[Illustration: Fig. 422.--Costume of Charles V., King of France.--From a
Statue formerly in the Church of the Celestins, Paris.]
[Illustration: Fig. 423.--Costume of Jeanne de Bourbon, Wife of Charles
V.--From a Statue formerly in the Church of the Celestins, Paris.]
We have already seen that Charles V. used his influence, which was
unfortunately very limited, in trying to restrain the extravagance of
fashion. This monarch did more than decree laws against indelicate or
unseemly and ridiculous dress; he himself never wore anything but the long
and ample costume, which was most becoming, and which had been adopted in
the preceding century. His example, it is true, was little followed, but
it nevertheless had this happy resuit, that the advocates of short and
tight dresses, as if suddenly seized with instinctive modesty, adopted an
upper garment, the object of which seemed to be to conceal the absurd
fashions which they had not the courage to rid themselves of. This heavy
and ungraceful tunic, called a _housse_, consisted of two broad bands of
a more or less costly material, which, starting from the neck, fell behind
and before, thus almost entirely concealing the front and back of the
person, and only allowing the under garments to be seen through the slits
which naturally opened on each side of it.
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