Historic Dress in America, 1607-1800; With an Introductory Chapter on Dress in the Spanish and French Settlements in Florida and Louisiana

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904 Excerpt: ...says of this wedding: 'At length the blushing bride comes with her hair disheveled aslant her shoulders.' "It may be a mere amplification of the coif which medieval brides used to wear between the garland and the hair, of such a coif, for instance, as Margaret Tudor wore under the coronet at her wedding with the King of Scotland." In the early years of the reign of George III the veil and wreath fell so completely out of vogue that they were for a time seldom seen on brides of the "best ton." Horace Walpole, an earnest social reformer in all trivial matters, was pleased by the neglect of old matrimonial forms. He mentions that his niece Maria had never appeared more lovely than when he watched the alternate blushes and paleness of her unveiled face during her celebration of marriage with the Earl of Waldegrave. The bride wore a hat and a white and silver gown, and when the marriage service had been performed in the drawingroom of a private mansion in Pall Mall by Dr. Keppel, the bridal party sat down to dinner, which was over at eight o'clock in the evening. "It was," wrote Walpole to George Montague, "as sensible a wedding as ever was." This wedding took place in the last year of the reign of George II. REIGNS OF GEORGE I AND II 1725-1745 "figure 195.--An everyday Colonial costume worn in Massachusetts about 1725. It is made of fawn coloured moire" camlet, and opens over a stiffened petticoat of durant. The ruffle of an under-garment of fine linen with knife-plaited sleeves turns down over the dress at the neck like a falling band. The original gown is exceedingly interesting as a specimen of the ordinary attire of the period. The hat worn over a ruffled cap was the popular style of that time, made familiar...