The neck-handkerchief of 18th-century women's fashion at some point in the 19th began to be called a "modesty piece". The term still gets applied occasionally to a triangle of fabric inserted in a low V neckline to conceal the cleavage.
Lauren -------------- Original message -------------- From: "Claire Clarke" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:30:49 +0200 > From: "Leif og Bjarne Drews" > Subject: [h-cost] modest > To: "Historical Costume" > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Is there an english term of a piece of clothing called a modest? > In a danish inventory there is the term of modester in plural, have never > heard that word before. Its inventories from 1720 and 1730. > > Bjarne > > You know I'm sure I've heard the term 'modester' in an English costume > context, but I really can't think where. It just rings bells. > > Is it possible the term uses 'mode' in the sense of fashion eg wasn't > 'modiste' > an 18th term for a women's tailor or seamstress? > > Claire/Angharad > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
