GENOA WOMEN'S DRESS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 12 September 1891, Page 4

GENOA WOMEN'S DRESS.

In Lady Morgan's account of Genoa we find the following: — "The women's heads are ornamented by a quantity of silver bodkins, forming a sort of coronet or star at the back, and confining a profusion of plaited tresses. Many of the elder women wear square linen veils, embroidered and trimmed with coarse lace. Dresses are here considered as heir-looms. Many a silken vest and quilted bodice, many a chain of gold and of coral, purchased in the days of Genoa's prosperity, still remain to deceive the eye with the appearance of rural and commercial wealth. The shops at Genoa display a profusion of gold and silver filagree work, clasps, rings, ear-rings, chains, combs of coral, and even of costly gems, ail destined for the peasantry. The nobility were, in the latter times of the Republic, prohibited from wearing such sumptuous ornaments ; and the lower classes are still, as formerly, the sole purchasers of the oldfashioned jewellery of the Genoese goldsmiths. The fullest dress allowed to the ladies by the sumptuary laws was a black velvet, trimmed with coloured ribbons and point lace. The women of Genoa are covered, even on working days, with gold and silver ornaments ; on holy days they add a profusion of pearl and coral to their ordinary decorations, and a female peasant, when making her marriage trousseau, thinks seven oreight hundred francs a very moderate price for a necklace or chain.