764 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



where the same style of clothing is used for centuries, as among bar- 

 barous peoples, one has the right to say that civilization remains sta- 

 tionary. There, on the other hand, where, as in Europe, garments are 

 subject to continual modifications, one may see evidence of great com- 

 fort and rapid progress. * * * Far from being a custom of in- 

 curable frivolity the changes of fashions mark a high civilization, 

 subject to change because it is growing and because it has wide lati- 

 tude to refine its ideal in proportion as its productions are varied." ^ 

 Again, it is necessary that that versatility and refinement be not 

 turned to extravagance or to impropriety, compromising the reputa- 

 tion for good taste, elegance, and distinction which the fashions of 

 Paris enjoy throughout the entire world. 



"Wliat can we do for or against fashion? Can we direct it or can 

 we prevent its abuse? Let us find out lirst the power of the law, 

 religious or civil. Very early popes and councils strove in vain 

 against the low-neck goAvn and the dresses " terminating in the ser- 

 pent's tail." Kings imitated them, Charlemagne setting the example, 

 but sumptuary decrees have had no more effect than ordinances 

 against dueling. Mons. Victor du Bled reports that Philippe le Bel 

 was urged to promulgate some sumptuary laws by his wife, who, 

 making her formal entrance at Bruges in 1301, saw a crowd of com- 

 mon people so richly clothed that she cried out with vexation, " I 

 thought myself the queen, and I see hundreds of them." Charles IX 

 proscribed hip pads of more than 5 feet, gold chains, pieces of jewelry 

 with or without enamel. In 1567 he regulated the garments of each 

 class, permitting silk only to princesses and duchesses, forbidding 

 velvet. But these laws were intended very much more to limit for- 

 eign importation and to encourage home industry than to regulate 

 fashion.^ Seventy-two decrees prohibiting the use of India cloth 

 were rendered from 1700 to 1760 and proved to be powerless against 

 the rulings of fashion. In 1706 a certain French chamber of com- 

 merce voted " that officers may have the power to arrest on the streets 

 persons who are found clothed in this kind of goods, and they 

 should be condemned to pay a large fine." In 1912 another chamber 

 of commerce voted for ministerial intervention against some noted 

 dressmakers to check the use of clinging dresses, against which the 

 American clergy and some members of the German medical corps 

 preached without success. 



The intervention of manufacturers injured in their interests by 

 reduction to the metric system or the abandoning of such and such 

 an ornament is of no effect. A committee of propaganda, formed at 

 Saint-Etienne with a view to reviving the fashion for fine qualities 



1 1.. Bourdeau, op. cit., p. 195. 



- V. du Bled, op. cit. Cf. Dr. A. Vellemau, Der Luxus in seinen Beziehungeu zur 

 Sozial-Oekonomie. Halle, 1898. 



