DRESS 



1859 



DRESS 



HE STORY OF DRESS 



Century I7*. h Century 1 8*.** Century I9*. h Century ZQfo Century 



RESS. The clothing worn by civ- 

 ilized people of to-day is the result of long ages 

 of development. It is supposed that the prim- 

 itive ancestor of the human race, in the 

 earliest stages of the world's existence, wore no 

 clothing at all. What caused him first to attire 

 himself in the garb of savagery the plumage 

 of birds and the pelts of beasts, and leaves, 

 bark and shells has long been an interesting 

 subject for study and controversy. Modern 

 scholars are inclined to accept the theory that 

 the love of adornment, the desire to appear 

 attractive, rather than the sense of modesty, 

 first moved the 

 cave manto 

 adopt his crude 

 form of dress, and 

 that the sense of 

 modesty is the 

 result of the 

 wearing of cloth- 

 ing. 



Whatever the 

 earliest reason for 

 covering the 

 body may have 

 been, as the 

 human race 

 emerged from the 

 shadowy border- 

 land of savagery 

 man made the 

 discovery that 

 clothing was 

 necessary for his 

 comfort and his 

 happiness. Of all 

 the members of 

 the animal king- 

 dom, he is the 

 only one whom 



EGYPTIAN DRESS 

 Ancient water carrier 

 the Nile. 



Nature has neg- 

 lected to provide with a natural garment to 

 serve as a protection against the cold of winter 

 and the heat of summer. Lacking the fur of 



beasts or the feathers of birds, he has learned 

 how to provide for himself artificial coverings. 

 The story of the evolution of dress is the 

 story of one of the world's mammoth indus- 

 tries ; rather, a 

 narrative of 

 many allied in- 

 dustries. Beasts 

 and plants in- 

 numerable have 

 been utilized to 

 clothe the human 

 race. Fabrics of 

 almost endless 

 variety are now 

 made from the 

 hair of sheep, 

 camels, alpacas 

 and goats, and 

 from the fibers of 

 such plants as 

 the cotton, flax, 

 hemp and jute; 

 an industrious lit- 

 tle worm weaves 

 a glossy thread 



AN ASSYRIAN KING 



from which is made lustrous and beautiful 

 silk ; the skin of various animals furnishes the 

 leather that goes into the making of boots 

 and shoes; the fur-bearers give their handsome 

 coats that mankind may be protected from the 

 cold. Smoke pouring from the chimneys of 

 factories in every quarter of the civilized world 

 and the whir of great machines, the most in- 

 genious that can be conceived by the human 

 mind, offer witness to the vastness of the prob- 

 lem of keeping mankind clothed. The reader 

 may find the details of the story of clothing in 

 the articles named at the end of this article. 



The Evolution of Dress. In early historic 

 times both men and women wore a costume 

 based on the skirt, now the characteristic gar- 

 ment of woman throughout the temperate 

 regions. Trousers were a later invention. The 

 rich and noble classes among the Egyptians. 



