Page:Costume, fanciful, historical, and theatrical (1906).djvu/263

XVIII scolloped at the border with red or white, completed with a white chemisette high to the throat, with full short sleeves revealed beneath a short sleeveless jacket. On their heads are straw hats, and on their legs and feet red stockings with black clocks and heel-less shoes, and their hair is worn hanging down in two long plaits.

Costume has through the ages been allowed to signify the married or unmarried state of its wearer. In Rome the purple-bordered toga and the segmentum—concerning which there has been some discussion, since it has been separately described as a necklace, a fringe, and an embroidered ribbon—would grace the matron. The Roman bride wore a red veil or flamen on her wedding-day; and in Greece the married woman parted her hair in front in a different fashion from that of the maids; and to this day in some parts of the Grecian Islands brides wear the flame-coloured veil, and follow the custom of putting a patch of gold-leaf on the face. The modern bride of Corfu illustrated at page 126 is wearing a skirt of purple and an apron of blue, and a short blue corselet buckled with gold; her small red velvet coat is traced with gold, and gold ornaments hang round her neck and hold the white chemisette across the bust. Ribbons entwine her hair with garlands of flowers, and over these a soft white veil hangs to the waist, ribbons again fluttering their elegance from waist to hem.

In various parts of Italy the peasants have ornaments handed down from generation to generation, and as a present to each succeeding bride an extra chain or jewel is added, forming a sentimental record of lineage which only the