ABSTRACT
U n t i l the middle o f the nineteenth century there was a certain similarity i n design and proportion between men's and women's costume. The style o f men's clothes was repeated i n women's dress with, however, much greater exaggeration and much greater variety. The leisurely life o f the lady o f fashion, her more malleable body and the much wider choice o f materials at her disposal, gave her a greater freedom o f interpretation o f the fashionable line.
