Page:Costume, fanciful, historical, and theatrical (1906).djvu/157

XI times about the throat, and dangling from it are sacred medalions and variously sized crosses, the whole forming a plastron which descends to the waist. White cotton stockings are usual—red ones indicating a bride—and black leather shoes relieved with ribbon rosettes. The hair is plaited, tied with black velvet, and allowed to hang down behind, and the mitre-shaped hat is of black velvet trimmed up each side with a serried row of silver buttons.

In Valencia the peasantry of both sexes affect sandals laced up the leg. The women wear a short, brightly coloured skirt and an apron, the lower portion of which is in one shade and the upper in another, the latter being brilliantly embroidered. The tight bodice laces in front across a white chemisette, and displays long, closely-fitting sleeves, while the head is enclosed in a white bonnet which forms a frill round the neck, and is surmounted by a hat with a shallow crown, and a brim shaped like an inverted saucer. The dress of the men is correspondingly simple, comprising a light-blue linen waistcoat buttoned up to the chin, where it is finished with a white collar, a sash, and a short open coat, remarkable for buttons down both sides. The trousers terminate at the calf, and a red handkerchief is wound round the head.

In the mountain fastnesses of Catalonia, the women wear, in lieu of a bonnet, a white veil, which falls to the waist behind, and a crossover fichu fashioned of cotton, and chiefly notable for a decorative border in a contrasting shade. Little is seen of the bodice beyond the tight sleeves, which finish at the wrist with a band of black