DRESS 



1860 



DRESS 



Babylonians and Assyrians and other ancient 

 peoples of the Orient adopted some form of 

 long, loose robe, but the laboring people, who 

 would be hampered by trailing skirts, had to 

 be content with a short kilt which reached only 

 to the knee. 



About nine centuries before the birth of 

 Christ the Assyrian kings added troops of 

 horsemen to their armies, an innovation which 

 made necessary a new form of dress for these 

 soldiers. Accordingly, the skirt of the rider 

 was split from the hem to the waist in front 

 and back. This divided skirt in the course of 

 a hundred years became a garment with two 

 separate skirts, one for each leg; that is, a 

 pair of trousers. The advantages of this cos- 

 tume were apparent to the laboring classes, 

 who soon exchanged their kiltlike garment for 

 the serviceable pantaloons. 



Meanwhile, on the European shore of the 

 Mediterranean Sea, a Greek civilization was 

 developing. 

 In early Greece, 

 trousers never 

 became popular; 

 the earliest dress 

 of the men con- 

 sisted of a square 

 piece of cloth, 

 open on one side, 

 and known as the 

 himation, while 

 in later times the 

 chiton, a close- 

 fitting, sleeveless 

 shirt, reaching 

 below the knees, 

 was worn under 

 the himation. 

 The women wore 

 a loose chiton of 

 line linen, reach- 

 ing to the feet, 

 and confined be- 

 low the bust by 

 a girdle. Some- GREEK CHITON , 



times they draped over the chiton a woolen 

 shawl, called a peplos. The Romans, who imi- 

 tated the Greeks in dress as well as in art, 

 literature and mythology, had as their char- 

 acteristic garment the toga, a sort of loose 

 cloak under which was worn the tunic (see 

 TOGA; TUNIC). 



As the' Romans began their invasions north- 

 ward it became necessary for their fighting 

 men to adopt a costume appropriate for war- 



fare, and so their soldiers wore, in addition to 

 the tunic, tight-fitting trousers reaching to the 

 calf of the leg. This garb was a copy of the 



ANCIENT ROMAN DRESS 

 Prom left to right : Citizen, statesman, tribune. % 



dress worn by the Phoenicians, an Oriental 

 people whose trading ships were found in the 

 ports of all nations. When Julius Caesar in- 

 vaded the island of Britain (England) in 55 B. c. 

 he found the natives wearing a close, tuniclike 

 coat and short pantaloons, in imitation of the 

 Phoenician merchants ,who had visited their 

 shores. 



The conquering Romans who came in con- 

 tact with the Teutonic tribes of Central Europe 

 found the men wearing trousers, and the 

 women a long robe similar to the costume of 

 the Greeks. From these two types trousers 

 and skirts has come the standard dress of 

 modern Europeans and Americans. Man's at- 

 tire of the present time, however, the cutaway 

 or sack coat for business wear, and the black 

 long-tailed coat and low-cut vest for evening, 

 is far removed from the rich and elaborate 

 costumes worn in the Middle Ages and the 

 early modern period. Oriental love of brilliant 

 colors and ornamentation, first making its in- 

 fluence felt in Eastern Europe, spread later to 

 the nations of the West, and by the beginning 

 of the fifteenth century the costumes of both 

 men and women had become so elaborate as to 

 be burdensome. 



During the Renaissance the characteristic 

 dress of the man of fashion was the doublet 

 hose and cape. The stockings reached from 

 waist to toe; the doublet, forerunner of the 

 modern waistcoat, was a close-fitting garment 

 with or without sleeves, which reached fron 

 the neck to the waist; the cape, a relic of the 

 ancient flowing robe, hung across the back ant 

 served chiefly for. ornament. In England, dur- 



