Wikipedia

Train (clothing)

Inclothing,atraindescribes the long back portion of arobe,coat,cloak,skirt,overskirt,ordressthat trails behind the wearer.

Court dress with long train. Portugal, c.1845.

It is a common part of ceremonial robes inacademic dress,court dressorcourt uniform.It is also a common part of a woman's formalevening gownsorwedding dresses.

Types of train

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Fashion

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Dress with a fishtail train, French, c. 1880. LACMA
Detail of the previous dress
  • Court train– Worn for formal court occasions, the court train had to fall in with strict dress codes which differed from court to court. For example, the French court code set in 1804 byJean-Baptiste Isabeyprescribed a four-inch maximum width for embroidered train borders for non-Royal wearers.[1]In Britain it was required to be three yards in length at the minimum.[2]
  • Double train– Two trains attached to the same dress, or a single train divided into two trains.
  • Fishtail train– A train popular at various times from the 1870s onwards, flaring out from midway down a close-fitting skirt.[3]
  • Demi-train– A short train formed by having the back of the garment slightly longer than the front.[4]

Wedding dress

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Trains in modern (20th and 21st century) bridal wear have their own terminology:

  • Cathedral train– also known as amonarch train,this can measure up to eight feet (2.4 metres). Aroyal cathedral trainis considered the longest, most formal train, measuring up to ten feet (3.0 metres) or more.[5][6]
  • Chapel train– a medium length train up to five feet (1.1 to 1.5 metres) long.[5]
  • Court train– in bridal terminology, a court train is a narrow train extending 1 metre behind.[5]
  • Sweep train– a short train that does not necessarily reach the floor.[5]It is so called because it might just sweep the ground.[6]
  • Watteau train– a modern version of the pleated backs (called 'Watteau pleats') seen in 18th centurysack-back gowns.[5]

Brides of theNdebele peopleof South Africa traditionally wear long beaded trains hung from the shoulder, known asnyoga(snake).[7]

Trains as part of uniform

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The Lord Patten of Barnes,Chancellor of theUniversity of Oxford,wearing his official academic dress as the university chancellor

Trains are a common feature of theRoyal mantlesof Kings and Princes, as well as the mantles of manychivalric orders.

Officers of older, traditional universities generally wear distinctive and more elaborate dress. TheChancellorand theVice-Chancellormay wear a black damask lay type gown with a long train.[8][9][10]In France the train is now usually hooked to the inner side of the robe.

TheLord Chief Justice of England and Wales,when robed, dresses like a High Court Judge with the distinction of a train to hisscarletrobe.[11]

Lords Justices of Appeal, full ceremonial dress, 2013

Judges of the Court of Appeal wear the black silk damask gown, trained and heavily embellished with gold embroidery.

French court dress includes a train, now buttoned to the inside of the robe and suspended by fabric bands, a vestige of the former practice of lawyers carrying their trains.[12]

TheLord Chancellor,theSpeaker of the House of Commons,and other high dignitaries also wear similar embroidered black robes with trains.[13]

TheLord Mayor of Londonalso wears a robe with a train.[14]

A trained robe, thecappa magna(great cape) remains in use in the Catholic Church for certain ceremonial occasions.Cardinals,bishops,and certain other honoraryprelatesare entitled to wear thecappa magna,but within the territory of their jurisdiction.[15]

Eastern Orthodox bishops also traditionally use a cloak with a long train known as theMandyas,which may have parallels with the development of the Catholiccappa magna.

Japanese court attire with train

For male peers, the Coronation robe is a cloak of crimson velvet extending to the feet, open in the front (with white silk satin ribbon ties) with train trailing behind.[16] The Parliament robe of a British peer is a full-length garment of scarletwoolwith a collar of whiteminiverfur, cut long as a train, but this is usually kept hooked up inside the garment.[17]

Court dresses for women were commonly fifteen yards in length.[2]Court dresses for noble women sometimes had trains both behind and in front of the dress.[4]

Japanese Imperial court clothing,sokutaifor men andjūnihitoefor women, both include a long train extending from the back of the robe. It remains in use with theImperial Household of Japanfor ceremonial occasions.[18]

History

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Cartoon showing how trailing skirts can transmit diseases. Published inPuck,August 8, 1900.

Trains declined in popularity in the late nineteenth century when they were targeted by public health campaigns in Europe and the United States that argued they brought germs from the streets into the wearers' homes. The issue was the subject of a cartoon published inPuckin 1900 entitled "The Trailing Skirt: Death Loves a Shining Mark."[19]

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  • The Lord Chief Justice, 2013
  • The scarlet robe, with train, Lord Mayor of London
  • Chancellor of the Exchequer Robe of State
  • Mantle of the Knights of theOrder of the Holy Spirit,France
  • Coronation robes of an earl,William Pitt
  • Cardinal Rodewearing a wintercappa magna
  • Serbian Orthodox bishop in mandyas
  • King Frederick William IV of Prussia in mantle
  • Isabeau of Bavariawith long ermine-lined train; c. late 14th century or early 15th century
  • Mantuawith train, 1698
  • Pauline Bonapartemanteau de cour, a train attached at chest level, introduced by Napoleon,[20]1808
  • Court dress and train, English, 1822
  • EmpressTeresa Cristina of Brazilin court dress and train of green velvet with gold embroidery, 1864
  • Evening gown with train, 1883
  • Saya de cola(lit. "skirt train" ) of thetraje de mestizaduring the late 19th century (erroneously referred to as aMaria Clara gown) from thePhilippines.Note the manner of the woman's arms and hands, which depict the traditional method of holding the train at the time.
  • Court presentation dress and train, 1897
  • Short wedding dress with long train attached. 1920s
  • Japanese bride in a white dress with train, 2007

References

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  1. ^"Court train (manteau de cour), ca. 1809".Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.The Metropolitan Museum of Art. October 2006.Retrieved18 June2014.
  2. ^abDress and Insignia Worn at His Majesty's Court.Various editions 1898-1937
  3. ^Watt, Judith (2012).Fashion: The definitive history of costume and style(1. publ. ed.). London: Dorling Kindersley. p. 200.ISBN9781405398794.
  4. ^abCumming, Valerie; Cunnington, C. W.; Cunnington, P. E. (2010).The Dictionary of Fashion History.Berg. p. 208.ISBN978-0857851437.
  5. ^abcdeShimer, Elizabeth (2004).The wedding gown book: how to find the gown that perfectly fits your body, personality, style, and budget.Gloucester, Mass.: Quarry Books. p. 44.ISBN1592530664.Retrieved6 June2014.
  6. ^abHagen, Shelly (2004).The everything wedding book: the ultimate guide to planning the wedding of your dreams(3rd ed.). Avon, Mass.: Adams Media. p.117.ISBN1593371268.
  7. ^Brennan, Summer."A Natural History of the Wedding Dress".JSTOR Daily.
  8. ^The Oxford and Cambridge review, Volume 4.Oxford University. 1847. p. 530.
  9. ^"Australian National University, Academic and Ceremonial Dress Order 2010".Federal Register of Legislation.27 July 2010.
  10. ^"National University of Ireland, Academic Dress Booklet"(PDF).Academic Dress of the NUI.
  11. ^Dress worn at Court,1921 edition.
  12. ^Renard, Clement."Dans le secret des robes noire des avocat".Le Parisien.
  13. ^Campbell, Una (1989).Robes of the Realm.Michael O'Mara Books Ltd: London. pp. 53-54.
  14. ^Weinreb, Ben;Hibbert, Christopher(1992).The London Encyclopaedia(reprint ed.).Macmillan.p. 496.
  15. ^"FIU.edu".Archived fromthe originalon 2017-06-02.Retrieved2018-09-13.
  16. ^"No. 39709".The London Gazette.2 December 1952. p. 6351.
  17. ^Cox, Noel (1999). "The Coronation and Parliamentary Robes of the British Peerage."Arma, the Journal of the Heraldry Society of Southern Africa.Vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 289–293. Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
  18. ^Encyclopædia Britannica:Sokutai
  19. ^Emily Mullin (May 10, 2016)."How Tuberculosis Shaped Victorian Fashion".Smithsonian Magazine.
  20. ^Ingrid LoschekReclams Mode- und Kostümlexikon.Reclam, Stuttgart 1987,ISBN3-15-010448-3,S. 156.

Further reading

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  • Black, J. Anderson and Madge Garland:A History of Fashion,Morrow, 1975.ISBN0-688-02893-4
  • Payne, Blanche:History of Costume from the Ancient Egyptians to the Twentieth Century,Harper & Row, 1965.ISBN9780060450700
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