Clothing

garments worn for the sake of modesty and as protection against heat and cold. Adam and Eve, typical no doubt in this respect of primitive man, "sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons." The customary picture of the cave man represents him girded with a short garment of skins. When first known, the Eskimo dressed wholly in skins.

The study of costumes is fascinating. No doubt leaves, skins, and matting were the first materials. Weaving was practiced at an early day. Cloth of wool, flax, silk, and cotton was known to the most ancient people of whom we have any knowledge.

The garments of the Greeks may be taken as a type of ancient dress. The principal articles of female attire were the chiton and the himation, a skirt or tunic and a plaid we should call them. The chiton or skirt was long enough to reach from the neck to the feet, and wide enough to reach from finger-tip to finger-tip with the arms outstretched. It was sleeveless at first, but in later times had sleeves to the elbow. This garment was drawn to the waist by a girdle, and was fastened together over the shoulders by brooches. The lower border was ornamented with colored embroidery. This garment was of linen or silk. The himation was a long, wide, woolen plaid in a variety of colors. It was wound about the shoulders and waist variously. Sometimes a fold was thrown over the head for a head dress. Sandals, a woolen petticoat, a band about the chest, and possibly a cap with jewelry completed the costume of the Greek woman. Her husband's chief articles of dress were a pair of sandals and a large, long himation. One of the Greek tragedians represents a wife as turning the laugh on her husband by hiding his plaid and sandals, rendering it impracticable for him to go abroad that day. Ordinarily, however, men wore, in addition, a short skirt-like garment suspended from the waist. In art, Vulcan, workingmen, and helots are represented as clad in this garment only.

The Roman lady wore clothing in imitation of her Grecian cousin. In this respect, the Greek woman was the Parisian of ancient times. Roman men wore a garment corresponding to the Greek chiton. It reached from the neck to the middle of the thigh. It was known as a tunic. The himation of the Roman was an enormous affair, known as a toga. It was elliptical in shape. Its length was three times, and its breadth twice the height of the wearer. In use it was folded lengthwise, forming a semicircle about six feet wide and eighteen feet long. This clumsy garment was disposed in such a way as to drape the person from head to foot. The full toga was worn only by adults. The putting on of the boy's first toga was an occasion of family ceremony and rejoicing. Both toga and tunic were colored and ornamented, according to the rank of the wearer. Purple was reserved for royalty. The tunic may be regarded as the forerunner of the modern shirt. The toga is the ancestor of the cloak, cape, and overcoat.

It would be difficult to outline even in brief the evolution of modern clothing. The Pilgrims and other early settlers of New England and Canada did not know how to dress comfortably. The poet Whittier attributed his delicate health to colds caught in boyhood for want of warm underclothes. In fact, comfortable underclothing is a product of the last half century.

Changes in methods of making clothing are quite as marked as changes in styles. A century ago clothing was made only when ordered. A man gave an order to his hatter, was measured by his tailor and by his shoemaker. In the course of time his new clothes were ready. People of rank had tailors in their households. The idea of keeping readymade clothing in stock is recent. It grew out of the necessity of providing clothing in advance for soldiers and sailors. The soldier of the American Revolution went to the war clad in homespun from the backs of his own sheep. Part of the destitution at Valley Forge arose from the fact that no one had thought of making up shoes and suits in quantity, from which each soldier might select what fitted him.

The earliest readymade clothing store in this country was established in 1830, it is said, at New Bedford, Massachusetts. It was patronized by sailors who begrudged the time requisite to be measured and wait for a suit to be made. The notion spread to Boston and to other points along the Atlantic. The first considerable American trade in readymade clothing was built up with the mines of California and the region of the West, where a large population preceded the tailor. In 1861 the clothing world was astounded by a contract for $1,250,000 worth of uniforms for the United States army. The manufacture of clothing is now one of the world's great industries. In the United States, counting boots and shoes, men's clothing, women's clothing, furnishing goods, furs, gloves and mittens, hats and caps, hosiery, millinery, the annual value of the clothing manufactured runs over into the billions column, and forms a good tenth of the total value of American manufactures. The percentage for Great Britain is yet larger. The chief American centers of the clothing industry are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston. The volume of readymade clothing for women is increasing rapidly.

The invention of the sewing machine has proved a boon to tailors. One operative can now do the work of many former stitchers with thread and needle. Formerly the tailor measured his customer, cut the cloth, and made the suit with his own hands. Now the designer plans, the cutter piles his cloth in many layers and cuts a score of identical suits, overalls, or overcoats at once. A suit passes perhaps through the hands of a dozen operatives. Each does a certain part of the work only. Experience has taught manufacturers what sizes to make and how to meet the needs of different parts of the country.

See Sweat Shops; Boots And Shoes; Hats; Caps; Gloves; Hose; Spinning; Weaving; Knitting