As soon as the process of uniting pieces of leather by sewing became known, so that a suitable casing might be made in that manner for the lower extremities, greater attention was paid to this part of the dress. Shoes were made of costly material embroidered and decorated with beads and precious stones, as in the costume of the German emperor (p1. 49, figs. r, 7). The process of manufacture first employed necessitated pointing at the toes, but toward the close of the fourteenth century the points were unbecomingly elongated (p1. 35, fig. r r)—less, however, in Germany than in Prance and England. In the latter countries they were sometimes sev eral feet in length, and were worn turned up in front and even fastened at the knee.
Another peculiarity of the fashion of this period was its attempt to please not only the eye, but also the ear—a thing previously unheard of. Both sexes attached small bells to their clothing wherever it was feasible, particularly at the belt (fig. r), and also on bandoleers, which were worn over the shoulder especially for that purpose.
Now that fashion had replaced the former scant and tight apparel by the opposite extremes of fulness and drapery, the parti-colored coat and the corresponding article of female attire were done away with. Figure 12 shows a shape which is found underlying almost all subsequent styles: the skirt is gathered at the hips and ends in a long train behind. All efforts of state and civic authorities to regulate the extravagances of taste were fruitless. Fashion prevailed against all prohibitions, until at length exorbitant fancy exhausted itself and moderation again prevailed. Ill Germany there was a steady return to simplicity; and this tendency also ran into extremes. Toward the close of the century the costume, espe cially of the men, had so shrunk in dimensions that another change became necessary. At that time the dress of young people differed ninch more from that of graver elders than is now the case. The young people were also the leaders of fashion to a greater extent than they are to-day. We may here note the difference between the comfortable and becoming dress of the well-to-do burgher (jig. 15), with his fur-trimmed smock coat, and the fantastic costume of Philip the Good of Burgundy (jig. 13), which, however, belongs to a somewhat earlier period.
In some countries, especially among the rich and luxurious subjects of the house of Burgundy, the old tendency to exaggerated forms in costume survived, and at the wanton and extravagant courts it displayed itself in the most grotesque shapes. It would lead ns too far to describe in detail
these various styles. The costly Genoese velvets, the gold brocades, the fine furs, the towering caps, and the long trains of the ladies (jig. 14), the veil-like decorations (Sordelbindelt) of the men (jig. 13), and the long pointed or stilt-like overshoes worn by both sexes over their silk shoes, were scarcely known in the poorer regions across the Rhine.
The opening of the sixteenth century found a most uncomfortable cos tulne in use. If ever the mood of a period was manifest in its apparel, it was toward the close of the fifteenth century. It was a time of pro found discontent. Men felt that the old foundations had become decayed; hitherto-accepted views of life were no longer tenable. No substitute seemed at hand. In like manner, the costume was felt to be in the highest degree unsuitable. The shoes, fitting loosely, tripped the wearer by their long points; the breeches were tight, and, being but loosely fastened to the jacket, were liable to displacement by unguarded move ments; the jacket itself was excessively shortened, being cut low on the breast and at the back, so that it did not have a good hold on the body; the breast was insufficiently covered with a stomacher; the neck was bare; the back was burdened rather than protected by a short cloak or frock. Glaring colors were contrasted in the same dress, one arm, for example, being green and the other red; one leg yellow, decorated with black stripes, and the other blue.
During the last ten years of the fifteenth century the shoe-points had been discarded and the narrow sleeves had been slashed at the elbow. This same fashion had been imitated at the knees of the pantaloons. Plate 36 (fig. 2) shows the prevalent style up to and after the year 151o. It represents a student in the attire of a dandy. Figure 1 is the academic attire worn by the learned, and prescribed, though often unavailingly, by the statutes of the universities. Figure 3, copied from an old painting, represents a young couple in attendance at a patrician ball in Nuremberg about 1510: the lady wears a light-yellow dress with black trimmings, and the low-cut neck is in accordance with the fashion of the day; the bodice is made of fine linen embroidered with gold; the sleeves are slashed on the shoulder and the elbow and filled out with puffs of linen.