Spring`s fling with sheer doesn`t hold a candle to some of the fashion trends that have appeared throughout history. In her new book ”Let There Be Clothes”(Workman Publishing, $19.95), author Lynn Schnurnberger, a former costume consultant to the education department at New York`s Metropolitan Museum of Art, observes some fads that make Madonna look mild. For example:
– Around 1500 B.C., Greek women wore their bras (known as bandolettes) on the outside of their robes.
– While Athens women living in 600 B.C. sewed the sides of their robes
(called chitons), Spartan women kept their gowns open. To say someone
”dressed in the Spartan manner” became a euphemism for indecent exposure.
– Nero`s wife, the Empress Poppea, wore transparent robes of blue, yellow, green and pink. Cleopatra also had a fondness for see-through garments.
– During the Middle Ages, Agnes Sorel (mistress of King Charles VII of France) wore dresses with necklines cut to the waist, exposing her breasts.
– At the end of the 18th Century, women would dampen their empire-style gowns when going out at night so the dresses would cling to their curves.
