Wilton, Mary Margaret Stanley Egerton: The Book of costume or, Annals of fashion: from the earliest period to the present time (London: Henry Colburn, Publisher, 1847)

348

THE TOILETTE IN NORWAY.

At church and on holy days the Norwegian women
wear laced jackets and leathern
girdles, adorned with silver. They
are also fond of a chain, which they
put three or four times round their
necks, and hang a gilt ornament at
the end of it. Their handkerchiefs
and caps are covered with plates of
silver, brass, and tin, buttons, and
rings; and of the latter they wear
quantities on their fingers. The
young women plait their hair, and
while employed in their household
affairs they wear a shift and a petti-
coat ; the collar of the former reaches to the throat,
and they have a sack, generally of a black colour,
twisted round the waist. The linen they wear is
very fine, and this simple costume is said to be very
becoming.
In some parts of Norway the men wear coats of
stone-coloured cloth, the button-holes beino- sewn with
scarlet, and the buttons formed of white metal: this
has a very gay appearance.