. Two centuries of costume in America, MDCXX-MDCCCXX . oach to a collection of fashion-plates which thetimes afforded. In the year 1640 a collection of twenty-six pic-tures of Englishwomen was issued by one Wen-ceslas Hollar, an engraver and drawing-master, withthis title, Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus. The several!Habits of Englishwomen, from the Nobilitie to theCountry Woman As they are in these Times. Thesebear the same relation to portraits showing whatwas really worn, as do fashion-plates to give us the shapes of gowns, bonnets, etc.,yet are not precisely the real thing. T
. Two centuries of costume in America, MDCXX-MDCCCXX . oach to a collection of fashion-plates which thetimes afforded. In the year 1640 a collection of twenty-six pic-tures of Englishwomen was issued by one Wen-ceslas Hollar, an engraver and drawing-master, withthis title, Ornatus Muliebris Anglicanus. The several!Habits of Englishwomen, from the Nobilitie to theCountry Woman As they are in these Times. Thesebear the same relation to portraits showing whatwas really worn, as do fashion-plates to give us the shapes of gowns, bonnets, etc.,yet are not precisely the real thing. The valueof this special set is found in three points : First, thedrawings confirm the testimony of Lely, Van Dyck,and other artists ; they prove how slightly Van Dyckidealized the costume of his sitters. Second, they give 88 Two Centuries of Costume representations of folk in the lower walks of life ;such folk were not of course depicted in , the drawings are full length, which the por-traits are not. Four of these drawings are reduced. Lady Catharina Howard. facing page 96. I give on page 142 the one entitledThe Puritan Woman^ though it is one of the mostdisappointing in the whole collection. It is sucha negative presentation; so little marked detail oreven associated evidence is gained from it. I hada baffled thought after examining it that I knew less Dress of the New England Mothers 89 of Puritan dress than without it. I see that theygather up their gowns for walking after a modeknown in later years as washerwoman style. Andby that very gathering up we lose what the drawingmight have told us ; namely, how the gowns wereshaped in the back; how attached to the waist orbodice ; and how the bodice was shaped at the waist,whether it had a straight belt, whether it was pointed,whether slashed in tabs or laps like a samare. Thesleeve, too, is concealed, and the kerchief hideseverything else. We know these kerchiefs were wornamong the fifty other ways, for some portr
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectclothinganddress
