bands are blamed for these!

In the seventeenth century the idle dancing youth of to-day had his
prototype in the Cavalier Servente, who hovered at his lady's side,
affecting extravagant and effeminate manners.

The corrupt morals of the sixteenth century followed in the wake of
social intercourse by travel, literature, art and styles for costumes.

Mme. Recamier, the exquisite embodiment of the Directoire style as
depicted by David in his famous portrait of her, scandalised London by
appearing in public, clad in transparent Greek draperies and scarfs.
Later Mme. Jerome Bonaparte, a Baltimore belle, quite upset Philadelphia
by repeating Mme. Recamier's experiment in that city of brotherly love!
We are also told on good authority that one could have held Madame's
wedding gown in the palm of the hand.

Victorian hoops for public conveyances, paper-soled slippers in
snow-drifts, wigs immense and heavy with powder, hair-oil and furbelows,
hour-glass waist lines producing the "vapours" fortunately are no more.

Taken by and large, we of the year 1917 seem to have reached the point
where woman's psychology demands of dress fitness for each occasion,
that she may give herself to her task without a material handicap. May
the good work in this direction continue, as the panorama of costumes
for women moves on down the ages that are to come.

CHAPTER XXVI

NATIONALITY IN COSTUME

When seen in perspective, the costumes of various periods, as well as
the architecture, interior decoration and furnishings of the homes of
men appear as distinct types, though to the man or woman of any
particular period the variations of the type are bewildering and
misleading. It is the same in physical types; when visiting for the
first time a foreign land one is immediately struck by a national cast
of feature, English, French, American, Russian, etc. But if we remain in
the country for any length of time, the differences between individuals
impress us and we lose track of those features and characteristics the
nation possesses in common. To-day, if asked what outline, materials and
colour schemes characterise our fashions, some would say that almost
anything in the way of line, materials and colour were worn. There is,
however, always an epoch type, and while more than ever before the law
of _appropriateness_ has dictated a certain silhouette for each
occasion,--each occupation,--when recorded in costume books of the
future we will