Now let us stand for a moment on a corner of Fifth Avenue, New York's famous avenue of fashion. We see a modern young woman on her way to the theater. From the tips of her French-heeled slippers to the jaunty little hat on her head, she is—perfect. Her gown seems to express in every line the story of her own personality. The color-scheme might well have been invented by Mother Nature herself. The wrap she wears is of sable furs—but how different from the furs of her sister of ancient days! Each skin is exquisitely glossed and dressed, and the whole matched to perfection.
Another young woman passes. She is differently attired in trig tailored suit and smart toque. A business girl. Also perfect. And countless others, streaming endlessly along the wide avenue, men and women, defying in the expression of their own taste and individuality, the decrees of fashion; interpreting silks, cottons, fabrics and furs to harmonize with their own particular personalities, and the story of civilization is told in the clothes they wear.
THE DAWN OF FASHION
It was Cowper who said, "While the world lasts, Fashion will lead it by the nose." And really, hasn't Fashion been a stern monarch throughout the ages? It commanded the Chinese women to have tiny feet—and tiny feet they had to have although it meant months of torture to the young child. It commanded the monstrous ruff of the Elizabethan period, and decreed dignified wigs for the gentlemen of the Colonial days. It decided upon the mantle of the patriarch, the toga of the Roman, the fez of the Turk. Its endless whims and vagaries made the study of dress one of the most curious and fascinating in the world.
How was Fashion created, you ask? To answer thoroughly, we must once more go back to those distant cave-man days when dress itself had its inception. At first one simple costume for both men and women distinguished each tribe. There was nothing different in the way the skins were thrown over the body, no embellishments to render any one costume different from those worn by the others. Even at a relatively late date, uniformity of dress among people of one race was like a national characteristic; it was worn by all.
But slowly, as the tiny beam of civilization struggled onward and upward, there came a desire for something more than merely a protection against cold and rain. There came a very intense desire for ornamentation and personal adornment. Thus we find men and women in Central Africa decorating their bodies with stripes of paint, and those who were still more "fashionable" deforming themselves with most weird series of cicatrices on their bodies and faces. In New Guinea we find women who do not indulge in clothing at all, ashamed to appear in public without bracelets on their arms and legs, and ornaments on their heads. So intense did this love of ornament grow among women, that they began to cover their bodies with fur, feathers, shell, beads and countless ornaments. As late as the year 400 the primitive desire for self-adornment is evident. In that year, it is recorded that the wife of the Emperor Honorius died, and when her grave was reopened in 1544, the golden tissues of her shroud were melted and amounted in weight to thirty-six pounds.
Men and women alike hesitated to think for themselves in those earlier periods. Thus, instead of creating "styles" for themselves, they chose the easier method of imitating what others wore—changing it just enough to meet with their own requirements, to satisfy their own undeveloped tastes. One tribe copied what another wore, changing it only slightly according to whim. We find that man soon realized that the accumulation of coverings on his body hindered him in his strenuous activities. It was quite natural, then, that simplicity should dominate his attire, while to woman was left the development of the decorative art.
Fashion was born—and it has remained undisputed ruler ever since.
THE FASHIONS OF TO-DAY
It is not so much in the Fashion of days gone by that we are interested, but in the very delightful fashions of to-day. We all know that the love of beauty is inherent in all women—just as the pride of personal appearance is inherent in all men. It is a heritage brought down through generations of slowly developing culture. And we find to-day that Fashion is the means of expressing individuality.