CHAPTER V.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CRUSADES.

Severity of feminine costume—Long gowns and _guimpes_—Marguerite of Provence—“Fermaux”—Reappearance of splendour in dress—Eastern customs—The priests of fashion—Haberdashery and peacock-feathers—Female embroiderers—Taste for embroidery—Continual temptations—Earliest sumptuary laws—Furs—St. Louis’s opinion on dress—Prohibitions by Philippe le Bel; speech made by his wife—Crépine 39