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Rh European dress has been adopted, an exception has usually been made in favour of head-gear, which has a special religious significance. In Turkey, for instance, the hat has not succeeded in displacing the fez; and in India, though the Parsis had by the beginning of the 20th century begun to modify their traditional high turban-like hat into a modified “bowler,” and Hindus—abroad at least—were affecting the head-gear of the West, those Mussulman princes who had adopted, wholly or partially, European dress continued to wear the turban. On the other hand, the amir of Afghanistan, when he visited India, had—out of doors at least—discarded the turban for the ugly “solar topee.” In spite of the natural conservatism, strengthened by religious conventions, of the Eastern races, there is a growing danger that the spread of European enlightenment will more or less rapidly destroy that picturesque variety of costume which is the delight of the traveller and the artist. For Indian costumes see : Costume; for Chinese see ; &c.

Official costumes, in so far as they are not, like the crowns and tabards of heralds, the coronets of peers, or the gold keys tacked to the coat-tails of royal chamberlains—consciously symbolical, are for the most part ceremonious survivals of bygone general fashions. This is as true of the official costume of the past as of the present; as may be illustrated from ancient Rome, where the toga, once the general costume of Roman citizens, in the 3rd and 4th centuries was the official robe of senators and officials (see also under ). Thus, at the present time, the lay chamberlains of the pope and the members of his Swiss guard wear costumes of the 16th century, and the same is true of the king’s yeomen of the guard in England. In general, however (apart from robes, which are much older in their origin), official costumes in Europe, or in countries of European origin, are based on the fashions of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Knee-breeches, however, which survive in the full-dress of many British officials, as in ordinary court dress, had practically disappeared on the continent of Europe, surviving only in certain peasant costumes, when the emperor William II. reintroduced them at the court of Berlin. The tendency in the modern democratic communities of Anglo-Saxon race has been to dispense with official costumes. In the United States the judges of the Supreme Court alone wear robes; the president of the Republic wears on all occasions the dress of an ordinary citizen, unrelieved by order or decoration, and thus symbolizes his pride of place as primus inter pares; an American ambassador appears on state occasions among his colleagues, gorgeous in bullion-covered coats, in the ordinary black “evening dress” of a modern gentleman. The principle, which tends to assert itself also in the autonomous “British dominions beyond the seas,” is not the result of that native dislike of “dressing up” which characterizes many Englishmen of the upper and middle classes; for modern democracy shares to the full the taste of past ages for official or quasi-official finery, as is proved by the costumes and insignia of the multitudinous popular orders, Knights Templars, Foresters, Oddfellows and the like. It is rather cherished as the outward and visible sign of that doctrine of the equality of all men which remains the most generally gratifying of the gifts of French 18th-century philosophy to the world. In Great Britain, where equality has ever been less valued than liberty, official costumes have tended to increase rather than to fall into disuse; mayors of new boroughs, for instance, are not considered properly equipped until they have their gown and chain of office. In France, on the other hand, the taste of the people for pomp and display, and, it may be added, their innate artistic sense, have combined with their passion for equality to produce a somewhat anomalous situation as regards official costume. Lawyers have their robes, judges their scarlet gowns, diplomatists their gold-laced uniforms; but the state costume of the president of the Republic is “evening dress,” relieved only by the red riband and star of the Legion of Honour. In the Latin states of South America, which tend to be disguised despotisms rather than democracies, the actual rather than the theoretical state of things is symbolized by the gorgeous official uniforms which are among the rewards of those who help the dictator for the time being to power. See also costume see and subsidiary articles.
 * for military costume see ; for ecclesiastical

—Apart from the enormous number of books especially devoted to costume, innumerable illustrated works exist which are, in various degrees, useful for the study of the history of this subject. It may be noted here, e.g. that the illuminators and painters of the middle ages did not affect historical accuracy in their presentment of biblical or secular subjects, but clothed their patriarchs, apostles or Roman warriors in the dress of their own ages, their pictures thus becoming invaluable records of the costume of their time. In this respect the knowledge of classical antiquity revived during the Renaissance introduced a certain confusion. Artists began to realize the incongruity of representing antique figures in modern garb, but, in the absence of exact knowledge, fancy began to play a greater part than research in the dressing of their characters. Portraits and representations of contemporary scenes (e.g. Rembrandt’s “Night Watch”) continue to be first-hand authorities for the costume of the period in which they were produced; but representations of biblical or historical scenes have little or no value from this point of view. Thus in Rubens’s famous picture of St Ambrose repelling Theodosius from the door of his cathedral, the bishop is vested in the mitre and cope which only came into vogue centuries later, while the emperor wears a military costume modelled on that of Roman imperators of an earlier day. Even in portraiture, however, a certain conservatism tends to make the record untrustworthy; thus, great men continued to be painted in full armour long after it had in fact ceased to be worn.

Of authorities for English costume the following may be selected as especially useful: J. C. Bruce, The Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated (London, 1856), with 17 plates; F. W. Fairholt, Costume in England to the end of the 18th Century (2nd ed., ib., 1860); William Fowler, Examples of Medieval Art (1796–1829), 116 plates; Froissart’s Chronicles, translated by T. Johnes (4 vols., 1844), 72 plates and many woodcuts; R. N. Humphrey, Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages (ib., 1849); Facsimiles of Original Drawings by Holbein, in the Collection of His Majesty, for Portraits of Persons of the Court of Henry VIII., engraved by F. Bartolozzi, &c. (London, 1884); John Nichols, Progresses, Pageants, &c., of Queen Elizabeth (3 vols., 1823), and of James I. (4 vols., 1828), with numerous plates; Hogarth’s Works, engraved by himself, with descriptions by J. Nichols (1822), 153 plates; Edmund Lodge, Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain (12 vols., 1823–1835), 240 plates; J. R. Planché, ''Hist. of British Costume (3rd ed., Bohn, 1874), and Cyclopaedia'' of Costume (2 vols., 1876–1877); Henry Shaw, Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages (2 vols., 1840–1843), 94 plates and many woodcuts; Joseph Strutt, engraver, Dress and Habits of the People of England (2 vols., 1796–1799), and Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Great Britain, new edition with notes by J. R. Planché (1842), 153 plates; Westwood, Miniatures of Anglo-Saxon and Irish Manuscripts (1868), 54 plates; C. A. Stothard, The Monumental Effigies of Great Britain (1817–1832; ed. Hewitt, 1876); Herbert Haines, Manual of Monumental Brasses (Oxford, 1861), with many woodcuts; J. G. and L. A. B. Waller, A Series of Monumental Brasses (London, 1864); H. Druitt, Costume on Brasses (London, 1906). Of foreign works on costume the most important are Hefner-Alteneck, Trachten, &c., vom frühesten Mittelalter bis Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts (2nd ed., Frankfort, 1879–1890); Viollet-le-Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné du mobilier français (6 vols., Paris, 1858–1875), the first four volumes devoted to armour and costume; Friedrich Hottenroth, Trachten der Völker alter und neuer Zeit (2nd ed., Stuttgart, 1882–1890), with excellent plates, Fr. transl. by J. Bernhoff, Les Costumes chez les peuples, &c. (Paris, 1885), and Handbuch der deutschen Tracht (1898); Bonnard et Mercuri, Costumes historiques des XIIᵉ, XIIIᵉ, XIVᵉ et XVᵉ siècles (2 vols., Paris, 1867), 200 plates; Burgmair, Triomphe de l’empereur Maximilien I. (Vienna, 1796), 135 plates; Chapuy, Le Moyen Âge pittoresque (2 vols., 1837), 180 plates; Chevignard et Duplessis, Costumes historiques des XVIᵉ, XVIIᵉ et XVIIIᵉ siècles (2 vols., Paris, 1867), 150 plates; du Sommerard, Les Arts au moyen âge (10 vols., Paris, 1838–1848), 510 plates; Duflos, Recueil d’estampes, représentant les grades, les rangs, et les dignités, suivant le costume de toutes les nations existantes (Paris, 1779–1780), 240 plates; España artistica y monumental (3 vols., Paris, 1842–1859), 145 plates; Fabri, Raccolta di varii vestimenti ed arti del regno di Napoli (Naples, 1773), 27 plates; Jaquemin, Iconographie méthodique du costume du Vᵉ au XIXᵉ siècle (Paris), 200 plates; Lacombe, Galerie de Florence et du palais Pitti (4 vols., Paris, 1789–1807), 192 plates; Paul Lacroix, Manners, Customs and Dress during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Eng. trans. (London, 1874), Military and Religious Life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (London, 1874), and The 18th Century, its Institutions, Customs, Costumes (London, 1875–1876); L. M. Lanté, Galerie française de femmes célèbres, atlas (Paris, 1841), 70 plates; Malliot et Martin, Recherches sur les costumes, les mœurs, les usages religieux, civils et militaires des anciens peuples (3 vols., Paris, 1809), 228 plates; Pauly, Description ethnographique des peuples (St Petersburg, 1862); Pauquet Frères, Modes et costumes historiques et étrangers