The fashion in 1776 was very interesting. Women wore huge head-dresses. The dressing of a head for a fashionable function took three or four hours to complete. With head-dresses of such enormous size it was essential for ladies to have hats to match. Sometimes a comparatively small hat was worn pinned firmly on top of the coiffure. Long walking-sticks with gold or silver knobs were carried both by men and women, and the practice of wearing swords fell more and more into disuse, except among military men. The skirt with paniers, before its final disappearance, was worn short, showing the shoes and the ankles, and, as always, a shorter skirt led to increased care for the neatness of shoes and stockings.
