Sometimes servants’ caps have strings which, like those that are customarily found on bonnets and on mitres (see page [54]), are the survival of the ends of a head fillet. The latest development in this direction is a scarf which is allowed to hang down from the backs of ladies’ hats, and which may be of so substantial a nature that it looks very much like a fringed towel.
The apron can claim a long history, and just as the plush and powder of the footman were once worn by his master, so we may easily discover that the apron was not always the special attribute of those who work or serve. Towards the end of the seventeenth century aprons were considered an almost essential part of a fine lady’s costume. A little later on, Queen Anne made and wore them herself, and very gaily ornamented garments they were.
In the case of the lower classes, aprons were—as they still often are—provided with bibs. The old name for them was barme-cloth, and under this title Chaucer refers to the apron of Carpenter’s wife as being as white as the morning milk. Unless the article of dress which we are discussing was of considerable age, we should hardly have the proverbial expression which defines a man who is always at home as being tied to his wife’s apron-strings.
Another name for an apron with a bib which was pinned to the front of the dress was “pinner,” which gives us the word pinafore, which refers now to a kind of overall rather than to an apron.
In the costumes of the barge-women and milk-women, where we get a slight survival of characteristic country dress, we have seen that in both cases the apron is always adopted as part of the outfit. (See Plate [VIII].)
A barge girl with the characteristic bonnet and apron. She is not wearing her small plaid shawl.
(From a photograph by Wakefield, Brentford.)
PLATE VIII.