IF we were well persuaded that most new fashions are invented to hide some secret imperfections of the body, or to satisfy the avidity of shopkeepers, it is most likely we should consider it of less importance; for, if we seek the cause of these changes, we find in general it proceeds from the ingenious ardour of a milliner, the bad shape of some fine lady, the long visage of a second, and the broad foot of a beau parson.
The first woman that ever wore a fardingale wanted to conceal the indiscreet fruit of her gallantry. This sort of hoop, of a cylindrical form, entirely concealed the waist. In a little time all the ladies followed this example; and every fashionable fair-one appeared as if her lover had brought her in the same situation as she that introduced the fashion.
The great large ruffs, which looked like a glory about the people’s necks, in the time of Henry IV.[[2]] were invented in Spain to hide the hernia gutturis, a very common disorder among the Spaniards. Though the French had not this disorder, they eagerly adopted the new fashion.
It is most likely the fear of being sunburnt, or else that refined coquetry which conceals from public view what it means to raise a desire for, determined the ladies to cover their faces with a mask of black velvet. No lady was seen abroad without her mask. Tradition says nothing of the cause of this fashion; but there is no doubt but ugliness and decrepitness invented another sort of mask, which our old tabbies still continue the use of: this is a plaster of white lead and vermillion, laid on so thick, that it represents much better the ruddy countenance of a drunken sot, than the fine lively complexion of a beautiful damsel.
In the reign of Francis II. a tunbellied Person of high rank turned the heads of all the French. Every body was mad to have, not only a great belly, but likewise a very large false rump. At present, our ladies have not revived the fashion of great bellies; on the contrary, it has been remarked that they have a great dislike to them: but one of them, who had a bad shape, appearing with an enormous rump and hips, all the rest would have false ones; and all the well made women concealed their shape, as the others did their defects.
[2]. Henry IV. of France was the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. T.
Geffrey Plantagenet, count of Anjou, one of the most accomplished and handsome men of his time, had the misfortune to have a large excrescence on the tip of his great toe; in order to conceal this imperfection, and walk easy, he had some shoes made with points turned up of a sufficient length not to pinch him. No sooner had he these shoes, than every one was anxious to be like the count. This fashion was so much followed, and had such a run, that the different degrees of rank were known by the length of the points of the shoes. Those of the common people were six inches long, those of citizens a foot; but those of gentlemen, lords, and princes, were never less than two feet; from whence came the French proverb Etre fur un grand pied (to be in easy circumstances). These points to the shoes increased so in length, that it was feared lest they should affect public order and the established religion: sermons were preached and ordinances issued against them; the clergy anathematized them, and Charles V. expressly forbade their being worn.
Thus, every one appeared as if he had an excrescence on the tip of his great toe; so likewise, in most fashions, every one seems desirous of concealing imperfections that he has not.
Fashions have for a long time been considered as of great importance among the French, and their neighbours have often reproached them with it.[[3]] If a new fashion appear, the whole nation is in an uproar: all are infatuated, mad: every one is in a hurry to have it; the contagion soon reaches all ranks; they seem as if they could never be soon enough more ridiculous than they were the day before. Taste is out of the question; ’tis opinion alone that decides. Were the new fashion ever so silly, not a word would be said against it, because of this sole and powerful reason: It is what is worn at present.
[3]. Baptist Mantuan, an Italian and Latin Poet, said of the French: