Geisha!

geisha costume

Of course every nation has its own standard of feminine loveliness and finds it difficult to understand and appreciate any ideal of personal beauty that does not conform to that particular standard.

The most peerless of our American beauties would probably fail to excite the admiration of an African savage, while the Hottentot belle would scarcely reign as such in a New York drawing-room.

The Japanese ideal is strikingly different from ours. To the native eye, women of the Western world are very far from handsome. That golden-haired blonde loveliness that to us is the highest type of female beauty is not pleasing to the Japanese.

They call those sunny locks red! Indeed, all hair save ebony black they so designate, and when we recall the fact that their artists always depict the devil with fair or red hair, we realize in what estimation they hold it!
The rosy complexion of our blonde to them is florid and unhealthy looking, and the small waist, large bust and hips are positive deformities.

The Japanese ideal of beauty was thus publicly described by a native gentleman at the Paris Exposition:

 "The head should be neither too large nor too small. The large black eyes should be surmounted by perfectly arched eyebrows and fringed with black lashes. The face should be oval, white, and but slightly rosetinted in each cheek, the nose straight and high. The mouth small, regular, and fresh, the thin lips parting to show the white teeth behind them. The forehead should be narrow and bordered with long black hair growing round the face in a perfect arch. This head should be joined by a round neck to a large but not fat body. The loins should be slender, and the hands and feet small but not thin, the swell of the breast modest and unexaggerated." Mere physical beauty has never been regarded by the Japanese as the sole criterion; fascinating manners, a ready but modest wit, and a gift for writing poetry and understanding poetical allusions weigh heavily in the balance, and some of their famous so-called "beauties" owe their reputations as such more to fascination of manner and a witty tongue than physical charms.

the GEISHA DANCE!

A "number one" geisha must be cultivated and well read besides being able to dance and sing.
 Gentlemen who are giving dinner-parties or entertaining guests engage two or three or more geisha to come and amuse the company. They sing, dance, and talk, play various little games with their hands and fingers, and tell stories—anything, in fact, which seems to interest and amuse their patrons.

From time to time, some geisha becomes famous all over Japan for her beauty and brilliancy, and she is as much talked about as a celebrated actress is with us. Young men rave about her and commit  all sorts of extravagances  for her sake.
                                                                                                                                                                              

Drunken Courtesan~ Utamaro

The morals of the geisha are of all shades, good, bad and indifferent, varying with the individual, but the geisha are quite distinct from the yugo. Though the geisha are not, correctly speaking, actresses, they hold a somewhat similar position in the Japanese social scale to that which actresses do with us; and there is as wide a bridge between the first-class geisha and the lowest as there is between the famous actress whose name is above reproach, and the " song and dance" artiste of the dives.

In the same way as some very conscientious but rather narrow-minded people regard every woman connected with a theatre as morally depraved, so some people in Japan consider every geisha a woman of bad character.

Of course this is very far from the truth in either case. There are women as good and as pure on the stage as off. It can scarcely be denied, however, that both the actresses of the European theatres and the geisha of Japan live in a more relaxed moral atmosphere than most other women, though how much they are affected by it depends upon themselves...


...Manner and bearing are more highly regarded by the Japanese than beauty, and the same Japanese gentleman who described the native ideal of female loveliness added as necessary accompaniments to physical beauty "a gentle manner, a voice like a nightingale which makes one divine its artlessness, a look at once lively, sweet, gracious, and always charming; witty words pronounced distinctly, accompanied by charming smiles; a look sometimes calm, sometimes gay or thoughtful, and always dignified. Manners noble, simple, and a little proud, but without incurring the suspicion of undue assumption."...

...In European dress the Japanese woman is, as a rule, far from pretty, though whether she looks as badly to us as our women in Japanese costume look to the Japanese is a mooted question.
The reason for this lies not only in the dissimilarity of figure, but also the distinctly opposite carriage of the body adopted by Eastern and Western women. The bearing considered the most correct and aristocratic for a Japanese lady is the head bent slightly fonvard, the shoulders rounded, and a slight stoop of the upper part of the body; a submissive deportment being regarded as an eminently proper one for the inferior sex. In the loose, draped kimono of the native dress, such a carriage does not seem awkward or ungraceful, but in Western attire the effect is singularly bad.

The national dress demands a very curious gait, a sort of short, shuffling trot. The narrow skirt open down the front would flap round the legs and make more exposure than would be either comfortable or decorous if our easy, free walk were adopted. In order to prevent the least tendency to striding, girls frequently have a cord tied from one knee to the other. The shuffling is due to the heavy geta or wooden sandal, which is fastened to the foot only by a strap passing over and between the great toe.

The geisha have a peculiar swaying walk and carry the hands before the body in a manner considered particularly elegant. The dress of the "beauty," the empress and the maidservant differs only in the daintiness, the richness, or cheapness of the material employed; the cut and style are the same, with the exception of the court robe, which is longer and drags on the ground.


On state occasions, the ladies attached to the court wear long trailing costumes of exquisite painted crepe, set out round the lower edge by a roll of silk batting.

Lady Iwai Shijaku,  by Utagawa Toyokuni, 1831

Some of these court robes are indescribably beautiful. I remember seeing one worn by a Japanese marchioness at a ball in Tokyo, which surpassed anything I had ever imagined. It was of pale blue-gray crepe, with a flower pattern in dark blue, light blue, white and palest rose-pink, embroidered in silver and white silk floss.

The Japanese are essentially a nation of bathers, and the native belle frequently takes two or even three scalding hot baths a day.

Strange as it may appear, this excessively hot bathing has a beneficial effect and is refreshing instead of weakening, as we might naturally suppose. The water used is so warm that the bather comes out the color of a boiled lobster; no soap is used, and the little towel, with its artistic blue or red border, is about as large as a fair-sized pocket-handkerchief.

the bath

After her bath the beauty rubs herself with a little coarse muslin bag filled with rice chaff, which is supposed to have a wonderfully good effect upon the skin and complexion. Probably its real benefit lies in the fact that the skin is thus more thoroughly dried than by the simple use of the towel.

This part of her toilet completed, a light cotton kimono is slipped on, and the geisha comes out of the bathroom fresh and smiling, to place herself in the hands of the shampooer, who is usually a blind man, shampooing or massage being almost as popular a resource as organ-playing is in America.

The Japanese amah rubs down only, never up, and he uses the flat part of the forearm as well as his hand. Sometimes he rubs with a " massage box." This is a wooden ball fitted into a round wooden box sufficiently tightly to prevent its falling out, but loosely enough to allow it to move freely.

After paying the amah the customary fee of three cents an hour, the beauty places herself under the hands of the professional hair-dresser, who comes twice or four times a week, according to the length of his customer's purse. One of the greatest beauties of the Japanese women is long, lustrous black hair, the slight coarseness of which is more than atoned for by its length and abundance.

Unfastening the heavy coil of hair from the top of her head, where the geisha had rolled it up while she took her bath, the hair-dresser carefully washes it in tepid water, anoints it liberally with fragrant camellia oil, and fans it until it is dry. He proceeds then to build it into that elaborate superstructure affected by Japanese women. In order to make it into that apparently solid ebony mass, he stiffens it with a sort of black wax, similar to the cosmetique used by our dandies and men of fashion upon their mustachios.

coiffure

The hair of the native beauty is never disordered, and no husband or lover would dream of stroking or caressing the wonderful coiffure of his lady-love. No rebellious little curls run riot in sweet confusion over her pretty head. The slightest tendency to curl or wave the Japanese girl regards with horror, and every hair is marshalled into place like a soldier.

Except costly and elaborate hair ornaments she wears little or no jewelry—no earrings, bracelets, rings, etc., but the inlaid tortoise-shell pins in her hair may cost a small fortune. After the hair-dresser has finished dressing his customer's abundant locks, he draws out of his case a pair of tiny tweezers and removes all the superfluous hair about the eyebrows, forehead, and neck.

Before the days of much foreign intercourse the ladies of the imperial family and court had the eyebrows entirely plucked out, and two black dots or lines high up on the forehead replaced them; but this custom is now obsolete.

If the geisha has no very clever maid, the hair-dresser will probably finish his work by painting Beauty's face for her. First with white ricepowder he marks out two V-shaped points, one running just below the nape of the neck at the back, and the other to a similar depth in front. He then powders her whole face and neck as far as the points indicated, rouges her cheeks slightly, reddens the lower lip in the centre, and carefully dots it with three gold spots. It is not at all uncommon to see the red paint on the lips put on so heavily that it shows the metallic green lustre.

Though all geisha and many aristocratic women of the old school still paint their faces upon special occasions, the custom is dying out among the latter. The use of cosmetics on the face is never looked at askance, or as a secret of the toilet as it is with us. A few years ago Japanese women not only painted the neck and face upon festive occasions, but the company were supposed to be quite well aware of the fact. Indeed a native lady would have felt mortified if she thought the other guests imagined she did not know enough to wear cosmetics upon ceremonial occasions. It was as much a feature  of full dress as de'collete' costume is in Europe and Great Britain.

      

Native ladies who have received a -Western education, either at home or abroad, do not openly assume paint or wear the three gold dots on the lower lip. But numbers of Japanese women beside the geisha retain the custom. The paint on the lower lip requires that it should be slightly protruded lest the moisture of the upper lip affect it, which tends to give a half-pouting but not ill-tempered expression to the face, though it can scarcely be said to improve the appearance.

The blackening of the teeth by married women has become almost obsolete. About twenty years ago the present empress endeavored to totally abolish this ugly practice, and discouraged it not only by precept but by example. The stain was made by soaking iron filings in sake' and was of so temporary a nature that it had to be renewed at least once a week, and if it was not constantly applied the teeth soon regained their natural hue. Here and there an old woman may be found who refuses to yield to the strange new-fangled ideas that are contaminating the young women of the day, and still blackens her teeth to-day just as she did when first married. Certainly no custom could be more disfiguring or produce a more ghastly effect, but it has so nearly died out that a foreigner might live for months in Japan without meeting a woman with blackened teeth. Yet Mr. Clement Scott is credited with denouncing the Japanese women for following this unsightly fashion, which is much as if a Japanese writer were to condemn American women for wearing nightcaps, because he chanced to know, here and there, some old lady too conservative to change from the fashions of her youth when every one wore nightcaps as a matter of course.

Until very recently the age and condition of a Japanese woman was signified by the manner in which she wore her hair. If it was rolled back from the face in one pompadour puff, the wearer was a married woman; if the puff was divided into three, forming one in the middle and one on each side, she was unmarried. Widows wore two different styles of coiffure, according to whether they wished to marry again or not. But these fashions are not so closely followed as they used to be, though they may still be seen occasionally.

In one particular the distinctive way of dressing the hair is very strictly preserved. No woman of good character ever wears the elaborate coiffure or the array of gaudy hair-pins that ayugo does. A halo of tortoise-shell ornaments, some of which may be a foot long, and a sash tied in front proclaim to the world at large the yugo's calling. Never under any circumstances does the geisha wear her sash thus; a fashion which is imposed by law upon the yugo.

After the geisha has been thoroughly rubbed by the amah and had her tresses arranged and her face painted by the professional hair-dresser, she retires to her own room to dress.

Slipping off her cotton kimono, she ties two little aprons round her waist, puts a sort of shirt over them, then an inner kimono is assumed. This is fastened round the waist by a narrow band called a shita-jim/, which is drawn as tightly as possible. The shita-Jime"'is placed not at the waist line, but round the hips and lower part of the waist. The beauty of a woman's figure, according to the Japanese standard, lies in a straight line drawn from under the arm to the feet. The long, severe lines of the kimono do not accord with curves, but demand that the lines of the figure beneath it be as little undulating as possible.
If the tare geisha's figure shows an unfortunate tendency to curve at the waist and enlarge at the hips, she procures the assistance of her maid to draw her shita-jimd as tightly as she can endure it.

Western dress reformers who advocate the Japanese costume as not only artistic but healthy, would do well to consider these two points: in the first place, though there is little or no compression at the waist, there is frequently very severe pressure round the hips; and secondly, the skirt of the kimono is so exceedingly narrow that free movement                                                                                                             of  the legs is almost impossible.

Geisha- Utamaro

Though from the standpoint of beauty I admire the Japanese dress, I very much doubt if from the side of ease and comfort it can be highly recommended.

Over the inner kimono and shita-jimd comes the outside kimono, which bears in five places the coat of arms of the establishment to which the geisha is attached. If the wearer is a lady, the wife of a gentleman or noble, she wears the crest of her husband's family stamped or worked in these five places, viz., between the shoulders in the back, each side of the breast in front, and on each sleeve near the wrist. If the weather is cold two or three kimonos are worn, one over another, while in warm weather only one is put on.

Last of all comes the obi, the pride and glory of the Japanese belle. This obi or broad sash may cost a small fortune or only a few dollars. It may be stiff with gold bullion, silver embroidery, or of silk woven with an exquisite pattern, designed by some great artist.

A silk cord fastens it at the back, and a cushion or pad is placed under the broad ends. This pad, I honestly acknowledge, spoils the effect of the whole costume, to my eye. The sash ends are frequently too short to be graceful, and the padding so large as to be out of all proportion to the figure.

The geisha's toilet is completed when she assumes her tabi or thick white socks with a compartment for the big toe, and padded soles. If, however, she is going out the maid brings her sandals of lacquered wood and fine plaited rice-straw, and slipping her big toe under the brilliant velvet strap, the beauty is attired for the street. She is ready then either to pay visits or to go shopping. No hat, bonnet, gloves, mantle, or cloak troubles her. If the weather is very cold a square of silk lined with crepe is tied over the head. Inside of it are two little ear-straps, which make it fit over the head smoothly, but to arrange it quickly and gracefully requires considerable knack. It is always worn square, never three-cornered.

Should the weather chance to be stormy, the geisha shelters her pretty head with a paper or silk umbrella, and replaces her sandals with a pair of high clogs....

from "The Nightless City",  By Joseph Ernest De Becker

from "The Nightless City",  By Joseph Ernest De Becker

from "The Nightless City",  By Joseph Ernest De Becker

article source: "The Professional Beauties of Japan", The Californian Illustrated Magazine~ 1893

Following the Fashion~

An article, "WOMEN'S DRESS" from a book entitled "Old Times: a Picture of Social Life at the End of the Eighteenth Century", by John Ashton, 1885.


I've copied the article in it's entirety. The line drawings are from the book, I've taken the liberty of including the actual Gillray and Cruikshank images when I could find them rather than the author's line drawings...I've also thrown in a few illustrations from other publications that I thought illustrated the text well. 


A good read, with lots of snippets from newspapers and magazines of the day.

The earliest Lady's fashion book I can find in the British Museum, is "The Lady's Monthly Museum," &c. "By a Society of Ladies,"—and it was published in 1799—or just the last year of which this book takes cognizance. But, luckily, the satirical prints supply the want, in a great measure, although they are somewhat exaggerated. From them we are able to see pictorially what might be hard to describe, and may be perfectly certain that they represent "the very last thing out" at their date of Publication. If, then, we have very little written about female attire, in 1788, and the next year, or two, we must be content with viewing the verce effigies of the belles of that time.

Indoor Costumes, 1788

Brighton, of course, was the fashionable wateringplace, for there were the life and gaiety of the young Court, in contradistinction to the humdrum existence led by the King, Queen, and younger branches of the Royal Family, at Weymouth. So it will be interesting to know their habits at this famous sea-side resort. The Morning Post, 18th September 1788, has the following :—

"The Ladies have no particular dress for the morning, but huddle away to the bathing place, in close caps, and gipsey bonnets, so that they look like a set of wandering fortune-tellers, who have just had the opportunity of pillaging the contents of a frippery warehouse, with which they had bedecked themselves in haste.


"It is to be remarked that the ladies do not atone for the negligence of the morning, by neatness, and elegance, during the rest of the day, but shuffle on something by dinner time, covering themselves with an enormous nondescript bonnet, which, to the confusion of all order, they afterwards think a proper garb for the Assembly."

In doors, the dresses were not so outre, as we see by the two illustrations taken from "The School for Scandal," 1st August 1788.

"A Cotillion", 1788

Fashions for 1788

That ladies copied the eccentricities of male attire, and made them their own, we have proof in this cutting from the Morning Post, I5th January 1789 :—

"Among other fashions lately introduced from Paris is the brace of gold watch chains now sported by our fashionable females. Some economical husbands may wish their wives were less imitative."

The Duchess of York

The portrait of the Duchess of York (the Princess Frederique, Charlotte, Ulrique, Catherine, of Prussia, married to the Duke, November 1791), shews us the indoor dress of a lady of rank in 1792. She had a remarkably small foot, and many were the delineations of her shoes—actual size, &c.

Of all curious freaks of fashion the following is the most incomprehensible, yet it doubtless obtained :—

"The fashion of dressing, at present, is to appear prominent, and the stays are made accordingly. This is holding out a wish to be thought in a thriving way, even without the authority of the Arches Court of Canterbury—something in the French way—a philosophical desire to be conspicuously great with Mischief, without any regard to law or reason. The idea was at first sent forward by a few dropsical Ladies."—(Times, March 25, 1793.)

"The Wapping Land-ladies are all at the very pinnacle of the fashion. Nature has given them prominences which far outpicture the false mountains at the West end of the town. It is not only the fashion of appearing six months gone, that prevails with the ladies—but that of not having any waists, so that, even with their prominences, they may be called—No-body." (Times, April 15, 1793.)

"Six Stages of Mending a Face", Rowlandson

A series of prints were published which represent the amount of indebtedness, ladies were under, to Art, to repair the ravages made by Nature.


~No. I shows us most graphically the. "levee au matin." —Tears drop from the eyeless socket—a yawn discloses the want of teeth, and, the handkerchief, tied round the head, which does service for a night cap, tells a sad tale of baldness.


~In No. 2 the defect of nature is being remedied by the insertion of a glass eye—which the subsequent illustrations prove to be very effective.


~No. 3 shows the triumph of the hairdresser's art; and, certainly, it adds much to the ladies personal attractions.


~In No. 4 false teeth are being inserted, to replace those, of which unkind nature has robbed her.


~No. 5 applies the bloom of youth to the faded cheek, —a bloom that never yet deceived any one.


~In No. 6 the Belle has finished her toilette, and is now prepared to break all hearts.

This series is attributed to Rowlandson—and, most probably, is his work. It is called "Six Stages of making a face.—Dedicated with respect to Lady Archer," of which lady we shall hear more anon under the head of " Gaming."

Waists, as may have been perceived by the last two, or three examples, have been gradually disappearing, until, as in "The Scarecrow," they became practically nil. High feathers were beginning to come in, and, in addition to the "panache," was worn a curious thing made of straw, very much resembling the "bristle plume" which used to be worn in the Shakos of our Engineers, and Artillery. In imitation of the men, the ladies' throats were swathed in voluminous wrappers.

With very low bodices, and very high waists, came very scanty clothing, with an absence of petticoat, a fashion which left very little of the form to the imagination. I do not say that our English Belles went to the extent of some of their French sisters, of having their muslin dresses put on damp—and holding them tight to their figures till they dried—so as absolutely to mould them to their form, or that they ever discarded stockings, and went to balls with bare feet, and only wearing sandals, having on but the lightest of classical clothing—but their clothes were of the scantiest, and we shall find that, as year succeeded year, this fashion developed, if one can call diminution of clothing, development. Men made fun of it, vide the following from the Times, I2th August, 1794:—"Amongst prudent papas, the favourite toast at this time is 'The present fashion of our wives and daughters,' viz. No Waste."

There was a very pretty song, called "Shepherds, I have lost my love, Have you seen my Anna ?"—and this was parodied as follows—the music being the same as the original song:—

SHEPHERDS, I HAVE LOST MY WAIST.                             


"Shep-herds, I have lost my waist, Have you seen my bo - - dy
Sac-ri-ficed to mo-dern taste, I'm quite a hod - dy dod - - dy.


Tisgone,andl have not a nook For cheesecake, tart, or jel - ly.

Never shall I see it more,

   Till, common sense returning, 

My body to my legs restore, 

  Then I shall cease from mourning, 

Folly and fashion do prevail 

  To such extremes among the fair, 

A woman's only top and tail, 

The body's banish'd God knows where!'

That a fashion may become one person, and not another, is peculiarly exemplified by the two following pictures by Gillray, 9th December, 1794, both called "Following the Fashion : "—

Gillray~ "Following the Fashion", image source, wiki

"St . James's giving the Ton, I "Cheapside aping the Mode, a Soul without a Body." I a Body without a Soul."

note~ the author appears to be referencing the two women in this one picture~

"Leaving off Powder"... Gillray

 The tax on Hair powder was much objected to; people had been used, for a long time, to grease, and powder their hair and wigs; and, when the duty of a Guinea per head was passed, many left off using it. The illustration "Leaving off Powder, or a Frugal family saving a Guinea," was doubtless the fact in many a family. The man, in the coloured engraving, with his "crop," to our eyes does not look so singular, as the lady, with her "fausse chevelure" unpowdered looks so bad, that, no wonder, ladies reverted to their own locks, as we see in future illustrations. So also shall we see the "Cap " of the period, the length of which is most amusingly portrayed.

The wearing of false hair is of very early origin, inasmuch as we possess, in the British Museum, an early Egyptian wig, and, in every age, we find women supplementing their natural attractions, by the addition of some one else's hair. Here is a Hair-dresser's advertisement of 1795, wherein is not only mentioned the price, &c., of hair, but shows the antiquity of the "Chignon," which, otherwise, many might think of modern date.

"TO THE LADIES.—T. BOWMAN respectfully acquaints the Ladies, that he has entirely removed his Shop and Manufactory to No. 102 New Bond Street, near Brook Street. Firmly relying upon the future favors and recommendation of his old Customers, and trusting to the superiority of his articles, he has augmented his stock of Chignons or Braids, from 600 to near 1000, in 14 shades (not 20) of brown colours, besides Auburns, Flaxens, &c., and in 8 lengths (not 50) at Ids., 14s., £1 1s.,^1 us. 6d., £2 zs., £3 3s., £4 4s., and £6 6s. each. Any colour matched in all the sizes in a minute. T. Bowman formerly gave a description of his Braids, but that has been copied by another and applied unto his own, without their possessing one requisite for which Bowman's Braids have been distinguished: and, not contented with slaying by twenties, he now kills by fifties. Bravo! Captain Boabdill, fifty more, kill them!!! As for the shades, what with Chinese hairs, mixing, and dying, he may have them (as he says) of every tint, but for real, natural, Brown colours. T. Bowman, with by far the greatest stock in the Kingdom, cannot make more than 14 shades; he can only challenge a comparison, and pledges himself to make good every assertion he has at any time made. His Brunswick fillets, an entire new and elegant article, with curls complete, fit either for morning or full dress, from 7s. 6d. to los. 6d. each, with Tetes, Borders, and every article in ornamental Hair, much cheaper than at any shop in town: having a very large stock, and dealing for ready money only, he has as yet made no advance on his old prices, although the price of hair is now double. Country orders, with money, or reference, duly observed. Chignons, &c, changed when not approved of, if not powdered."—(Times, June 22, 1795.)

"Corsettes about six inches long, and a slight buffon tucker of two inches high, are now the only defensive paraphernalia of our fashionable Belles, between the necklace and the apronstrings.— (Times, June 24, 1795.)

"The annual City Assemblies, from the glowing colours which decorate the belles, may be now fairly styled red-hot balls."—(Times, Dec. 29, 1795.)

But Feathers were now used on the shafts levelled at the vagaries of Fashion.

"At all elegant Assemblies, there is a room set apart for the lady visitants to put their feathers on, as it is impossible to wear them in any carriage with a top to it. The lustres are also removed upon this account, and the doors are carried up to the height of the ceiling. A well-dressed Lady, who nods with dexterity, can give a friend a little tap upon the shoulder across the room, without incommoding the dancers. The Ladies' feathers are now generally carried in the sword-case, at the back of the carriage."—(Times, Dec. 29, 1795.)

"A young lady, only ten feet high, was overset in one of the late gales of wind, in Portland Place, and the upper mast of her feather blown upon Hampstead Hill."

"The maroon fever has been succeeded by a very odd kind of light-headedness, which the physicians call the ptereo mania, or feather folly."

"The Ladies now wear feathers exactly of their own length, so that a woman of fashion is twice as long upon her feet as in her bed."—(Times, Dec. 30, 1795.)

"We saw a feather in Drury Lane Theatre, yesterday evening, that cost ten guineas. We should have thought the whole goose not worth the money."—(Times, Jan. 6, 1796.)

Here is a contrivance by which "A Modern Belle going to the Rooms or Balls" can go fully dressed, with her feathers fixed :—

"There is to be seen in Gt. Queen Street, a Coach upon a new construction. The Ladies set in this well, and see between the spokes of the wheels. With this contrivance the fair proprietor is able to go quite dressed to her visits, her feathers being only a yard and a half high."—(Times, Jan. 22, 1796.)

The freaks of fashion, towards the latter end of 1795, are most curious. "Waggoner's frocks," and the "Petticoat" dress, are singular illustrations of feminine taste. This latter is noticed in a paragraph in the Times, 27th Oct. 1795. "The present fashionable dress is the most simple imaginable. The petticoat is pinned to the Cravat, and the arms come out at the pocket holes."

"The only new fashions that remain for our modern belles are certainly puzzling and difficult. There can be nothing new. but going either dressed or naked."—(Times, Jan. 27, 1796.)

The following paragraph from the Times refers not only to the general absence of dress, but also to the famous (or infamous) Miss Chudleigh, a maid of Honour to the Queen, afterwards Duchess of Kingston, and tells the story of how the Princess of Wales, wife of Frederick (father of George III.), rebuked her for her nakedness.

"One night, when the late Duchess of Kingston appeared at Ranelagh in a dress which may be compared with the undress of some of our fashionable belles, a handkerchief was thrown to her, not from the Prince, but the Princess of Wales."—(Times, March 5, 1796.)

"Ladt Godiva's Rout", Gillray

"Lady Godiva's Rout, or Peeping Tom spying out Pope Joan," is by Gillray, I2th March 1796, and is a scathing satire on the extremely decollete'e, and diaphonous, dresses of the time. The fair one, whose uncovered bosom so attracts the candle snuffer, is intended to represent Lady Georgiana Gordon, afterwards Duchess of Bedford.

"High Change in Bond Street", Gillray

"High Change in Bond Street" is by Gillray (27th March 1796), and is a most amusing caricature of the then prevalent fashions both of men and women. The "Bond Street Loungers," are depicted to perfection.

"At the late Fandango Ball in Dublin, a certain Lady of Fashion appeared in the following very whimsical dress:—Flesh coloured pantaloons, over which was a gauze petticoat, tucked up at each side in drapery, so that both thighs could be seen; the binding of the petticoat was tied round the neck, and her arms were through the pocket holes. Her head dress was a man's pearl coloured stocking, the foot hanging down at the back of the head like a lappet, and in the heel of the stocking was stuck a large diamond pin, the tout ensemble not less novel, than ludicrous.1'—(Times, May 26, 1796.)

 "Whalebone- Veils are worn by all the fashionable dames at Weymouth. This invention is evidently borrowed from the head of a one horse chaise."—(Times, August 27, 1796.)

"High heels are once more the rage; there is, however, no scarcity of flats. During the reign of the flat sole, the Ladies make more faux-pas than ever, so that we need entertain no apprehensions for them, if they chuse to get upon stilts. What with high heels and high feathers, the better half of many an honest man is just one third part of herself."—(Times, August 27, 1796.)

"Fashion would be its own murderer, if it were to be constant and permanent. The last year's dress seems to abdicate entirely; even the waist is walking down towards the hip; and three straps, with buckles in front, have abridged so much of the usurpation of the petticoat . One cannot see so many Ladies of high ton with the straps over the bosom, without thinking how much better they might have been employed over the shoulders."—(Times, Aug. 27, 1796.)

"Before the waist is quite again in fashion, and while the thing exists (which will soon be incredible), we set down the measurement of a petticoat in the summer of 1796, which for a middling-sized woman is five foot and an inch."—(Times, Nov. 4, 1796.)

"It would not be easily believed by our Great Grandmothers, that their lovely daughters cannot make their appearance without a dozen combs in their heads, and as many false curls and cushions. The victory over black pins is complete."—(Times, May 30, 1797.)

"Horse Hair has risen near 50 per cent, since Wigs have become so much the rage."—(Times, April 27, 1798.)

"The women at Paris are every day divesting themselves of some of the customary articles of dress, and the rage for nudity is so great, that it is apprehended, even by the Parisian Journalists, they will shortly have the effrontery to present themselves to the public eye in a state of pure nature. One of them appeared a few days since in the Champs Elysdes, in a simple robe of spotted black gauze, and shewed so much that little was left to guess. The spectators were struck with indignation at this flagrant violation of decorum, and she was compelled to make a shameful and precipitate retreat."— (Times, June 18, 1798.)

An Artist has advertised that he makes up worn out Umbrellas into fashionable Gypsey Bonnets. The transition is so easy, that he is scarce to be praised for the invention.

"The Gypsey Bonnet is commonly worn by the Lancashire Witches."—(Times, July 7, 1798.)

"We are very happy to see the waists of our fair. country women walking downwards by degrees towards the hip. But, as we are a little acquainted with the laws of increasing velocity in fashionable gravitation, we venture to express, thus early in their descent, a hope that they will stop there."—(Times, April 15, 1799.)

"Straw in the head-dress, according to the laws and immemorial customs of the stage, denotes the unsoundness of the brain it covers. Several of those useful and respectable young men, who make the campaign of Bond Street, have thought proper to invest their temples with the sacred symbols, and wear straw hats to give notice of their light-headedness."— (Times, July 4, 1799.)

The Censor could also be severe on the harmless "Reticule."

"In the present age of political innovation, it is curious to observe the great veneration for antiquity which prevails in all our dresses and fashions. Queen Elizabeth's ruffs decorate our blooming belles; and our beaux are puckered and stuffed on the shoulders d la Richard the Third. But what is still more remarkable, is the total abjuration of the female pocket. Those heavy appendages are no more worn at present than keys at the girdles. Every fashionable fair carries her purse in her workbag. Her money and her industry lie cheek by jowl: and her gambling gains lie snug by her housewife. Her handkerchiefs, her toothpick case, her watch, and her keys, if she has any, are the constant concomitants of her visits; and while no part of the symmetry of her shape is altered or concealed by the old-fashioned panniers, she has the pleasure of laying everything that belongs to her upon the table wherever she goes."—(Times, Nov. 9, 1799.)

"A dashing Lady of Fashion, inconvenienced by the new custom of carrying a bag with her handkerchief smelling-bottle, purse, &c., &c., went to a large party the other evening, attended by a Page, who was employed to present the articles as they might be wanted. The Page was well qualified to go through the fatigues of office, being well-made, active, and just one and twenty. Should the example be imitated, Pages will probably be more in request than waiting-women."— (Times, Def. 7, 1799.)

"If the present fashion of nudity continues its career, the Milliners must give way to the Carvers, and the most elegant fig-leaves will be all the mode.

"The fashion of false bosoms has at least this utility, that it compels our fashionable fair to wear something."—(Times, Dec. n, 1799.)

With which most pungent criticism, we will take our leave of lady's dress.

Cruikshank, 1799