THE STORY OF COSTUMES 



tries. Even to-day long sleeveless cloaks reaching 

 to the ground are worn by many men in Italy, possibly 

 a survival of the old medieval robe. 



Curiously enough, some of the early Portuguese 

 fashions more nearly resembled modern forms of male 

 attire than those of any other nation for three cen- 

 turies following. In the sixteenth century a costume 

 was sometimes worn very much like that of a modern 

 Mexican or Spaniard. This consisted of a broad- 

 brimmed " cowboy" hat, a coat not unlike the modern 

 frock coat except that it was belted, and trousers reach- 

 ing to the ankle, rather wide but not gathered in at 

 the bottom. Ruffs or lace were worn at the throat 

 and about the wrists in place of linen collar and 

 cuff, and a " Spanish cloak" in place of an overcoat; 

 but otherwise the sixteenth-century Portuguese gal- 

 lant would have passed muster as a twentieth-cen- 

 tury Spaniard. 



The Church, which for many centuries wasted 

 much oratory in preaching against extravagance in 

 dress, did not set a very good example in practice. 

 Many of the lower orders of monks, to be sure, dressed 

 in the severest manner possible, but the superior dig- 

 nitaries clung to gaudy colors and rich display as 

 they do still. Shortly after the fall of the Western 

 Empire in 476 A.D. the dress, even of a bishop, was a 

 plain, toga-like garment. But colors and decorations 

 soon crept in, and by the tenth century the flashy robes 

 even of an under-bishop rivaled the most gorgeous 

 modern woman's gown. 



[73] 



