jacket was
pointed and trimmed round with small peaks, the velvet cap was trimmed
with aigrettes; the beard was pointed, a pearl hung from the left ear, and
a small cloak or mantle was carried on the shoulder, which only reached to
the waist. The use of gloves made of scented leather became universal.
Ladies wore their dresses long, very full, and very costly, little or no
change being made in these respects during the reign of Henry IV. At this
period, the men's high hose were made longer and fuller, especially in
Spain and the Low Countries, and the fashion of large soft boots, made of
doeskin or of black morocco, became universal, on account of their being
so comfortable.

We may remark that the costume of the bourgeois was for a long time
almost unchanged, even in the towns. Never having adopted either the
tight-fitting hose or the balloon trousers, they wore an easy jerkin, a
large cloak, and a felt hat, which the English made conical and with a
broad brim.

Towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, the high hose which were
worn by the northern nations, profusely trimmed, was transformed into the
_culotte_, which was full and open at the knees. A division was thus
suddenly made between the lower and the upper part of the hose, as if the
garment which covered the lower limbs had been cut in two, and garters
were then necessarily invented. The felt hat became over almost the whole
of Europe a cap, taking the exact form of the head, and having a wide,
flat brim turned up on one side. High heels were added to boots and shoes,
which up to that time had been flat and with single soles.... Two
centuries later, a terrible social agitation took place all over Europe,
after which male attire became mean, ungraceful, plain and more paltry
than ever; whereas female dress, the fashions of which were perpetually
changing from day to day, became graceful and elegant, though too often
approaching to the extravagant and absurd.

[Illustration: Figs. 436 and 437.--Costumes of the German Bourgeoisie in
the Middle of the Sixteenth Century.--Drawings attributed to Holbein.]

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Manners, Custom and Dress During the
Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period, by Paul Lacroix

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CUSTOM AND DRESS, MIDDLE AGES ***

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