A paragraph in a fashion paper of last month says that the attempt to persuade ladies to wear muffs again has quite failed. Now that the gentler sex has got its hands free it is determined to be bound by no more shackles - not even by those of mole or squirrel. But it is curious to learn from old books that the muff was worn by men as well as by women in bygone days. It is said to have been introduced into England by Charles II., or perhaps by James I. Pepys, who liked to be in the fashion when it did not cost him too much money, tells how he used his wife's muff and bought her a new one instead.
In those old days there was virtually no such thing as artificial heating except in the private rooms of a home. Carriages, whether public or private, had rarely any heating, and places of public assembly were always chilly to the lowest degree. Furs were therefore sought eagerly by those who could afford them, and were worn much more constantly than to-day. For instance, it was quite usual to see both men and women going to church on Sundays with fur muffs. It was only when artificial heating in halls and schools and churches began to be common in the nineteenth century that muffs went out of favour with men, and later still with women.
The Irish Times, March 12th, 1929.