CHAPTER XXXIII.

FASHIONS OF THE PRESENT DAY (CONTINUED).

1878 TO 1881.

The International Exhibition of 1878—Foreign countries—Japanese fans—The little lace-makers of Peniche—Retrospective Exhibition of costume in France—“Considérations sur le vêtement des femmes,” by M. Charles Blanc—Historical Exhibition at the Trocadéro—Comprehensive glance at the curiosities of that Exhibition—“The movement” in 1879—“Merveilleuse,” “Niniche,” and other bonnets—Plush—Gown-stuff at a hundred francs the yard—Scarfs, casaques, and various bodices—Madras costumes—Under-clothing; chemise-corsets, morning-gowns—“Housewife” fans; fan-holders—Trinkets—New materials—Visites; jackets; bows; neckties—The year 1880—“Cabriolet” bonnets; “passe-montagnes”—The pilgrim costume—Satins—Favourite colours—Vests—Art buttons—Bulgarian costumes—Jerseys—Scented gloves—Flowers in profusion; a bridal bouquet—Midshipman bonnets—Nordenskiold—Dust-cloaks—Revolution in bonnets—Art and fashion—“Porte-veines.”

We cannot doubt that the year 1878 will be famous in the long annals of Fashion, on account of the International and special Exhibitions that filled Paris with visitors from all parts of the world. In like manner, every civilized country deluged us with fanciful inventions, and with extraordinary ideas, that have for the most part vanished.

The galleries devoted to clothing were not less remarkable than those set aside for other industrial products, and yet the public soon wearied of them. They were so spacious, not to say encumbered; and then the attractions of the shop windows were as great as those of the galleries.

Some few however were popular. The cases of Lyons silks, St. Etienne ribbons, Tarara muslins, stuffs of Roubaix, Rouen, and Paris manufacture; and the charming Swiss pavilion, with its exquisitely arranged curtains, lace, tulle, embroidery, and trimmings, are not yet forgotten. The national costumes brought to Paris from the uttermost ends of the earth—from Lapland to the Cape of Good Hope, from Oceania to the western extremity of Europe—excited a good deal of interest.

Every accessory of dress was at hand for the purposes of comparison by lady connoisseurs. The East set before us its perfumes, coffers, shawls, tissues, and knick-knacks of all sorts, including the hinged fans, a Japanese invention, said to have been suggested by the wings of the bat. America displayed her products, remarkable rather for comfort than elegance; Africa, her garments dating from the most distant ages, and Europe showed us her undeniable superiority, her marvellous progress, and her new inventions, which, whether practical or not, are generally at least ingenious. I must except, as regards clothes, both Italy and Holland, while Russia was hardly remarkable except for her furs.

The manufacturers of lace in Portugal are treading in the steps of the English past-masters in that line, and are attaining the highest degree of excellence. The lace-workers lead a curious life. At Peniche, in Estramadura, there are eight schools of lace work. Little girls sometimes begin to learn at the age of four, and soon acquire such skill that they can handle fifty dozen spindles at a time, and yet pay attention to things quite apart from their habitual work.

Spanish gloves are even superior to those of Paris; but Spanish fans, although articles of such constant use on the far side of the Pyrenees, fail both in design and execution.

We must do justice to Greece, which now possesses numerous factories. The Greek hand-made coloured Oriental lace, is very pretty, and the national costumes charmed the eyes of all visitors to the Palace in the Champs de Mars. Unfortunately those splendid gold-embroidered garments are fast disappearing. Neither the king nor queen of Greece wear them at the present day. European fashions have usurped their place.

The subject of the International Exhibition of 1878, has already been exhausted; I could only add a few insignificant pages to the voluminous writings of other authors, who have described it; and I should besides be exceeding the limits of my subject. Hardly had the portals of the building in the Champs de Mars been closed, when manufacturers were already inventing fresh novelties, which will be offered for our inspection at the next Great Exhibition.

The Exhibition of 1878 is now of historical value only. It was a great advance on preceding Exhibitions, and, according to the laws of human progress, will be surpassed by those of the future.

Before 1878 however, and while I was occupied in writing the present work, some artists and other intelligent men had organized a Retrospective Exhibition of costumes in France, in the building of the Champs Elysées.

This was far from being an exhaustive exhibition, for it did not include the earlier ages of our history, nevertheless, curiosities that had hitherto been hidden away in private collections became known to the public, and were of special interest because they afforded specimens of several branches of the ancient manufactures of France.

That exhibition was a fragment of the history of Fashion in concrete form, if I may so express myself, and many of those who inspected it were of opinion that it was a tempting subject for a writer.

On the other hand, M. Charles Blanc included in his important work on Decorative Art, published by the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts,” some very valuable remarks on feminine clothing, under the title of “Considérations sur le vêtement des femmes;” for these maintained that the three invariable conditions of beauty are order, proportion, and harmony, whatever may be the variety of costume.

The learned academician raised coquetry to the height of a true art; he treated of the æsthetics of Fashion, and pointed out its constituent laws.

The public, whose attention was thus directed to the subject of the present work, was more alive than formerly to its importance, and seemed favourably disposed towards our undertaking.

In 1878, there was an Historical Exhibition at the Trocadéro. Antique garments of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were exhibited, not as curiosities only, but as subjects for study.

The show-cases of MM. Tassinari and Chatel, of Lyons, contained fine tapestries, chasubles, copes, women’s hoods, and a large assortment of Eastern fabrics. Five or six amateurs exhibited collections of dress ornaments,—bracelets, rings, pins, broaches, earrings, &c. There was a prettily-dressed doll, in the complete costume of a young girl in the time of the Medicis; several antique bag and purse clasps; carved, gilded, and chased betrothal rings and perfume boxes; marriage caskets; women’s hawking-gauntlets in chased steel; exquisite fans; diamonds in settings of old silver; curious Norman trinkets; patch-boxes ornamented with miniatures; bon-bon boxes; and needle-cases.

Several pieces of stuffs from Equatorial Egypt, and quantities of ancient Egyptian jewellery, with a few valuable ornaments dating from the time of the Caliphs, were worthy of careful examination, and might have roused the emulation of our modern workmen.

The Scandinavian Ethnological Museum of Stockholm, forwarded a series of costumes remarkable for accuracy; almost all of these had been composed in the year 1820, or thereabouts: these curious specimens obtained a great and deserved success.

When the time arrived for closing all these exhibitions, and the French and foreign exhibitors had removed their goods, there remained an enduring recollection of the marvels of the Trocadéro and the Champs de Mars.

After that time, exclusively national Fashion resumed its customary course. A great incentive had been given by the numerous and distinguished awards conferred on our manufacturers. Novelties of all sorts were produced, and spread throughout Paris, France, Europe, and beyond the seas. Our milliners sent their goods to the International Exhibitions at Sydney and Melbourne. Their superiority and originality were admitted on all hands.

Meanwhile, savings had been almost or entirely expended, and in 1879 a diminution of outlay on dress resulted from the extra expenditure of the preceding year.

“Merveilleuse” bonnets, which, being indicated by their name need no description from me; “Madrilène” bonnets, made of otter, or plush, trimmed with jet; and Swedish bonnets in black kid, with an amber-headed pin, partly concealed in a tuft of feathers, or stuck through a velvet bow, were equally fashionable.

Many bonnets were entirely composed of leaves, flowers, or fruits. There were infinite varieties of bonnets and hats, some close, others with wide brims, some very small, and some very large. “Frondeuse” hats, were of black straw, with long black and ruby plumes, the brim turned up, and lined with puckered ruby satin, trimmed with gold lace. “Niniche” and “Directory” bonnets were lasting favourites, and more generally popular than their merits would appear to warrant.

During the summer, round bell-shaped hats were at first preferred. Then close bonnets without strings, cottage bonnets in smooth straw, coming down very much on the forehead; “Nérine” hats of coarse white straw, and with wide brims lined with red satin; and many others, differing little from those I have just named.

Plush was worn as trimming on gowns and mantles. Short dresses were much worn; they were invariably trimmed with cascades of lace. Silk stockings were indispensable. Bows and cravats of muslin, or Breton lace, or valenciennes, or point, were greatly used. Gloves with four buttons, and “dowager” sunshades—so called because they were rather large and made with long sticks—were quite a rage for several months. “Bonhomme,” “Jardinier Galant,” “Louis XIV.,” and “Louis XV.” vests, formed a part of nearly every costume. “Charles IX.,” “Marion Delorme,” and “Richelieu” shoes were made with high heels like boots.

In order to give some idea of the cost of certain materials, it will suffice to state that an actress at the Vaudeville theatre wore a gown at a hundred francs the yard, and the rest in proportion. Gowns were made of gold tissue and trimmed with lace, embroidered in colours.

Scarfs or drapery were fashionable for trimming dresses, and skirts were plaited “à la réligieuse.” The scarfs were sometimes crossed so as to form a tunic. Many “casaques” were made with waistcoats. Bodices were made full, something like the old-fashioned bodices “à la Vierge.” There was quite a rage for knotted fringes with beads, and natural flowers for ball-dresses; but double tunics were gradually abandoned, though square-cut bodices and “Louis XV.” sleeves were still worn.

Handkerchief-dresses, consisting entirely of Madras handkerchiefs, were very artistically composed. I saw one in which seventy-two handkerchiefs had been employed; another, in a simpler style, consisted of forty-eight only. The plainest gown required four dozen. This was a whimsical fashion, and was followed only by the most elegant women of society.

Frills and plaitings of lawn or muslin were much worn. Luxury was carried to a great height in “lingerie” (underclothing). The “Mireille” was a high chemisette of muslin and Valenciennes, with a double frill; the “Yvonne” was of crape and Breton lace; the “Médicis,” a still more elegant chemisette; the “Lamballe,” a fichu of surah trimmed with plaits of black or white Breton lace, and the “Marie Thérèse” of “point d’esprit” tulle with frills of Breton lace.

Corset-chemises made with gussets were most favourably received, and were included in every wedding trousseau, as were also white muslin morning-gowns, which were found very convenient for home wear.

The “housewife’s” fan, which came out in 1879, held thread, scissors, and needles. Fan-holders were made of silver or of nickel silver, with a long or short chain, according to the taste of the wearer.

Those fashionable trinkets, the lizard, the fly, and the bee, were laid aside, and were succeeded by an owl. This was used as a brooch to fasten the bonnet strings. Tags, girdles, “Diane de Poitiers” necklaces of very small pearls, jet in every shape, crosses of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and lockets of antique design, were very fashionable; as were also Brittany, Normandy, and Vendée crosses, with religious emblems of the Sacred Heart or St. Michael.

The nomenclature of the new stuffs is bewildering. There was “Osaka” crape, and “Æolian,” a mixture of wool and silk; there was honey-combed beige of two shades; “annamite” crape; “grene” and “Pompadour sateens” for “Louis XV.” costumes; jaconets with satin stripes and Indian prints; Watteau material; pekins in two shades, and “Pompadour” foulards; striped grenadines and Italian silk; Turkish, Egyptian, Indian, Japanese, and Persian stuffs, embroidered in silk, gold beads, and even in precious stones and glistening colours; and lastly, materials with the grotesque names of “Tchilka,” “Ladakh” cloth, “Sutlej,” “Lahore,” “crépon,” and “Tchinab.”

Paniers, quite unlike those of the eighteenth century, were composed of the material of the gown, arranged in draped folds on the hips, and hidden at the back by the folds of the skirt. They were trimmed with kiltings and lace, for evening wear, and sometimes even with flowers. Stamped velvet casaques, or shawl-pattern casaques, were frequently worn with dresses of plain material. We must also note “Marie Christine visites,” “Catherine de Russie houppelandes,” jackets, coats, paletot-jackets, and “Montespan” bodices. For walking in the country, the alpaca braid usually put at the edge of the skirt was sometimes replaced by a deep band of black leather, from which a damp sponge and a dry cloth effectually removed all trace of mud.

What a number of charming bows! “Butterfly,” “Figaro,” and “Colbert” bows; “Marion” shirt-frill bows, and “Yolande” bows, in “merveilleux” satin, and cockades of lace. The “new” bow, consisting of surah very delicately gathered, was prettily trimmed with lace. And what a number of exquisite cravats! viz., the “Louis XIII.,” the “Royal,” the “Girondist,” the “Diana,” the “Soubise,” and the “Haydée.”

The year 1880 opened inauspiciously in the midst of the terrible winter that had begun in December 1879. The fashions of January were consequently all for warm and thick materials, for furs, warmly lined shoes, india-rubber overalls, lined with stout flannel, that were drawn over the foot and boot, and enabled the wearer to brave both the snow and the subsequent thaw. The old-fashioned “cabriolet,” or drawn-hoods, were revived; they could be worn either over a bonnet or without one. They were generally made of otter-plush. “Mazarin” capes came into fashion at the same time, and even “passe-montagnes” enjoyed a momentary favour.

“Pilgrim” costumes were worn: their name sufficiently describes them.

Brighter weather at last succeeded to the intense frosts and fogs, and gracious Fashion resumed its sway, first with the “jupon intime,” a very narrow petticoat clinging closely to the figure, and then with gowns of velvet and otter satin. Next came ball-dresses,—late in the season certainly, but appreciated all the more eagerly because dancing parties had for two long months been unusually rare. The world began to take its revenge on winter.

Black satin was extremely fashionable; and the “Danæ” costume in white satin was simply exquisite. Costumes in light cloth or double cashmere were very popular. The list of new materials is completed by “Renaissance,” “sublime,” and “down-satin” (duvet), “white Astrakan down,” “voile-de-veuve,” and “brilliantine.” Madras costumes were universally worn in summer.

The favourite colours were, lotus-blue, Van Dyck red, the shade called “chaudron,” otter, mandragora, a sort of undecided blue-green called Venetian heliotrope, and others. Generally speaking, costumes were no longer made in one material and one shade only. Plum-colour, otter, Russian green, and moss-colour were mingled together; and gowns were made of faille and satin, or satin and velvet, of silk and wool, and all kinds of materials with designs. Cut and damasked materials, and, above all, the fashion of kilting withstood various efforts to abolish them.

Jet capes were much worn; also open “Medici” collars, partly turning over, and, generally speaking, very graceful.

Large collars—“Dauphin,” “King of Rome,” “Colette,” and “Incroyable”—were fashionable; also cravats, consisting of cascades of lace and very wide ribbon; and light and delicate scarfs.

“Vests” were much worn, both by married women and young ladies. The “Oriental” vest was of red-gold or olive-coloured tissue. They were pointed at the sides, coat-shaped at the back, trimmed all round with a thick cord, and fastened from top to bottom by artistic or shawl-patterned buttons; lace frills were worn at the throat and sleeves. The “Breton” vest needs no description; this was as popular as the “Oriental;” whereas the “Bulgarian” costume, with its closely-fitting bodice, its skirt quite plain in front, open at the sides, and put into very narrow plaits at the back, was considered by most women too remarkable. The elastic, or “Jersey,” bodice must also be mentioned.

Gloves were scented with cedar of Lebanon, or Russia leather, or violets. This was no new invention. Perfumed gloves were worn in the sixteenth century. In the “Winter’s Tale,” Shakespeare tells us of “gloves as sweet as damask roses.”

Fans were painted by excellent artists. Sunshades were large, and, generally speaking, lined; with long sticks and handles of Dresden, Sèvres, or Longwy china. They were closed by means of a ring.

Flowers were used in profusion both to decorate rooms, and for personal wear. Every one was endeavouring to make amends for the bitter winter. A newspaper reporter described the bride’s bouquet at a wedding, which took place at the Trinité. It consisted entirely of rare and beautiful flowers, and was nearly two yards in circumference. A “page of honour” bearing this poetic burden, preceded the bride.

The following bonnets were produced in succession; bonnets with wide strings in piece-surah; “Niniche” bonnets, already described, and somewhat resembling a helmet in the front, “Amazon,” “Devonshire,” “Récamier,” “Duchesse d’Angoulême,” “Olivia,” and “Princess of Wales” hats; “Croizette” hats; and lastly the “midshipman”—a travelling-hat in straw, the same colour as that of the costume, and simply trimmed with a double or treble Alsatian bow.

All bonnets were profusely trimmed with feathers and flowers, with dead-gold poppies, laburnum, tulips, gardenias, magnolias, and bachelor’s buttons, and especially with roses of every shade.

During the summer, “sets” for the neck of surah and foulard were very fashionable. Here I may specially mention the “Jean Bart,” consisting of a widely-opened sailor collar, deep cuffs, and a simply-knotted neck-tie; the “Chantilly,” in ivory surah, trimmed with Alençon point; the “Pomponne,” in plain, spotted, or sprigged foulard; the “naval officer” bow, in spotted foulard; and the “miller’s wife” fichu, in Indian muslin.

Nordenskiold, the Swedish Navigator, and the discoverer of the north-east passage, came to Paris, where he was received with all the honours due to him. Gauze travelling veils, called “Nordenskiolds,” two yards long, and trimmed with fringe, were worn in honour of the illustrious foreigner, and all but supplanted the “merveilleux” tulle veils spangled with gold, and the “odalisques,” of red tulle. The latter were very striking, but were only becoming to dark women.

For mountain-climbing expeditions, very fine, small-meshed hair-nets called “arachnéens” or cobweb nets, which kept the hair perfectly neat, were very useful. Dust-cloaks in grey cashmere, or alpaca, called “capucins,” were lined with red or striped surah, and were made with peaked hoods lined in the same way.

The Art Exhibition in 1880 led to a complete revolution in buttons; they were manufactured according to all the antique models. Those called “Buffon,” were remarkable for elegance. Others consisted of real flowers, or insects enclosed in glass; and lastly the “Wedgwood” buttons offered the most exquisite miniature paintings to our delighted gaze, i.e. copies of paintings on china by that celebrated English artist and manufacturer of the eighteenth century.

During 1880, Fashion frequently borrowed her inspiration from Art, and sought to imitate the works of the old masters. Antique designs, stuffs, and lace of every kind, were constantly reproduced. More than one duchess was the image of some figure of the Middle Ages, more than one “bourgeoise” dressed herself like Margaret, in _Faust_, or draped her shoulders in the “camail Régence.” In wet weather women of all ranks put on Ulsters, or Derbys, a cloak made of flannel, or light cloth. They resigned themselves to wearing hoods, when at, the seaside or in the country. “Savoyard” and “Trianon” costumes were alternately fashionable.

Feathers were much used on bonnets, and flowers on the bodices of dresses, and even on shoes and sunshades. A wreath of flowers was sometimes worn as a necklace by young girls. Canadian otter fur was in such request that the supply was exhausted, and plush of the same colour was used as a substitute.

An ugly trinket, euphemistically designated a “porte-veine” (luck-bringer), was introduced from Austria. This represented in fact, St. Anthony’s companion, the pig, and its rivals were the wild boar, the hippopotamus, and the elephant. It was hung on bracelets, mounted on pins, and worn on the watch-chain. For my own part, I should certainly have preferred the commonest field flower to such an ornament, even if made of diamonds. Nor am I singular in my opinion; but, as I have said before, opposition is powerless against the stream of Fashion, when it bears along the majority of our “élégantes,” who are resolved not to be daunted by any absurdity. The “porte-veine” is still in existence, in spite of the disappearance of St. Anthony’s companion.

During the winter of 1880-81, handsome, and frequently historic costumes continued to be worn. In our engraving of one in the style of the Directory, the skirt and bodice are of plum-coloured velvet; the second skirt is in plaited merveilleux satin, and is crossed by a sash of ribbed velvet, hanging down at the back. The bonnet, which is high in front, is trimmed with feathers.

M. Worth has kindly supplied us with the design of this costume.

[Illustration]