhen Henry IV Avas king, frequently use the Avord cote. In the " Canterbury Tales " he depicts the sergeant-at-laAV as wearing "a medley cote," Avhich no doubt means a coat of many colours, Avhile ihe miller he describes as Aveuring a " whyte cote."- It Avas in the fourteenth century that the Avord " goAvn " first came into use.

An anonymous author, in no mild words, - finds fault with the fashion of his days. He writes that " the commons were besotted in excess of apparel, in wide 'urcoats reaching to their loyns ; some in a garment reaching to their heels, close liefore and strowting out on the side, so that on the bade they make men seem women, and these they call by a ridiculous name — gown."' As early as the twelfth century women's coats wore made with trains, and in the first quarter of the thirteenth centuiy a bishop sadly moralises on their vanity for . wearing trained cotes, some of which ion- { taincd " seven ells and a-half." Richard. II came to the throne in 1377, and the citizens of London appeared before ' him " in white and red gowns," the king's ' live 1 "- colours. Up to the time of Henry IV women wore their gowns high up to the neck, the collars fitting closely around ' the throat. But Avhen Henry V became king (1413), the mode slightly changed, and ( " turn-over collars and very short waists were ! favoured by fashionable dames. In an in- ' ventory taken in the eighth year of Henry " VJII's reign, one entry gives " three yards of purple cloth of gold tissue for a gown " for Queen Cayenne of Arragon, while juiother entry ( ■ the same queen says that " " thirtetn yards of rich cloth of gold " were ■used, and yet another allows ten yards of damask silver to line a gown. . . . During the 45 years that Elizabeth " held sway and ma-sierdom" fashion rioted in t-11 sorts of whims and follies, but skirts were worn short, as, indeed, was an absolute v cessitv since the maiden queen favours 7 ' farthingale, when circumference anr 1 height was the extreme of feminine df Under Charles II the farthingale van is- 1 from the elegante's wardrobe. The pov 'is of the "beauties of his court were di.ippd in airy elegance, and cut extremely low m front and over the shoulders. In the latter half of the sixteenth century the fashion for men to wear gowns began to decline, although as late as 1573, in the will of a • country gentleman, Aye read that he bequeaths "unto my brother, Mr William Sheney, my best black gowne, garded and ; faced with velvet . . . Also I will unto my brother, Thomas Marcal, my new shepe coloured gowne, garded with Velvet and faced with cony." And to a son he gives a third, and *to another brother a fourth gown. But after this period gowns ! were chiefly worn by men of age and gravity, ; who regarded with disgust the doublets and i padded hosen which displayed while dis- \ guising the " form divine " of the male W- '< ped. .At the close of the seventeenth century , ; the gown, as a garment for men, had fallen into disfavour, always excepting legal and official personages. With the advent of - " Good Queen Anne," the farthingale again : made its appearance, but this time under ; the name of hoop petticoat. These round balloon skirts, with multitudinous varia- [ tions continued the mode until the French •Revolution made the imitation of antique statues " the thing." Then clinging classical * draperies held sway, a little later to be . deposed by the crinoline of modern renowr, which in its turn has given way to the ; thousand and one follies and fashions of to- ; £ay. — Lloj'd's Weekly Newspaper.