ing about the towering wig. As it happened, the chiffon
was my lady's chemise!

We begin the eighteenth century with a full petticoat, trimmed with rows
of ruffles or bands; an overskirt looped back into paniers to form the
bustle effect; the natural hair powdered; and head-dress of lace,
standing out stiffly in front and drooping in a curtain behind.

It was not until the whim of Marie Antoinette decreed it so, that the
enormous powdered wigs appeared.

Viennese temperament alone accounts for the moods of this lovely tragic
queen, who played at making butter, in a cap and apron, over simple
muslin frocks, but outdid her artificial age in love of artifice (not
Art) in dress.

This gay and dainty puppet of relentless Fate propelled by varying moods
must needs lose her lovely head at last, as symbol of her time.

PLATE XXV

Mrs. Vernon Castle in a summer afternoon costume
appropriate for city or country and so adapted to the
wearer's type that she is a picture, whether in action;
seated on her own porch; having tea at the country club; or
in the Winter sun-parlour.

[Illustration: _Mrs. Vernon Castle in Afternoon
Costume--Summer_]

CHAPTER XIX

WOMAN IN THE VICTORIAN PERIOD

The first seventy years of the nineteenth century seem to us
of 1917 absolutely incredible in regard to dress. How our
great-great-grandmothers ever got about on foot, in a carriage or
stage-coach, moved in a crowd or even sat in any measure of serenity at
home, is a mystery to us of an age when comfort, convenience, fitness
and chic have at last come to terms. For a vivid picture of how our
American society looked between 1800 and 1870, read Miss Elizabeth
McClellan's _Historic Dress in America_, published in 1910 by George W.
Jacobs & Co., of Philadelphia. The book is fascinating and it not only
amuses and informs, but increases one's self-respect, if a woman, for
_modern_ woman dressed in accordance with her role.

We can see extravagant wives point out with glee to tyrant mates how, in
the span of years between 1800 and 1870 our maternal forebears made
money fly, even in the Quaker City. Fancy paying in Philadelphia at that
time, $1500 for a lace scarf, $400 for a shawl, $100 for the average
gown of silk, and $50 for a French bonnet! Miss McClellan, quoting from
_Mrs. Roger Pryor's Memoirs_, tells how she, Mrs. Pryor, as a young girl
in Washington, was awakened at midnight by a note from the