The beautiful and intrepid Queen Boadicea is the first British female whose dress is recorded.  Dio mentions that, when she led her army to the field of battle, she wore “a various-colored tunic, flowing in long loose folds, and over it a mantle, while her long hair floated over her neck and shoulders.”  This warlike queen, therefore, notwithstanding her abhorrence of the Romans, could not resist the graceful elegance of their costume, so different from the rude clumsiness of the dress of her wild subjects; and, though fighting valiantly against the invaders of her country, she succumbed to the laws which Fashion had issued!—­a forcible example of the unlimited sway exercised by the flower-crowned goddess over the female mind.

With the Saxon invasion came war and desolation, and the elegancies of life were necessarily neglected.  The invaders clothed themselves in a rude and fantastic manner.  It is not unlikely that the Britons may have adopted some of their costume.  From the Saxon females, we are told, came the invention of dividing, curling, and turning the hair over the back of the head.  Ancient writers also add that their garments were long and flowing.

The Anglo-Saxon ladies seldom, if ever, went with their heads bare; sometimes the veil, or head-rail, was replaced by a golden head-band, or it was worn over the veil.  Half circles of gold, necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, and crosses, were the numerous ornaments worn at that period by the women.  It is supposed that mufflers (a sort of bag with a thumb) were also sometimes used.

Great uncertainty exists respecting the true character of a garment much used by the Anglo-Saxon ladies, called a kirtle.  Some writers suppose it to have meant the petticoat; others, that it was an under robe.  But, though frequently mentioned by old authors, nothing can be correctly determined respecting it.

Little appears to be known concerning the costume in Britain under the Danes; but we are told that the latter “were effeminately gay in their dress, combed their hair once a day, bathed once a week, and often changed their attire.”

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The ladies’ dress continued much the same till the reign of Henry the First, when the sleeves and veils were worn so immensely long, that they were tied up in bows and festoons, and la grande mode then appears to have been to have the skirts of the gowns also of so ridiculous a length, that they lay trailing upon the ground.  Laced bodies were also sometimes seen, and tight sleeves with pendent cuffs, like those mentioned in the reign of Louis the Seventh of France.  A second, or upper tunic, much shorter than the under robe, was also the fashion; and, perhaps, it may be considered as the surcoat generally worn by the Normans.  The hair was often wrapped in silk or ribbon, and allowed to hang down the back; and mufflers were in common use.  The dresses were very splendid, with embroidery and gold borders.