The Dutchwoman dresses expensively in all the towns, and generally well.
The toilettes are mostly of a German model, which suits the build of the
Dutchwoman better than the fashions of Paris. Rarely, however, do women
dress in that simple style in vogue in English morning dress, and a Dutch
town or seaside resort is filled in the mornings with gay toilettes more
fitted for the Row or the Boulevard. Even when bicycling the majority do
not dress very simply.

[Illustration: Dutch Fisher-Girls.]

[Illustration: A Bridal Pair Driving Home.]

Holland has always been noted for the variety and quaintness of its
provincial and even communal costumes, and these may all still be seen,
though they are dying out slowly. In some, and in fact many cases, a
modern bonnet is worn over a beautiful gold or silver headpiece, fringed
with lace, but ancient and modern do not in such cases harmonize. Of the
distinctly provincial costumes, that of Friesland is generally considered
the prettiest, but as illustrations are given of them all in a later
chapter, it must be left to the reader to decide the point for himself.
The fisherfolk more than any other retain their distinctive dress,
although even among them some of the children are habited according to
modern ideas, and certainly when the women are doomed to wear fourteen or
sixteen skirts, which have the effect of making them liable to pulmonary
complaints, it is surprising that modern fashions are not more generally
adopted. The plea for modernity in respect of Dutch national costumes is
considered rank heresy among artists, but the figures look better in a
picture and at a distance than in everyday life, added to which the custom
of cutting off or hiding the hair, which some of the head-dresses compel,
is not one to be encouraged; and it is a wonder that woman, who knows as a