THE STORY OF COSTUMES 



made itself felt in the closing years of the eighteenth 

 century, that resulted finally in the complete revolution 

 during the last half of the nineteenth century. 



The age of modern clothing may be said to date 

 from the going-out of powdered wigs, startling colors, 

 fine fabrics in men's coats and waistcoats, and the 

 abandonment of knee-breeches. As regards these 

 last, it is an open question whether the modern garment 

 that has replaced them is an improvement from the 

 common-sense point of view, and this is perhaps em- 

 phasized by the fact that in recent years there has been 

 a tendency both in civilians and in soldiers to return 

 to the shorter type of garment. 



The transition period of garment-wearing began 

 early in the nineteenth century when waistcoats were 

 shortened, lace and ruffs abandoned, and the knick- 

 erbocker, which until that time had extended only to 

 the knee or just below it, was lengthened so as to reach 

 to the middle of the calf. This again was lengthened 

 to the ankle,, and was finally fastened there, not as 

 with the Oriental fashion of gathering about the foot, 

 but with a strap buckled underneath it. 



At the present time the summer garments worn 

 by men and women, represent, perhaps, the most 

 practical and simple costume ever worn except by the 

 most primitive races. Shirt-waists for women and 

 plain skirts, negligee shirts for men, with hats of a 

 relatively simple type for both sexes, and shoes with 

 most practical types of heels, combine to form wearing- 

 apparel perhaps as nearly ideal as is possible under 

 modern conditions. 



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