# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Northern Renaissance – lauren m. lowell, costume designer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Learning is Fun!! with Professor Johnson

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
FASHD 20/Chapter 4: Northern Renaissance Garments

# data[].attributes.body
MCCALL, TIMOTHY. “Materials for Renaissance Fashion.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 70, no. 4, 2017, pp. 1449–64. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26560612. Accessed 22 Sep. 2022.

# data[].attributes.body
painting by Bartholomeus van der Helst

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This picture is the earliest commissioned portrait by Barthlolomeus van der Helst, depicting a female model wearing not black clothing, but a bright garment. A distinctive feature is the canvas edge (the figure is portrayed nearly half-length). The young lady represented on the canvas, whose name is unknown, undoubtedly was a person of high social standing. This is evidenced by her luxurious and highly fashionable outfit, a satin dress with a low neckline, embellished with opulent embroidery. On her chest she wears a precious brooch with a strand of pearls, the end of which is fastened on the shoulder. In her ears she wears girandole earrings with hanging ornaments in the form of the three improbably large pearls. Wrapped around her neck is a strand of pearls. The hairdo with long locks and chignon is finished off with a black silk hat and pearls (this style called tipmuts became fashionable in Holland around 1650).The portrayal of the shiny fabrics, jewellery and subtle details, reveals the superb workmanship and keen observation skills of the artist. In the mid-17th century, Helst, whose fame equalled Rembrandt's, was the highest paid artist among the Amsterdam elite and rich merchants, who strove to copy aristocracy of birth.

Entered the Hermitage in 1932; handed over by the Antikvariat All-Union Association; originally in the Counts Stroganov family collection

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This picture is the earliest commissioned portrait by Barthlolomeus van der Helst, depicting a female model wearing not black clothing, but a bright garment. A distinctive feature is the canvas edge (the figure is portrayed nearly half-length). The young lady represented on the canvas, whose name is unknown, undoubtedly was a person of high social standing.

# data[].attributes.body
Descriptions of fashion during the Jane Austen "Regency Era"

# data[].attributes.headline
understand northern renaissance clothing 

# data[].attributes.subject
understand northern renaissance clothing 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Understanding the styles of art: Northern Renaissance Art

# data[].attributes.headline
italian Renaissance vs. Northern Renaissance

# data[].attributes.subject
italian Renaissance vs. Northern Renaissance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Italian Renaissance vs. Northern Renaissance (AP European History)

# data[].attributes.body
Fashion History Timeline
Posted by Lourdes Font
Time period: 1400-1409

# data[].attributes.headline
fashion: the definitive history of costume and style book in the library

# data[].attributes.subject
fashion: the definitive history of costume and style book in the library

# data[].attributes.body
Brown, Susan, et al. Fashion : The Definitive History of Costume and Style. 1st American ed., DK Publishing, 2012.

# data[].attributes.headline
Pink, patterned dress decorated with ribbons. 1922

# data[].attributes.subject
Pink, patterned dress decorated with ribbons. 1922

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
(1925) Josephine Baker dancing the original charleston

# data[].attributes.headline
Article: Searching for Broadcloth in Tartu (14th-15th centuries)

# data[].attributes.subject
Article: Searching for Broadcloth in Tartu (14th-15th centuries)

# data[].attributes.body
Rammo, Riina. “Searching for Broadcloth in Tartu (14th–15th Centuries).” The Medieval Broadcloth: Changing Trends in Fashions, Manufacturing and Consumption, edited by Kathrine Vestergård Pedersen and Marie-Louise B. Nosch, vol. 6, Oxbow Books, 2009, pp. 99–108. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1cfr7kv.8. Accessed 22 Sep. 2022.

# data[].attributes.headline
Clothing & Textiles: 18th Century Dress Fashion

# data[].attributes.subject
Clothing & Textiles: 18th Century Dress Fashion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
New Canaan Museum and Historical Society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Clothing & Textiles: 18th Century Dress Fashion - New Canaan Museum and Historical Society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This dress was donated by Phoebe Helmer Wadsworth Weston. Phoebe first married Seymour Wadsworth of New Canaan, and lived with him on North Wilton Road until his death. Later, Phoebe married Gerritt Van Ingen Weston, and the couple remained in New Canaan. This dress features elements of 18th century fashion, with its ¾ length sleeves [...]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ULTIMATE FASHION HISTORY: The Italian (and Spanish) Renaissance

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/158972?deptids=8&amp;ft=Bustle+Period&amp;offset=40&amp;rpp=40&amp;pos=50

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fine Art of Costume," October 15, 1954-February 28, 1955.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Period Rooms Reoccupied in Style," November 27, 1963 -January 5, 1964.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Eighteenth-Century Woman," December 12, 1981-September 5, 1982.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Dance," December 17, 1986-September 6, 1987.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th century," April 27, 2004-September 6, 2004.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Robe à la Française | French | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fine Art of Costume," October 15, 1954-February 28, 1955. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Period Rooms Reoccupied in Style," November 27, 1963 -January 5, 1964. New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Eighteenth-Century Woman," December 12, 1981-September 5, 1982. New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Harriet Meserole. Illustration of woman in fringe flapper dress leaning against back of chair, Publication: Vogue. 1-Sep-25. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/

# data[].attributes.headline
Portrait of Grand Duchess Bianca Capello de Medici with Her Son

# data[].attributes.subject
Portrait of Grand Duchess Bianca Capello de Medici with Her Son

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Renaissance Fashion in Venice and Florence

# data[].attributes.headline
TitleTeaching old dogs new tricksWork TypeCartoons (humorous images)

# data[].attributes.subject
TitleTeaching old dogs new tricksWork TypeCartoons (humorous images)

# data[].attributes.body
Held, John, 1889-1958.. Teaching old dogs new tricks. 1926 Feb. 18.. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/CARNEGIE_6150006

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Throughout the eighteenth century, the basic components of men's and women's dress remained the same and, until the last quarter of the century, French fashion with its emphasis on formality and opulence continued to set the standard throughout Europe.

Men wore a three-piece silk or wool suit (coat, or justaucorps, waistcoat, and breeches), which changed in details of cut and fit over the course of one hundred years; women wore a silk or cotton gown, generally open down the front but sometimes closed, over a matching petticoat that was an integral part of the ensemble. Silk designs, especially those for women's dress, changed more rapidly than the overall silhouette during the century, and each decade presents a distinctive treatment of perennially popular floral and foliate motifs. The fashionable male and female silhouettes at the end of the seventeenth century persisted into the first decade of the eighteenth. The hoop-petticoat, or panier, that would define the expansive shape of women's dress for most of the century, appeared in England at the end of the first decade and immediately drew negative commentary that would increase significantly as women across the socio-economic spectrum adopted this all-important form of understructure.

Introduced in the 1670s, the mantua, accessorized with a stomacher, a lace neck frill, sleeve ruffles, or engageantes, and a wired headdress known as a fontange, remained the dominant form of dress for women between 1700 and 1709 (Crowston 25, 36-37). A rare surviving example of this type of gown (Fig. 1) dating to about 1708 in the collection of the Costume Institute displays the luxuriant shape of the early eighteenth-century mantua with its exaggerated bustle and long train (Figs. 3-5). The gown is constructed like a kimono from two lengths of silk that extend from the front to the back hem; the excess fullness of the fabric is set into pleats over the shoulders that, as seen here, would have been secured at the waist with a belt or sash (Fig. 4). The lower sleeves and wide cuffs, probably stiffened with pasteboard (leaves of inferior quality paper, pasted together, generally used in bookmaking), are added on, as are pieces at the back hem to create the rounded train (Figs. 3, 5). Deep self-fabric flounces that became fashionable during this decade decorate the matching petticoat (Fig. 2). The two women at the left of a Portrait of a Family in an Interior (Fig. 2) wear mantuas.

Underneath this two-piece ensemble, the wearer would have donned a T-shaped white linen chemise and boned stays. The ability to change one's shift on a daily (in some cases, more frequent) basis was the privilege of the wealthy. During a heat wave in July 1707, Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orléans and sister-in-law to Louis XIV, wrote that she had changed her chemise "eight times in one day, and it was as if they had been dipped into water" (Orléans 167).

The mantua's heavy bustle sometimes required the support of a pasteboard "rump." In the 1707 play The Platonick Lady by Susanna Centlivre, Mrs. Turnup, a mantua-maker, presents her client, Mrs. Dowdy-a Somersetshire widow recently arrived in London "to learn Breeding"-with her new "Manto and Petticoat." After complaining that the seamstress has spoiled the petticoat by cutting it "in a thousand Bits"-Mrs. Dowdy's maid assures her that these "Furbelows" are the "Fashion"-she inquires "What's these two pieces of Band Box for?" Mrs. Turnup explains, "T'is Past Board, Madam, for your Ladyship's Rump" (quoted in Ashton 164-165).

The space between the front opening of the gown would have been filled in with a stomacher-a triangular piece of fabric (woven, embroidered, or embellished with ribbons bows known as an échelle) that was lined with linen or cotton (Figs. 1, 2, 6) (Cunnington 109). The stomacher might have linen tabs that could be pinned to the stays, or it could be secured with lacing through linen strips with eyelet holes inside the fronts of the gown (Cunnington 109).

Barely visible under the hem of the petticoat, high-heeled shoes with pointed toes and knitted silk stockings held up with ribbon garters would have completed the ensemble. Most wealthy women's shoes were made of silk, not necessarily matching that of the dress; however, an elegant pair of black leather shoes with red leather heels dating to about 1700 in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum are those of a fashionable-rather than a working-class-wearer (Fig. 7). The elongated, slightly upturned toe differed from the squared-off, blunt toe of men's shoes and represented a gendered distinction in footwear that had not existed prior to the late seventeenth century (Pratt and Woolley 32). The white rand-the narrow edging between the uppers and the sole, usually of leather, but here made of vellum-is a construction feature of women's shoes through the first half of the eighteenth century (Victoria and Albert Museum).

The Costume Institute's mantua of salmon-colored silk damask brocaded with polychrome silk and metal threads with oversized flowering baskets, serrated foliage, and paired S-scrolls is characteristic of European silk design at the end of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Dubbed "bizarre" by textile historian Vilhelm Slomann in 1953, who erroneously believed that their patterns originated in India (Slomann 137-38), these silks display elongated, undulating repeats with exotic, often unidentifiable, motifs and maximize the contrast between the shiny and matte surfaces of satin damask. These dynamic, brilliantly hued fabrics were shown to advantage by the mantua's uncut panels, joined down the center back, that trailed behind the wearer (Figs. 3, 4). In her three-quarter-length portrait dating to about 1710, the Marchesa Angela Maria Lombardi wears a bizarre silk mantua with its front skirts lined in bright red silk; the blue silk is lavishly brocaded with silver thread (Fig. 8).

While silk mantuas were de rigueur among upper-class women, London newspapers from the first decade of the century confirm that working-class women also wore these gowns in lesser quality fabrics including wool and cotton. On September 24, 1700, The Post Boy reported the recent disappearance of a female servant: "Sharlot Bragg, Servant to Mr. John Woodruff, Peter-street, Westminster, aged about 22 years...[who] wears a brown Stuff Manto [wool mantua] lined with printed Callicoe flowered red, and a dark Damask Pettycoat [sic]...has absented herself from her Master much longer than Leave given..." ( Extracts from Notices, n.p.). While Bragg's mantua was wool lined with cotton, an advertisement in the Daily Courant of October 30, 1706, describes a mantua of cotton lined with wool: "Lost on Thursday, the 28 th Instant, from behind a Coach in Holborn...a Deal Box belonging to a Ladies Servant... there was in it a Black and White Callicoe Mantua and Petticoat lined with Blue Stuff..." ( Extracts from Notices, n.p).

A Dutch painting of a shop interior from 1709 nicely illustrates the different types of fabrics that would be worn for day and evening (Fig. 9). A fashionably attired woman in a finely striped silk mantua with a pronounced bustle and a heavy, dark wool petticoat inspects a gold-brocaded silk with polychrome flowers, presumably intended for formal dress. Of the three different types of textiles, the plain wool would have been the least expensive and the brocaded silk-hand woven on a drawloom-significantly more costly than the striped silk (Rothstein 23).

The introduction of the mantua in the last decades of the seventeenth century coincided with the change in regulations that allowed seamstresses to make women's and children's garments (De Young). As historian Clare Haru Crowston points out in Fabricating Women: The Seamstresses of Old Regime France, 1675-1791, the mantua "transform[ed] existing patterns of clothing consumption" and seamstresses used this new type of dress that required minimal cutting and shaping "to establish a niche in the high-end of the garment trades and to spread the new taste to other social groups" (Crowston 37, 40).

Although no extant examples of the earliest iterations of the hoop-petticoat, or panier, survive and the first few visual depictions date to the following decade, textual references from Richard Steele's publication, The Tatler (1709-1711), suggests that these "new-fashioned Petticoats" were introduced in England in 1709-and immediately targeted for their volume, indecency, and the blurring of class boundaries, themes that would persist throughout the century (Chrisman 8). Initially, these skirt supports were bell-shaped and "consisted of three of more graduated hoops of whalebone" inserted into channels of the "light, but sturdy petticoat" (Chrisman 9). In a humorous petition to "Isaac Bickerstaff, Esquire, Censor of Great Britain," that appeared in The Tatler in December 1709, William Jingle, a fictitious coach and sedan chair maker from Westminster, attributes the invention of the hoop-petticoat to "Mrs. Catherine Cross-stitch, mantua maker" and declares that, since "the petticoats of the ladies were too wide for entering into any coach or chair," he has devised new forms of both of these modes of transport-"a round chair, in the form of a lantern" and a coach into which a lady "was let down from a balcony, and drawn up again by pulleys." Bickerstaff also acknowledges that he has received a second petition, "signed by several thousands [of women], praying that I would not any longer defer giving judgment in the case of the petticoat, many of them having put off the making new clothes, till such time as they know what verdict will pass upon it" (Aitken).

At the French court, women continued to wear the grand habit, comprising a heavily boned pointed bodice with short lace sleeves, a full-length skirt, and a long, separate train, that had become obligatory at Versailles by 1683 (De Marly 89). The length of the train was dictated by the wearer's status: "11 ells [an ell measured 45 inches] for a queen, 9 ells for a king's daughter, 7 ells for a king's granddaughter, 5 ells for a princess of the blood, and 3 ells for a duchess" (De Marly 89). In a letter of 1702, the caustic Duchesse d'Orléans, who was a stickler for etiquette, wrote:

"At Versailles which is considered the royal residence, everyone who comes into the King's presence or into ours, must be in full Court dress, but at Marly, Meudon, and Saint-Cloud [royal residences where formality was somewhat relaxed], mantuas are worn, as also for travelling. I find Court dress much more convenient than mantuas which I can't endure." (quoted in Waugh/ Women 113)

Madame de Ventadour, governess to Louis XIV's great-grandson, the Duc d'Anjou (future Louis XV), wears a black silk velvet grand habit decorated with diamond clasps in a posthumous portrait of the king with three generations of his heirs (Fig. 10).

Women's hairstyles between 1700 and 1709 were similar to those of the preceding decade with the front hair arranged in curls on either side of the forehead and the back hair in a chignon (Fig. 8). Although the fontange remained in fashion, its shape changed from the tall, forward-tilting rectangle of the 1690s to a more rounded form by the end of the first decade of the eighteenth century, known as a rayon (De Marly 105, 108) (Fig. 11). A drawing by Bernard Picart, Figures for a Galanterie (Fig. 12), ca. 1708, conveys the incipient informality in dress and lifestyle following the death of Louis XIV in 1715 and anticipates the intimate scenes depicted in Jean-Antoine Watteau's fêtes galantes of the next two decades. The young couple, each holding an open book of music, relaxes in what appears to be a barely sketched outdoor setting. Her loose-fitting mantua and petticoat with deep flounces are similar to the bizarre silk example in the Costume Institute (Fig. 2) and on her head she wears a rayon.

Lace continued as an important status symbol throughout the eighteenth century, as is evident in the portrait of Angela Maria Lombardi (Figs. 8, 11). Yards of ruched needle lace decorate the fronts of her mantua and upper petticoat and form her flowing triple sleeve ruffles. However, around the turn of the century, lace accessories including women's headdresses, men's and women's sleeve ruffles, "cravats, shirt frills and aprons" were briefly replaced by those of finely embroidered linen or muslin (see Fig. 5 in Childrenswear) (Levey 72). Due to their close resemblance to sheer embroidered muslin, soft bobbin laces remained in vogue, while stiffer needle laces were still preferred for formal court wear (Levey 72). An advertisement published in the Daily Courant on April 19, 1705, announced "the Sale by Auction" of a variety of needle and bobbin laces as well as muslin accessories:

"...very fine Mackling Lace [Mechlin, a type of bobbin lace], superfine Mackling Laced Heads, Point [needle lace] Heads, superfine lup'd Laced Cravats, rich point Aprons, superfine Italian aprons...fine grounded Laced Aprons, fine Muslin Neckcloaths, fine grounded Laced Bibs, several fine Laced Hoods, rich Furbellow [flounced] Aprons...fine muslin flower'd Handkerchiefs, black Laced Furbellow Aprons..." ( Extracts from Notices, n.p.).

Fashion Icon: MARIE ADÉLAÏDE DE SAVOIE, DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE

Marie Adélaïde de Savoie (1685-1712) was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duc de Savoie, and of Anne Marie d'Orléans (Fig. 1). Her betrothal at the age of 11 to Louis XIV's grandson, the Duc de Bourgogne, in 1696, represented an effort by the king to "detach Savoy from the League of Augsburg" and was part of the Treaty of Turin, signed that same year, by which Victor Amadeus agreed to support Louis XIV in the Nine Years' War (De Marly 95). As soon as the diminutive Marie Adélaïde arrived in France the late fall of 1696, Louis XIV was captivated with her beauty and vivacity. In a letter dated November 8, the Duchesse d'Orléans described "the crush and crowd" that gathered at Fontainebleau for a first glimpse of the young princess:

"Her Grace is rather small for her age but she has a very pretty and slender figure like a dainty doll; she has pretty blond hair, and a lot of it, black eyes and eyebrows, very long and beautiful eyelashes; her skin is smooth but fairly dark, her little nose neither pretty nor ugly, her mouth large and thick-lipped; in a word, a true Austrian mouth and chin. She walks well and has a fine and graceful demeanor..." (Orléans 95)

A hand-colored print dating to about 1697-1700 shows the Duchesse de Bourgogne wearing a fashionably trained mantua and petticoat, a stomacher, multi-tiered sleeve ruffles, a fontange with a pronounced forward tilt, several mouches (black silk or velvet patches) on her face, and gloves, and carrying a nosegay and a folding fan (Fig. 2). These prints depicting members of the French court and men and women "of quality" were published in large numbers in the late seventeenth century. They served, in part, to communicate fashion news and to present idealized depictions of the upper classes and were not necessarily based on firsthand observation by the artists. The large-scale ornate pattern of the Duchesse's dress fabric does not likely represent an actual silk, but its overall richness is commensurate with the status of the king's adored granddaughter-in-law.

The print's caption notes the date of the wedding of the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne-December 7, 1697. The royal nuptials were an opportunity for an over-the-top display of sartorial splendor recorded in a tapestry cartoon dating to 1710 (Fig. 3). The bride wore a grand habit of silver tissue, while the groom wore an embroidered black velvet suit in the style of the mid-seventeenth century, which was customary for this kind of occasion. The king paid for the bride's dowry and her trousseau, which included "15 dresses in assorted brocades, 7 embroidered dresses, 15 embroidered petticoats and 12 underskirts" (De Marly 101). For one of the balls in celebration of the wedding, the Duchesse wore "a cloth of gold grand habit bedecked with the best diamonds in the crown jewels" (De Marly 100) and for another ball, her gown was of "black velvet covered with diamonds, while her firmament [jeweled pins worn in the hair] was so full of diamonds and pearls that it dazzled the eyes" (De Marly 101). In 1702, the Marquis de Dangeau noted the consequences of such heavy clothing for Marie Adélaïde's slight figure:

"The Duchess de Bourgogne lay down on her bed exhausted by the weight of the gown she wore yesterday at the Comedy because it had been overloaded with too many jewels." (quoted in Waugh/ Women 113)

A late seventeenth-century print entitled La Joüaillier from a series depicting various trades suggests the kind of brilliant display of gems seen at the court (Fig. 4)

A portrait of the duchesse by Jean-Baptiste Santerre from 1709 shows her in the gardens of Versailles in a court dress decorated with an impressive set of jeweled brooches on the bodice front (Fig. 5). The silk is heavily brocaded with silver metal thread in a dense, stylized floral pattern. Santerre modified the gown's sleeves: rather than short tight sleeves which were characteristic of the grand habit, the artist has depicted loose, flowing sleeves more associated with allegorical paintings of female sitters that were popular during the period.

Around the same time, Pierre Gobert portrayed the Duchesse de Bourgogne in a tailored riding habit of red wool trimmed with gold galloon influenced by menswear, that women wore on horseback or when following the hunt (Fig. 6). Her thigh-length jacket clearly derives from men's coats (Fig. 7) with its center-front button closure, wide cuffs, pleated skirts, and low, horizontal pockets and her gold waistcoat-a few inches shorter than the jacket-is just visible underneath the lower front skirts. Her high, center-parted hair mimics the shape of men's wigs and her accessories comprising a cravat tied à la Steinkirk with a black silk bowknot and a black, three-cornered hat also take their cue from masculine attire. The trained skirt that would have fully covered her legs and feet while sitting sidesaddle is a concession to female propriety that persisted for equestriennes until the early twentieth century. More practical and hardwearing than silk (or cotton) gowns, riding habits were also worn for traveling throughout the eighteenth century.

In the privacy of her apartments, Marie Adélaïde's wardrobe was more relaxed, but stylish nonetheless. In his memoirs on the reign of Louis XIV, the Marquis de Sources describes the Duchesse de Bourgogne wearing the currently fashionable andrienne -a type of dressing gown-in 1710:

"The King went again in the evening to see the Duchesse de Bourgogne whom he found resting on a couch wearing an andrienne (this was a robe de chambre undraped and with a long train; it was named after a dress of this style worn by an actress in the Comedy Andrienne)." (quoted in Waugh/ Women 113)

The stage-and its leading actresses-often inspired new fashions from the late seventeenth through the eighteenth century.

Following the death of her father-in-law, le Grand Dauphin, in April 1711, Marie Adélaïde's husband became Dauphin and she became Dauphine. Sadly, she, her husband, and the elder of their two sons died from measles within a few weeks of each other in 1712, plunging the king and the court into mourning. Their one surviving son, the Duc d'Anjou, the future Louis XV, would inherit the throne at the age of 5 in 1715 upon the death of Louis XIV.

Men's suits of the first decade of the eighteenth century closely resembled those of the 1690s in cut and decoration (Fig. 1 in Womenswear). The coat reached to just below the knees, almost completely concealing the full-cut breeches. The excess fullness at the sides, which would increase between about 1700 and about 1745, began to be set into pleats at this time (Waugh/ Men 52). The coat's center-front button closure extended from the round neckline to the hem and its deep, wide cuffs ended above the wrists, revealing the shirt frill (Fig. 1). The cuffs could have a slit at the back, a style known as "open sleeves" (Fig. 1) or "round [closed] cuffs" (Cunnington 56). Pockets were either vertical or horizontal; the latter style, with gently scalloped flaps, would become the dominant form throughout the eighteenth century (Fig. 1) (Cunnington 52).

Like its seventeenth-century predecessor, the early eighteenth-century waistcoat was similar in construction to the coat, but it had closer-fitting sleeves, less fullness in in the skirts, and it was several inches shorter than the coat, ending above the knee (Waugh/ Men 54-55) (Fig. 1). Although matching suits conveyed "propriety of dress" (quoted in Cunnington 69), men often wore contrasting waistcoats-a personal choice that remained acceptable throughout the eighteenth century (Figs. 2, 3). Matching waistcoats were generally the rule for court or formal wear as well as for riding; the former were correspondingly rich, while riding waistcoats were more practical (Cunnington 71).

Fashionable men rolled their knitted stockings up over the bottom of their breeches (Cunnington 83) and these often matched the color of the suit, although white stockings were also worn. Shoes were generally of black leather shoes with square toes and high heels (red heels were worn at the French court, among the aristocracy, and by men who were considered fops) and the red-lined tongues that extended to the ankle were turned over the buckled latchets (See Fig. 1 in womenswear).

The T-shaped, white linen shirt was the primary undergarment for men and its cut remained the same throughout the eighteenth century. Made from a full selvage width of fabric with a keyhole shape cut out for the head, rectangular pieces added to create the lower sleeves, and a separate band collar and cuffs, the mid-thigh length shirt might be finished with a center front frill and cuffs of sheer muslin or lace (Fig. 3). The cravat, a long, rectangular piece of white linen or muslin was tied around the neck with the two ends left plain or knotted hanging over the chest (Fig. 2). Wealthy men often added lace ends to their cravats-a luxurious finish to this ubiquitous accessory (Figs. 3, 4).

On November 10, 1702, The Post Boy published the following announcement:

"Lost from behind the Rochester Stage-Coach on Sunday night last, the 8 th instant, between London Bridge and Long Acre, a round Hair Trunk, containing several Cloaths belonging to His Grace the Duke of Ormond, viz. one Scarlet Suit, richly embroider'd with Gold; one Grey Cloath Suit with Steel Buttons; with Shirts, Periwigs, and other things belonging to His Grace's Wardrobe, of considerable value. Whoever shall give notice of the said Trunk and Goods therein, at His Grace's House in St. James's Square, so as they may be had again, shall immediately receive 10 Guineas Reward."

This partial list of lost garments and accessories and the amount of the reward offered-a huge sum in 1702 that translates to over £1,000 in today's currency-attest to the extensive wardrobes required by men of fashion as well as the monetary value of men's (and women's) clothes that, whether lost or stolen, were often pawned for cash. The duke's "Scarlet Suit" may have been silk, since his grey suit is specifically identified as "cloath," or wool. While the latter was used widely for everyday wear, it was also considered appropriate for formal or court wear, if embellished with metal-thread embroidery (Cunnington 71). On February 11, 1708, the Daily Courant alerted readers to a heavily embroidered wool suit that was stolen out of a house in Bond Street, London: "a new Cinnamon Colour Cloth Coat, Wastcoat and Breeches, Embroider'd with Silver 4 or 5 inches deep down before and on the Sleeves and round the Pocket-holes and the Pockets and Knees of the Breeches: they are lin'd with a Sky Blue Silk" ( Extracts from Notices, n.p.). The steel buttons on the Duke of Ormond's grey wool suit were among the many types of metal used on men's suits, including "gold, silver, gilt, white metal, dark metal, plate, pewter...wire, [and] brass" (Cunnington 47).

The reference to the duke's multiple "periwigs" indicates the custom among wealthy men to possess wigs in different styles intended for both formal and informal occasions. These indispensable accessories that signified male authority and dignity were costly-the most expensive were of human hair but horsehair and goat's hair were also used; in 1705, a full-bottomed wig (undoubtedly of human hair) was valued at £22 (Cunnington 95). The full-bottomed wig that had come into vogue in the late seventeenth century remained popular in the first decade of the eighteenth century; fashionable colors were "white, flaxen, brown, grey, grizzle (iron grey), [and] black," but powdered wigs-usually white or grey-were also worn, a trend that would persist throughout most of the eighteenth century (Cunnington 95) (Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8). In his "Portrait of a Beau" from Letters from the Dead to the Living (1702), Thomas Brown mocked the fop's enormous wig: "His periwig was large enough to have loaded a camel, and he bestowed upon it at least a bushel of powder, I warrant you" (quoted in Waugh/Men 101).

Other important accessories for men included a three-cornered black hat made of beaver, left plain or trimmed with gold or silver galloon or white feathers (the latter were associated with military men), a sword, and a cane (Cunnington 87-88) (Fig. 1). Worn on the left side, the sword hung from a belt under the coat with the point protruding through the center back vent, which was left unstitched (Waugh 52). Generally held rather than worn on the body, canes allowed men of fashion to strike elegant poses (Fig. 1). Often made in expensive materials (particularly the head of the cane), they were particularly associated with beaux (fashionable men). In addition to his oversized wig, Thomas Brown's beau is distinguished by "his cane, that hung negligently down on a string from his right arm, [and] trailed most harmoniously against the pebbles" (quoted in Waugh/ Men 101).

At the start of the eighteenth century, attitudes about childhood were beginning to change (Nunn 98). This shift was sparked by new philosophies emerging from the Age of Enlightenment. For example, in his 1693 publication, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, John Locke challenged long-held beliefs about best practices for child-rearing.

However, this was not yet reflected in childrenswear of the first decade. During this time, traditions for childrenswear were not unlike those of the previous century.

Infants were swaddled, as was the long-held European tradition (Tortora and Marcketti). Swaddling was the practice of tightly binding an infants' limbs, so as to immobilize them (Callahan). The Victoria and Albert Museum possesses a finely embroidered swaddling band dated circa 1700-1750 (Fig. 1). Its elaborate floral embroidery indicates that this was a fashionable "outer swaddling band" (Victoria and Albert Museum).

In the early eighteenth century, babies typically outgrew the swaddling phase between two and four months (Callahan). They were then dressed in "slips" or "long clothes" (Callahan). These were ensembles with a fitted bodice and a very long, full skirt (Fig.2) (Nunn 99). Babies also wore tight-fitting caps on their heads.

Once a child was becoming mobile, they transitioned into "short clothes" (Callahan). These ensembles allowed for greater mobility because skirts were cut at the ankle (Callahan). Bodices opened at the back and were boned or otherwise stiffened (Callahan). At this phase, toddlers typically had "leading strings" attached to the back of their bodice (Magidson). Leading strings were streamers of fabric used to protect young children from falling or wandering off ("Childhood").

When boys were deemed mature enough, they underwent a rite of passage known as "breeching" (Reinier). Breeching referred to the first time a boy wore bifurcated breeches or trousers, symbolizing his entrance into manhood. In the first half of the eighteenth century, boys were typically breeched between the ages of four and seven (Callahan). From that point on, boysduring this time followed menswear fashions. This is demonstrated in a 1707 portrait of Garton Orme, where he is approximately eleven years old (Fig. 3).

Girls, however, did not fully transition into adult dress until their early teens. As girls aged, elements of fashionable womenswear were incorporated into their dress. For example, the girl depicted in Figure 4 wears an ensemble resembling a mantua. However, her bodice is back-opening and she wears a white apron - characteristics unique to childhood dress. It must be noted that the painting also features an enslaved African boy, who wears a European-style ensemble and a metal collar around his neck.

References:

Aitken, George A., ed. The Tatler, Volume Two. Vol. 2. New York: Hadley & Mathews, 1899. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45769/45769-h/45769-h.htm#No_113_Hughes356.

Callahan, Colleen R. "Children's Clothing." In The Berg Companion to Fashion, edited by Valerie Steele. Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010. Accessed August 08, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781474264716.0003223.

"Childhood." In European Renaissance and Reformation, 1350-1600, edited by Norman J. Wilson, 319-321. Vol. 1 of World Eras. Detroit, MI: Gale, 2001. Gale eBooks (accessed August 7, 2020). https://libproxy.fitsuny.edu:2653/apps/doc/CX3034600137/GVRL?u=fitsuny&sid=GVRL&xid=480f4328.

Chrisman, Kimberly. "Unhoop the Fair Sex: The Campaign Against the Hoop Petticoat in Eighteenth-Century England." Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol. 30, No 1 (Fall 1996): 5-23. http://www.jstor.com/stable/30053852

Crowston, Clare Haru. Fabricating Women: The Seamstresses of Old Regime France, 1675-1791. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1170315158

Cunnington, C. Willett. Handbook of English Costume in the Eighteenth Century. London: Faber, 1972. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/731183615

De Marly, Diana. Louis XIV & Versailles. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1987. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/17917145

Extracts from Notices which appeared in London Newspapers referring to Objects of Fine and Decorative Arts. From the Burney Collection of Papers in the British Museum. 1937.

De Young, Justine. "1670-1679." Fashion History Timeline. FIT, August 18, 2020. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1670-1679/

Levey, Santina. Lace: A History. London: Victoria & Albert Museum; Leeds: W.S. Maney, 1983. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1184146859

Magidson, Phyllis. "Fashion." In Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood: In History and Society, edited by Paula S. Fass, 344-348. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. Gale eBooks (accessed August 7, 2020). https://libproxy.fitsuny.edu:2653/apps/doc/CX3402800166/GVRL?u=fitsuny&sid=GVRL&xid=0084684d.

Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Mantua." Accessed August 31, 2020. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/81809

Nunn, Joan. Fashion in Costume 1200-2000. Bridgewater, NJ: Distributed by Paw Prints/Baker & Taylor, 2008. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/232125801

Norberg, Kathryn, and Sandra Rosenbaum, eds. Fashion Prints in the Age of Louis XIV: Interpreting the Art of Elegance. Lubbock, Texas: Texas Tech University Press, 2014. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/896821988

Orléans, Elisabeth Charlotte, duchesse d', 1652-1722. A Woman's Life in the Court of the Sun King: Letters of Liselotte von der Pfalz, Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, 1652-1722. Trans. Elborg Forster. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/968168997

Pratt, Lucy, and Linda Woolley. Shoes. London: V & A Publications, 1999. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/963446693

Reinier, Jacqueline S. "Breeching." In Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood: In History and Society, edited by Paula S. Fass, 118. Vol. 1. New York, NY: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. Gale eBooks (accessed August 7, 2020). https://libproxy.fitsuny.edu:2653/apps/doc/CX3402800074/GVRL?u=fitsuny&sid=GVRL&xid=360a7a45

Rothstein, Natalie. Silk Designs of the Eighteenth Century in the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Boston: Little, Brown, 1990. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/21483608

Slomann, Vilhelm. Bizarre Designs in Silks: Trade and Traditions. Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1953. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1802362

Tortora, Phyllis G., and Sara B. Marcketti. "The Eighteenth Century 1700-1790." In Survey of Historic Costume, 266-297. New York: Fairchild Books, 2015. Accessed August 07, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781501304194.ch-010.

Victoria & Albert Museum. "Pair of Shoes" Accessed August 31, 2020.http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74717/pair-of-shoes-unknown/

Victoria and Albert Museum. "Swaddling Band." V&A Collections. Accessed August 08, 2020. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O62960/swaddling-band/.

Waugh, Norah. The Cut of Men's Clothes. New York: Theatre Arts Books, 1964. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/927414537.

Waugh, Norah. The Cut of Women's Clothes, 1600-1930. New York: Theatre Arts Books, 1968. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1074444804

Wikipedia: 1700-1709

Rulers:

Events:

1701 - Kingdom of Prussia declared under King Frederick I.

1701 - Beginning of The War of the Spanish Succession, involving most of continental Europe.

1702 - Beginning of the Camisard Rebellion in France.

1703 - Saint Petersburg is founded by Peter the Great; it is the Russian capital until 1918.

1706 - War of the Spanish Succession: French troops defeated at the Battles of Ramilies and Turin.

Resources for Fashion History Research

To discover primary/period sources, explore the categories below.
Have a primary source to suggest? Or a newly digitized periodical/book to announce? Contact us!

Fashion Plate Collections (Digitized)

Etiquette Books (Digitized)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Throughout the eighteenth century, the basic components of men's and women's dress remained the same and, until the last quarter of the century, French fashion with its emphasis on formality and opulence continued to set the standard throughout Europe.

# data[].attributes.body
By the 1820s, a matching suit, such as this one, was more common. The styles of the 1830s were prescribed by fashionable dandies, such as Alfred Guillaume Gabriel, Count D'Orsay (1801-1852), a French emigrant who had relocated to England in 1829, and influenced artists and writers in wit and dress. The prescribed silhouette was composed of a full chest, often enhanced by padding or multiple vests, and a slim waist, which was frequently achieved through a men's corset, and slim trouser-clad legs. The coat was expected to fit snugly which led to the jacket and tails being cut separately to prevent a crease from forming at the waist.

# data[].attributes.headline
eBook: Fashion and Masculinity in Renaissance Florence 

# data[].attributes.subject
eBook: Fashion and Masculinity in Renaissance Florence 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You currently only have access to Public Collections. Log in to view hundreds of curated collections from Artstor.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Artstor Digital Library is the most extensive image resource available for educational and scholarly use. Our collections feature visual media from leading museums, photo archives, scholars, and artists, offering many rare and important collections available nowhere else.

# data[].attributes.body
From Artstor: Not only is this banyan a good example of man's ornate leisure wear, but it also illustrates how fine dress silks from the previous century were recycled in the nineteenth century. This is evidenced in the style of the two pieces and the creases and piecing in the fabric, indicating it is from a former garment. Men were often depicted in portraits wearing banyans, for it made an illusion to a gentleman's high rank, general intellect, and social status.

# data[].attributes.body
Black American who became a fashion icon in Paris.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Artstor Digital Library is the most extensive image resource available for educational and scholarly use. Our collections feature visual media from leading museums, photo archives, scholars, and artists, offering many rare and important collections available nowhere else.

# data[].attributes.body
From Fashion History Timeline

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Renaissance beauty was not skin deep. In order to be considered beautiful (and fashionable), an early modern woman must also be virtuous.

Around 1474-8 Leonardo da Vinci painted his iconic portrait of the Florentine noblewoman Ginevra de'Benci (Fig. 1a). The front panel displays the aristocrat's face, while the back uses flora to represent her personality. The two sides blend together, creating a full picture of Ginevra de'Benci. The sitter wears a brown kirtle laced with blue ribbon, and a halo of tight ringlets surrounds her face. The obverse side of the portrait (Fig. 1b) proclaims Ginevra's literary intellect with a laurel leaf, which intersects with a palm frond (a typical attribute carried by martyred saints) to suggest her strong moral character. Both symbolic branches encircle a sprig of juniper, a pun on the sitter's given name. A banner of trompe-l'oeil paper intertwines all three plants, displaying a Latin motto: "VIRTVTEM FORMA DECORAT," or "Beauty adorns virtue (Brown, 64)." Ginevra de'Benci is unique within Renaissance female portraiture due to its focus on the sitter's individuality. However, the painted words "Beauty adorns virtue" reverberate across nearly all portraits of women from the period. Renaissance women were expected to use lavish clothing, jewelry, accessories, and cosmetics to adhere to contemporary beauty standards. However, Renaissance beauty was not skin deep. In order to be considered beautiful (and fashionable), an early modern woman must also be virtuous.

During the Renaissance, creating textiles was extremely expensive and time-consuming, so clothing was often recycled. If a dress was torn, stained, or became too small for its wearer, it would be cut, re-stitched, and reused as a seat cushion cover, for example, or clothing for children. Further, fabric decays quickly relative to other materials. As a result, there are very few full ensembles surviving from the Renaissance. Because pieces of clothing (and complete outfits) are so scarce, we must instead rely on pictorial media to understand what Renaissance peoples considered fashionable. While paintings are not always perfect mirrors of the past, they give us the best available estimation. Italy was a fashion forerunner at the time, and as such Italian portraiture helps us understand what people wore in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Men's dress

Fashion trends in this period were generally set by the aristocracy and upper-classes. A patrician closet relied on a vast network of tailors, dressmakers, purse-makers, metalsmiths, furriers, embroiderers, lace-makers, and leather-workers to stay abreast of the latest trends. Courts would often employ private fashion designers to clothe the royal family. A wall fresco of Ludovico Gonzaga and his Family and Court (Fig. 2) painted by Andrea Mantegna between 1465-74 elucidates what men wore in fifteenth-century Italian courtly circles. Men's clothing in this period enjoyed a wide range of colors. The courtiers wear red, blue, gold, pink, or green belted tunics. They all sport red circle-brimmed caps. Men's hemlines in the fifteenth century ended above the knee to show off two-tone hose. As the period advanced, men's hemlines ascended higher and higher up stockinged legs, ultimately culminating in the need for the codpiece in the mid-to-late sixteenth century.

This scene also gives insight into the ways clothing signaled authority and social connection in the fifteenth century. The men in the image all wear one white and one reddish stocking because this marks them as servants or household members of Ludovico Gonzaga's (sitting on the far-right side of the fresco, wearing an off-red robe) Mantuan court. The ruler has marked his courtiers with his house colors. This helped visually identify men who had sworn fealty to Mantua, and promoted tonal unity in public settings. Clothes were also often used as payment for services rendered. Clothing, therefore, was a central facet of both politics and economic stability.

In the sixteenth century, men's fashions turned towards darker, more somber hues in their fabrics. Baldassare Castiglione, writer of a popular book on etiquette, The Courtier (published 1528), tells upper-class men how to dress. Castiglione insists he:

"...would like our courtier always to appear neat and refined and to observe a certain modest elegance, though he should avoid being effeminate or foppish in his attire and not exaggerate one feature more than another." (164)

Sixteenth-century men dressed down to display seriousness and sobriety. Men's tunics, jackets, and stockings were generally tailored from black or dark brown luxury fabrics like velvet or silk. Women's clothing, however, offered more complexity and variety throughout the Renaissance.

Fifteenth-century women's dress

Fra Filipo Lippi's Portrait of a woman (Fig. 3), painted around 1445 is a touchstone for fifteenth-century female beauty and dress. The unknown sitter's lips and cheeks have been lightly rouged with cosmetics to highlight her youthful glow. Her fair complexion, bright eyes, rosy lips, and blonde, expertly-coiffed hair all refer to a popular fictional late Medieval lady, Laura. Petrarch describes his muse, Laura, in his humanist poetry collection Il Canzoniere or song book. Laura is also portrayed as perfectly virtuous and chaste in Petrarch's poems, which enhances her unearthly beauty. This book was so popular in Renaissance Italy it inflected beauty standards; thanks to Petrarch's ladylove, early modern gentlemen preferred blondes. Even Christ's mother, Mary, is depicted with golden hair in most period paintings. Women dyed their hair to achieve the desired tone. The Trotula, a twelfth-century text on women's medicine, advises:

"For coloring the hair so that it is golden. Take the exterior shell of a walnut and the bark of the tree itself, and cook them in water, and with this water mix alum and oak apples, and with these mixed things you will smear the head (having first washed it) placing upon the hair leaves and tying them with strings for two days; you will be able to color [the hair]. And comb the head so that whatever adheres to the hair as excess comes off. Then place a coloring which is made from oriental crocus, dragon's blood, and henna (whose larger part has been mixed with a decoction of brazil wood) and thus let the woman remain for three days, and on the fourth day let her be washed with hot water, and never will [this coloring] be removed easily." (Green 115)

Notice also that the hairline in Portrait of a woman is unnatural. Fifteenth-century women often plucked or shaved their hairline back several inches, towards the illusion of a lengthy forehead, a sign of intelligence. She has severely tweezed her eyebrows to complete the effect.

The dress style in Portrait of a woman is typically fifteenth-century. Fashionable gowns positioned female waistlines above the hips, accentuated the waist with a belt or girdle, and generously poured uninterrupted volumes of fabric towards the feet (Landini and Bulgarella 90). These gowns, which are referred to in period inventories as a gonna, gonnella, sottana, gamurra, or cotta interchangeably, could be hemmed at the ankles or floor. A wealthy early modern woman wore at least three-often four-complete layers of clothing in public. On special occasions a woman would wear another gown atop the gamurra called a giornea, usually patterned and made of velvet or silk brocade. The unknown figure in Portrait of a woman wears a green gamurra, while Giovanna da Tornabuoni (Fig. 4) wears both layers in her portrait. A woman's exterior-most gown was the most expensive and ostentatious, as it faced the evaluating world (Frick 162). An outer garment alone could require eight braccia, or a little over five yards (4.5 meters) of fabric. Beneath their sumptuous gowns, women typically wore a chemise or camicia (Fig. 5), an undershirt that pressed directly against the skin. The white fabric peeking out from under the larger, green sleeve worn by Lippi's sitter is an example. Between the camicia and gamurra women usually wore another over-dress. An upper-class woman's clothing was thick, voluminous, and dense.

While the ensemble in Portrait of a woman may seem simple at first glance, it is in fact very lavish when considered within the context of the fifteenth century. Her overgown is dyed a vibrant shade of green, as bright jewel-tones were very popular for women's clothing during the Renaissance. Pleats begin just below the breasts and expand at her waistline. Her long sleeves are a symbol of wealth and status, as the extra fabric hinders manual labor. Her skirts bunch and spring from her waist. Neckline and sleeves are lined with a thick fabric, perhaps muslin or even fur. Small, decorative holes are bored into her belt and undershirt. A strand of identical pearls hangs from her neck. Though the sitter's hair is covered, viewers can assume it is arranged in a complex up-do. Two types of lace make up the headdress, one porous with seamed holes. A sheer lace veil sweeps around her neck. The veil symbolizes her adherence to humility and religious norms. A closer look at the veil reveals how very expensive this accessory was: tiny pearls trim its outer edges and line the main body.

Portrait of a woman may be a marriage portrait. The sitter's hands are dotted with six rings, which were exchanged during Renaissance engagement and wedding ceremonies. Her pinned-up hair also possibly attests to her wedded status, as young Italian women only wore their hair down to announce marital availability. Further, the pearls she wears on both her necklace and headdress may also be read as potent symbols of sexual purity. Across Western Europe, young women wore pearls to broadcast their virginity, considered the most desirable trait in marriage negotiations. Her white, stippled belt may be a further marker of chastity. Belts were closely associated with marriage, sexual virtue, and pregnancy, and were commonly given as gifts from groom to bride, such as this example in the Metropolitan Art Museum's collection (Fig. 6), which bears a love poem stitched in precious metal. Women were expected to be unflinchingly loyal to their husbands. While men often waited until mid-life to marry (so that they had time to grow their estate or business beforehand), marriage age for Renaissance women was late adolescence or early adulthood, with the optimal ages for best childbearing potential falling between fifteen and nineteen. If an upper-class woman was fortunate enough to have her portrait made, it was likely in celebration of her engagement or wedding. Lippi's sitter, then, is likely a teenager.

This woman is performing Renaissance decorum, from her gaze to the position of her hands. Not only is her gaze pointed outside the frame, her eyes are also half-lidded. Downcast or avert eyes were a sign of feminine modesty. Lippi's sitter clasps one hand to her sleeve and the other lightly strokes her collar. A popular handbook for upper-class maidens, the Décor Puellarum (printed in Venice in 1469) urged young ladies:

"not to touch yourself, nor others, nor any part of the body with your hands, except when absolutely necessary. Your right hand must always rest upon your left, in front of you, on the level of your girdle."

It was socially safer for women to touch clothing or accessories rather than allow their hands to wheel through open air, or make contact with their own bare skin. Notice also how the woman is painted obviously inside, as the public sphere was generally reserved for men. Again, the words unfurling across the banner in Ginevra de'Benci, "beauty adorns virtue" may be easily applied to this sitter.

Sixteenth-century women's dress

Women's clothing in the sixteenth century remained similarly structured, with several layers beneath a sumptuous principle gown. However, a wider range of textures and additional detailing became fashionable. The Palazzo Reale in Pisa owns a rare, fully-intact Italian dress (Fig. 7) from the late sixteenth century, tailored circa 1550-60. This incredible survival gives a unique glimpse into changes to women's dress in the sixteenth century. A tight, pointed bodice laces up the sides. Tassels accentuate the bodice and would have jangled as the wearer moved, adding to the gown's lived intensity. The slits in the sleeves show off the underwear, usually made of silk or fine cotton, yet another hint that the wearer enjoys high status. Luscious red velvet panels are lined with embroidered trim. This dress is lavish in its sheer amount of fabric. The skirting extends in a bell towards the ground, and boasts a long train, heightening the public spectacle as the wearer walked through open streets. Typical Renaissance gowns covered the wearer from waist to feet, and were so long she was forced to carry her skirts to walk unhindered. Red-dyed fabrics have a long historical pedigree of association with wealth. A hue of such high saturation required the slaying of innumerable New World cochineal insects, whose bodies were crushed for textile dyes (Monnas 157).

Tightly-laced corsets entered into popular fashion in the mid-to-late sixteenth century. The introduction of the steel corset into European female undergarments is apocryphally attributed to Catherine de'Medici in 1579 (Steele 2-7). According to a popular legend, the fertile Queen consort, who was with child nine times during her marriage to Henry II of France, desired a wearable instrument to shore up the contours of her postpartum figure. However, paintings tell us body-shaping implements were introduced earlier. Notice how stiff Eleonora of Toledo's bodice is in Bronzino's iconic portrait of the Spanish noblewoman (Fig. 8). Expensive accessories also grew more lavish in this era. Eleonora wears a snood (a hairnet) and a bavero (shoulder covering), both made of cloth-of-gold and decorated with pearls.

Lavinia Fontana's Portrait of a noblewoman (1580) showcases sixteenth-century Bolognese fashion (Fig. 9). A high collar and stiff, starched ruff surround the sitter's face. A jeweled headband crowns her head. Her dress may be a wedding dress, as burgundy was a popular color for brides. This woman is careful to respect period sumptuary laws (civil restrictions on what could and could not be worn in public); women were only allowed to wear multiple necklaces if one hosted a cross (Murphy 96).

A small dog perches on her skirt beneath her caress. This animal is yet another signal to the viewer that this woman is extremely wealthy. Upper-class women often kept little dogs as luxury pets, as they were too small for hunting and thus only useful as companions and living accessories. The dog itself wears a gemstone collar. The creature is also symbolic of marital fidelity, as the animals were considered naturally loyal. The need to preserve a woman's chastity was still tantamount throughout sixteenth-century portraiture.

It is possible the bejeweled martin head hanging from her belt (a popular accessory for women in the period) symbolizes pregnancy or the promise of future pregnancy (Musacchio 172). The head swings directly below her womb. Martins and weasels (a Renaissance person would not have made a distinction between species) were thought to reproduce rapidly, and so this fashionable accessory may double as a quasi-magical token used to generate future progeny. Ermines were also symbols of purity.

Clothing and jewelry, however, are the true subject of Portrait of a noblewoman. Every facet of every jewel, every stitch of the gown is rendered with high accuracy. Caroline Murphy argues that the extensive detail paid to the elaborate gowns and jewels of Bolognese noblewomen by Lavinia Fontana act as painted dowry inventories (Murphy 88). A dowry was a case of luxury items and cash a bride's father exchanged with her groom. Upper-class Renaissance women did not work, but social norms required she wear ostentatious clothing in public. Clothing a wife was expensive, so families would often off-set the cost by providing the young bride with a set of clothing and jewelry to start her new, married life. In early modern Italy, it was possible for a woman to regain her dowry after her husband's death, the first time in her life that she had access to its wealth. Paintings like this, therefore, may be so meticulously and precisely rendered to prove what made up the dowry, should its contents ever be called into question (Murphy 88).

Together, these images explain how fashion was bound up with beauty and social expectations for women. Female portraiture depicts not specific individuals, but rather their lavish clothing and jewelry. Women were meant to be decorous and decorative. Virtue, familial expectation, and attractiveness were deeply conflated. Leon Battista Alberti states in Della Famiglia, a treatise on living well (began 1432), that what makes a woman beautiful is potential fertility:

"Thus I believe that beauty in a woman can be judged not only in the charms and refinement of the face, but even more in the strength and shapeliness of a body apt to carry and give birth to many beautiful children." (122)

In the very next line Alberti adds that "the first prerequisite of beauty in a woman is good habits" (Ibid). Alberti would have agreed with the mantra: "Beauty adorns virtue."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
"Beauty Adorns Virtue": Italian Renaissance Fashion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Renaissance beauty was not skin deep. In order to be considered beautiful (and fashionable), an early modern woman must also be virtuous. Around 1474-8 Leonardo da Vinci painted his iconic portrait of the Florentine noblewoman Ginevra de'Benci (Fig. 1a). The front panel displays the aristocrat's face, while the back uses flora to represent her personality.

# data[].attributes.headline
Article: Early, Erotic and Alien: Women Dressed as Men in Late Medieval London

# data[].attributes.subject
Article: Early, Erotic and Alien: Women Dressed as Men in Late Medieval London

# data[].attributes.body
Bennett, Judith M., and Shannon McSheffrey. “Early, Erotic and Alien: Women Dressed as Men in Late Medieval London.” History Workshop Journal, no. 77, 2014, pp. 1–25. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43299545.

# data[].attributes.headline
Book chapter: The northern Renaissance / Sara M. Harvey

# data[].attributes.subject
Book chapter: The northern Renaissance / Sara M. Harvey

# data[].attributes.body
Condra, Jill. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing through World History. Greenwood Press, 2008.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A Tour of Regency Fashion: Day and Evening Dress

The Regency Era (often given as 1812-1830, though the dates are flexible) officially began when the Prince of Wales became Regent of England after his father, George III, was declared insane. This period was dramatically different from what came before it, Georgian decadence and excess, and from what followed, Victorian morality. The fashions, of course, reflected this change. In the eighteenth century fashions were highly elaborate, made of heavy brocades and satins with copious lace trim and quilted, beaded underskirts supported by a complicated infrastructure of hoops and panniers. The entire confection would be crowned with elaborate wigs, tall feathers, and huge hats. By the 1790's, a radical change was in the air. The change was precipitated by the French Revolution and its "democratic" tenets. Noblewomen and their maids alike dressed in the new style as silks gave way to light muslins, clinging lines, high waistlines, and arm-baring sleeves. These new styles were classically influenced, modeled on the ideals of the Greek and Roman worlds that were aped by the Revolution. Throughout the Regency, there were certain elements of fashion that remained fairly consistent. Necklines were low and wide, filled in for daytime with fichus, scarves, or chemisettes; a high waistline; a fitted bodice, and fitted sleeves, either short and puffed, elbow-length, or long. There were trends; waistlines went up and down, more elaborate trims came into vogue, especially at the hems and necklines of gowns, and medieval and Renaissance details became popular, especially in England. As always, the French tended to be more daring in their fashions! Day Dress In the early Regency (approximately 1797-1805), the most common style of dress for day wear was one that was very classic in feel and simple in style-- what we often think of toady as "typical Regency". It was high-waisted with a wide neckline and rather long sleeves. Chemisettes (a style much like a modern dickey!) or fichus, often made of filmy fabrics, were used to fill in the neckline. Often there were no back fastenings;

a woman could simply pull the dress over her shoulders and tie up the drawstrings. The term "chemise dress" was very descriptive of these dresses. (pictured on right) Early Regency dresses, even day dresses, also had trains, though this trend faded around 1805. Also after 1805, the longer, tighter sleeves began to give way to the shorter, puffed style. The drawstring fastening was often augmented by a hook or button in the back, at the neckline. Waistlines continued to fluctuate, and around 1807-08 new, smooth bodices, not gathered but fitted with darts, began to emerge.

Early styles of dress had skirts of classical simplicity with very little trim or embroidery. They were also quite narrow, with all the fullness gathered in the back with the train. In the 1810s, gowns started becoming more elaborate. Tucks and flowers adorned hemlines. The English were especially fond of "Renaissance" details - ruffs, slashed sleeves, and lace (See the fashion plate on the left.). Heavier fabrics were needed to support these details, and silks and satins returned to vogue. By 1816, waistlines were at their highest, though often just a small band of fabric, and hems were at their most elaborate. Evening Dress Early Regency evening dress retained some eighteenth century richness, with colored silks and metallic trims, but the style was Classical, with high waists, narrow silhouettes and close-fitting, longer sleeves. A train was de riguer, as it was for day dress. On the whole, evening fashion tended to resemble day dress styles. When trains disappeared for day dress, they became optional for evening. Waistlines raised and lowered; fabrics became simpler, then returned to more elaborate silks, satins, and velvets. Sleeves grew and became more gathered and puffed.

By 1815, the original classical simplicity of dress had all but vanished. Layered gowns (underdresses of silk or satin, often colored, and overdresses of sheer lace or gauze) came into vogue. Hems were very elaborate, with artificial flowers, beadwork, lace and netting used. Ornamentation on the sleeves echoed that of the hems. (See fashion plate on the right). By 1825, the waistline approached the natural state, skirts were growing wider, and the fashion style of the Regency was ending. Soon it would give way entirely to the elaborate hoops and corsets of the Victorian age, sending fashion back full circle. Buy dress patterns to make your own Regency gown at the Jane Austen Centre Online Giftshop!

Ammanda McCabe is an author of Regency Romances and speaker at an upcoming writer's conference where her subject will be Regency Fashion. Her first book, Scandal in Venice, will be released this month. Order it today from Barnes and Noble! Ammanda's gown was made with "the La Mode Bagatelle Regency pattern (which can be bought at the Sense and Sensibility website). It's kind of expensive, about $48, but you can make about 10 different dress styles from it, as well as a pelisse and spencer. Very authentic, too, but a bit hard to sew. I've also made a gown from Simplicity 9221. It's easier to make, and looks fine with a few easy changes (like no zipper)." Select Bibliography Arnold, Janet. Patterns of Fashion 1. Quite Specific Media Group, Ltd.: 1975. Asheford, Jane. The Art of Dress. Harry Abrams: 19

10 comments

Visa
[url=http://www.gd7f7z612g50wn1drm62r05wrap898l7s.org/]udpwlwnvkl[/url]
dpwlwnvkl http://www.gd7f7z612g50wn1drm62r05wrap898l7s.org/
adpwlwnvkl

choloriquine
[url=https://chloroquineorigin.com/#]mefloquine[/url]
erectile meds
[url=https://erectiledysfunctionpillscvs.com/#]erectile vitimans[/url]
hydroxychloroquone
[url=https://hydroxychloroquinex.com/#]serment d'hippocrate[/url]
erectile disorder mayo clinic
[url=https://plaquenilx.com/#]plaquenil blindness[/url]
mambo 36 ingredients
[url=https://tadalisxs.com/#]tadalafil[/url]
zithromax 500 mg side effects
[url=https://zithromaxes.com/#]zithromax 500[/url]

ClarkMum February 02, 2021

For Amoxicillin 500mg[/url] Amoxicillin Online fbf.tpoc.janeausten.co.uk.uoh.dv http://mewkid.net/when-is-xuxlya/

azijeival September 13, 2020

We have a master copy of Ladies Suiting available in these brands
(Khaadi, Maria B, Kesriya, Warda, LimeLight, Nishat, Sana Safinaz, Edenrobe,
Bonanza, Bareeze, Gul Ahmad, Sapphire). Contact us to pick up wholesale and retail.
We are available in 24 Hours.
[url=https://www.mastersreplica.com/]www.mastersreplica.com[/url]

Masters replica August 27, 2020

We have a master copy of Ladies Suiting available in these brands
(Khaadi, Maria B, Kesriya, Warda, LimeLight, Nishat, Sana Safinaz, Edenrobe,
Bonanza, Bareeze, Gul Ahmad, Sapphire). Contact us to pick up wholesale and retail.
We are available in 24 Hours. https://mastersreplica.com/

Masters replica August 27, 2020

We have a master copy of Ladies Suiting available in these brands

(Khaadi, Maria B, Kesriya, Warda, LimeLight, Nishat, Sana Safinaz, Edenrobe,
Bonanza, Bareeze, Gul Ahmad, Sapphire). Contact us to pick up wholesale and retail.
We are available in 24 Hours. <a href=" https://mastersreplica.com/
">Masters replica

Masters replica August 27, 2020

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Tour of Regency Fashion: Day and Evening Dress

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Regency Era (often given as 1812-1830, though the dates are flexible) officially began when the Prince of Wales became Regent of England after his father, George III, was declared insane. This period was dramatically different from what came before it, Georgian decadence and excess, and from what followed, Victoria

# data[].attributes.body
fashion plate, from artstor

# data[].attributes.headline
(sample image found from padlet image search)

# data[].attributes.subject
(sample image found from padlet image search)

# data[].attributes.headline
book: Men's 17th & 18th century costume, cut & fashion : patterns for men's costumes

# data[].attributes.subject
book: Men's 17th & 18th century costume, cut & fashion : patterns for men's costumes

# data[].attributes.headline
Sex and suits : the evolution of modern dress

# data[].attributes.subject
Sex and suits : the evolution of modern dress

# data[].attributes.body
Jacques Doucet was first, and foremost, a connoisseur of art. Additionally, his passion for the refined and exquisite overflowed into his dealings with fashion, making him one of the finest French couturiers during the Belle Époque. The House of Doucet began as a family business, specializing in women's lingerie and laces, as well as articles of clothing for men. Founded in 1817, the company rose to fame under the hand of Jacques. The house was known for its luxurious offerings, which were worn and coveted by royalty, members of the elite society in both Europe and America, and actresses of the stage. This ball gown is simplistic in design, yet extravagant by the choice of materials used. The sheer overlayer is enhanced by the solid lamé underlayers and a sense of luxury is added by the hidden lace flounce at the hem. Undoubtedly, a woman would make an entrance in this dress, as it is extremely seductive with its form fitting silhouette and low décolleté.

# data[].attributes.headline
Book: English women’s clothing in the nineteenth century 

# data[].attributes.subject
Book: English women’s clothing in the nineteenth century 

# data[].attributes.body
Book in personal collection, also a copy in SLC collection: https://southwestern.on.worldcat.org/oclc/21080702

# data[].attributes.headline
Illustration on page 365 of English Women’s clothing in the nineteenth century 

# data[].attributes.subject
Illustration on page 365 of English Women’s clothing in the nineteenth century 

# data[].attributes.body
V&A museum collection

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
1755-1760 (made), 1753-1755 (woven)

This richly brocaded ensemble illustrates the style of dress worn by women at court in England. Known as a mantua, the gown consists of a bodice with a train at the back. A very wide petticoat of matching silk completes the ensemble along with a triangle of silk known as a stomacher, in the centre front.

Although considered stylish daywear in the early 18th century, the mantua had become very old-fashioned by the 1750s and was worn only for court dress. Wide hoops were beginning to go out of style, but kept their extreme width at court. To make up for its conservative cut, court dress was always made from the most fashionable as well as expensive fabrics and trimmings.

This example is made from an ivory silk brocaded in a pattern of stylised flowers and leaves. The abstract form of the motifs is accentuated by the non-naturalistic colours of the precious metal threads. Such a design is typical of French silk weavers and the fabric was probably imported. However it could also have been woven in London, as English weavers copied French designs very closely.

Categories

Object Type

Parts

This object consists of 7 parts.

Mantua

Petticoat

Stomacher

Brocaded Silk

Trimming

Trimming

Trimming

Materials and Techniques

Silk, linen, silver, gold; hand-woven brocade, hand-sewn

Brief Description

Mantua and petticoat of French silk, brocaded with silver-gilt threads, made in England, 1755-60 of French silk, 1753-55.

Physical Description

Woman's court mantua consisting of mantua, petticoat, unused piece of silk and 3 trimmings of figured ivory gros de tours with self-coloured supplementary weft, brocaded in gilt filé, frisé, strip and combined frisé and strip. The silk as a plain selvedge and the pattern repeat is 33.5 cm. There is a non-matching stomacher. The mantua is open at the front with elbow-length sleeves with 3 scalloped sleeve ruffles, graduating in size. The centre back is pleated. The skirt is made of 3 panels of silk, the side panels reversed so that the right side always shows when worn. The bodice is lined with bleached linen. The robings of the front extend below the waist and across the back. The robings and sleeve ruffles are edged with silver-gilt bobbin lace.

The petticoat had been unpicked and altered for late 19th-century fancy dress and has been returned to its 18th-century construction. There is a unused panel of the silk, possibly left over from the original construction and kept for later repairs if needed.

The stomacher does not match the mantua and petticoat. It is made of ivory silk brocaded with silver filé, lined with lilac-coloured silk sarsenet and bound with ivory silk grograin ribbon. It is triangular in shape with false robings each with 3 narrow, short skirts at the bottom. The stomacher is reinforced with baleen; it has decorative lacing of silver cord and 1 remaining short loop of ivory silk grosgrain ribbon on each side for fastening.

For the purposes of display, a reconstruction stomacher was made and decorated with 3 spare trimmings.

Dimensions

Intact panel of silk, including selvedges width: 53.5cm

T.592 3 1993 length: 35.5cm (approx)

T.592 1 1993 length: 129.5cm (approx)

T.592 2 1993 length: 95.0cm (approx)

Style

Gallery Label

Credit line

Given by the Crawley Family

Object history

The mantua and petticoat came into the Museum unpicked from their original construction. They were reconstructed in the V&A's Textile Conservation Studio.

The mantua belongs to the mid-18th-century ceremonial version of the gown. It arrived in the Museum in 1993 in fifteen pieces, at which stage the independent dress historian Cally Blackman made a paper pattern of it. Fourteen years were to pass before its conservation and reconstruction became possible, thanks to the development of an important loan exhibition to the Kremlin Museums in Moscow, entitled 'Two Centuries of British Fashion from the Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum'. At this exhibition in Autumn 2008, the mantua greeted visitors in all its splendour, displayed along with other simpler gowns and silks in a theatrical setting that evoked the English countryside. The process of achieving this splendid position and presence for the mantua had been complex.

The gown had been found in May 1989 by Theresa Merville Crawley while clearing her grandfather's attic in Cambridge in a box labeled 'dressing up clothes'. A paper label indicated that it had once belonged to a member of the family called Mrs Colonel Clapham, who came from a prominent Welsh family. She was granddaughter of Sidney Parry (née Lewis, b. 1738), an heiress with a considerable fortune who inherited Madryn Castle on the Llyn peninsula. It seems possible that Sidney Parry was, in fact, the original wearer of the mantua, as she was of sufficient status to attend court, of sufficient wealth to own such a splendid gown, and was between 17 and 22 when the gown was made between 1755 and 1760 - in other words at an age where she might be presented at Court.

In between the 18th-century use of the garment and its arrival in the V&A, the bodice had been used for 19th-century fancy dress. The adjustments to make it fit a 19th-century body included shortening the sleeves and removing the train. The petticoat had been taken apart entirely and reassembled, using only four of the original nine panels of silk that made up the skirt. The bodice was in seven parts, as was the petticoat. The silk was crumpled and there was evidence of considerable abrasion to the metal threads throughout the entire garment.

The conservation and reconstruction of the mantua in 2007 involved the input of many specialists. Previous curatorial records were examined and comparisons were made with two other mantuas in the Museum in order to check construction details against the pattern made by Cally Blackman in 1993. One other V&A mantua (T.44-1910) was so similar in construction that it could have been made by the same dressmaker. The paper pattern was then used to make a full toile of the mantua, petticoat and stomacher in unbleached cotton muslin. This allowed the positioning of the train, sleeve ruffles and petticoat panels to be tried out on a mannequin without handling of the mantua itself. This procedure underlined the extremely small size of the bodice, and the extremely wide skirt, and thus the need to create a custom mannequin in order to display it safely. The toile also allowed the mannequin acquired to be adjusted and padded to fit the gown perfectly.

Before the garment was reconstructed and mounted on the mannequin, the silk required conservation treatment because of previous use in at least two different centuries and a considerable time in storage. All loose gold threads were sewn down with laid couching, and the silk was humidified to remove the creases. Wherever possible the original construction holes were used to sew the panels back together. This method of working was subsequently assessed as extremely satisfactory because it had enabled a minimal amount of handling of this rare textile object, and thus protected it as far as possible against any further damage.

Support for the gown was essential. Again the paper pattern was an invaluable tool. Many layers of underpinnings were made: a stiff underskirt of cotton calico and steel boning, followed by a lighter petticoat of calico and net were covered with a silk petticoat. The bodice area was covered with cotton knit. Arms were made from silk habutae and cotton calico that were sewn to the cotton knit covering the body of the mannequin. False shift-cuffs were made from cotton lawn and then trimmed with 18th-century lace for display. They were sewn directly on to the arms of the mannequin.

Summary

This richly brocaded ensemble illustrates the style of dress worn by women at court in England. Known as a mantua, the gown consists of a bodice with a train at the back. A very wide petticoat of matching silk completes the ensemble along with a triangle of silk known as a stomacher, in the centre front.

Although considered stylish daywear in the early 18th century, the mantua had become very old-fashioned by the 1750s and was worn only for court dress. Wide hoops were beginning to go out of style, but kept their extreme width at court. To make up for its conservative cut, court dress was always made from the most fashionable as well as expensive fabrics and trimmings.

This example is made from an ivory silk brocaded in a pattern of stylised flowers and leaves. The abstract form of the motifs is accentuated by the non-naturalistic colours of the precious metal threads. Such a design is typical of French silk weavers and the fabric was probably imported. However it could also have been woven in London, as English weavers copied French designs very closely.

Bibliographic Reference

Joanne Hackett, 'She Walks in Beauty: The conservation, reconstruction, mounting and packing of an English court mantua.' The 7th North American Textile Conservation Conference Preprints. Quebec City, Canada. September 30-3 October 2009; published Omnipress, 2009, pp. 65-80 Two Centuries of British Fashion from the Collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, exh. cat., Moscow Kremlin Museums, 2008, no. 5 (text in Russian)

Collection

Accession Number

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest Feedback

Print this page

Shuffle objects

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mantua | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
1755-1760 (made), 1753-1755 (woven) This richly brocaded ensemble illustrates the style of dress worn by women at court in England. Known as a mantua, the gown consists of a bodice with a train at the back. A very wide petticoat of matching silk completes the ensemble along with a triangle of silk known as a stomacher, in the centre front.

# data[].attributes.headline
scholarly journal article: Sexuality and Social Standing in Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait

# data[].attributes.subject
scholarly journal article: Sexuality and Social Standing in Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait

# data[].attributes.headline
A Favorite Of The EmpressCage Crinoline1860-1865 (made)

# data[].attributes.subject
A Favorite Of The EmpressCage Crinoline1860-1865 (made)

# data[].attributes.body
V&A collection site

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On display at V&A South Kensington

Fashion, Room 40

Cage Crinoline
1860-1865 (made)

Crinoline consisting of a spring steel frame covered with red wool and linen. Red and white striped woven waistband fastened with stamped metal hooks and eyes, and to the back of which is attached a semi-circular red wool back panel lined with white cotton and machine stitched in white from which hang a red diamond pattern woven woollen tapes which are threaded spring steels covered with braid woven wool which wrap over to fasten with a brass metal clamp in front. The hoops reach from the sides around the back to knee level and from there to the base and around the whole of the body. The outline is circular with extra fullness at the back. The bottom row of steels are covered with a red wool 'skirt'. Extra fullness is created at the top back with half hoops.

Categories

Object Type

Materials and Techniques

Spring steel, woven wool, linen, lined with cotton, and brass

Brief Description

Crinoline 'A Favorite Of The Empress' consisting of a spring steel frame covered with red wool and linen, probably made in Great Britain, 1860-1865.

Physical Description

Crinoline consisting of a spring steel frame covered with red wool and linen. Red and white striped woven waistband fastened with stamped metal hooks and eyes, and to the back of which is attached a semi-circular red wool back panel lined with white cotton and machine stitched in white from which hang a red diamond pattern woven woollen tapes which are threaded spring steels covered with braid woven wool which wrap over to fasten with a brass metal clamp in front. The hoops reach from the sides around the back to knee level and from there to the base and around the whole of the body. The outline is circular with extra fullness at the back. The bottom row of steels are covered with a red wool 'skirt'. Extra fullness is created at the top back with half hoops.

Dimensions

Diameter: 93cm

Waist to hem, straight down height: 80cm

Round bottom circumference: 235cm

Marks and Inscriptions

'A FAVORITE OF THE EMPRESS' (Stamped on waistband)

Gallery Label

Credit line

Given by Mrs A. E. Valdez

Object history

Registered File number 1986/1672.

Historical context

The word 'crinoline' was first used in the 1840s to describe petticoats lined with horsehair cloth. These were worn with up to 8 petticoats to help support the fashionable wide skirt. Sometimes padding had to be used to give the correct shape.

By 1856, ever widening skirts meant the weight of these petticoats became very uncomfortable. Attempts were made to solve this problem, including petticoats made from inflatable rubber tubes. These were a failure owing to unexpected punctures!

The 'artificial', or 'cage' crinoline appeared in 1857 as a welcome and more practical alternative. It was made of spring steel hoops, increasing in diameter towards the bottom and connected with tapes. The earliest cage crinolines were bell-shaped.

Collection

Accession Number

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest Feedback

Print this page

You may also like

Shuffle objects

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Favorite Of The Empress | Unknown | V&A Explore The Collections

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On display at V&A South Kensington Fashion, Room 40 Cage Crinoline1860-1865 (made) Crinoline consisting of a spring steel frame covered with red wool and linen.

# data[].attributes.headline
Journal article: Deploying material culture to write the history of gender and sexuality

# data[].attributes.subject
Journal article: Deploying material culture to write the history of gender and sexuality

# data[].attributes.body
From the Met's costume collection

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Corset | British | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Inscription: [stamp] (left side in gold) American Trade Mark
[stamp] (right side in gold) European Trade Mark
[stamp] (in blue) Received in American - Aug. 21, 1886 ?
[stamp] (in circle) Special 20

Marking: [label] New York, Paris, London/Her…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The first decade of the 17th century saw a continuation of many Elizabethan trends, with small changes in skirt length, sleeve shape, and collar types slowly being introduced.

Just as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I would last into the first years of the seventeenth century, fashion trends of the 1590s would also endure into the new century. Daniel Delis Hill confirms this in The History of World Costume and Fashion (2011), writing that "at the beginning of the seventeenth century, women's clothing retained many of the contours and design elements from the end of the previous century" (406).

François Boucher offers further details in his History of Costume in the West (1997):

"Elizabethan influence lasted until well after the death of the Queen in 1603. While some forms were inspired by the Continent... drum-farthingales and starched fan collars for women - the volume of the silhouette, the richness and stiffness of materials and the heavily loaded decoration kept the character of sixteenth-century modes. Until about 1620, women still wore embroidered jackets." (273)

The foundation garment for all dress was the chemise, atop which women now wore stays to create the desirable silhouette of the time. We're given a rare peek at early seventeenth-century stays in the portrait of Elizabeth Vernon, Countess of Southampton (Fig. 1), who is shown dressing in a rather daringly informal portrait. As Anna Reynolds remarks in In Fine Style (2013): "The countess reveals her long-waisted pink stays beneath her unpinned waistcoat." (41) Indeed dresses of this period relied heavily on pinning to stay together; on Elizabeth's dressing table, a cushion full of pins to aid in dressing is visible.

Heavily embroidered bodices, or waistcoats in Vernon's case, were typical of the period, with the English particularly specializing in floral embroidered pieces. A very fine surviving example from around 1600 in the Kyoto Costume Institute's collection (Fig. 2) features "roses, peas & beans, forget-me-nots, tulips, irises, carnations, and bellflowers, ... birds, caterpillars, snails, spiders, and snakes." Known as the Devereux Bodice, it is said to have been given to Queen Elizabeth as a gift as part of an unsuccessful plea for clemency by the mother of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (Kyoto).

A portrait of an unknown woman from the same period gives a sense of the desired silhouette at the turn of the century (Fig. 3). The wheel-shaped French farthingale was still very much in fashion, though the hard edge of the skirt was often softened by a large ruffle or gathered flounce as we see here. The bodice typically came to a sharp point in the center and large leg-of-mutton sleeves were still favored. This unknown woman even wears the wired veils studded with pearls so favored by Queen Elizabeth herself.

In England and France the large starched ruffs so essential to late 16th-century dress were replaced by still large, but now open, standing collars that framed the face, as Boucher explains: "At the beginning of the century, tall starched collars spreading out in a fan shape round the head were worn by women; this fashion lasted as long as the vogue for the farthingale" (265).

These collars are sometimes referred to as Medici collars as they were worn by Maria de' Medici, Queen of France (Fig. 4), as we can see in her 1607 portrait by Frans Pourbus the Younger.

There were other changes as well over the course of the decade, particularly to the farthingale, as Hill explains: "the top edge of the farthingale was tilted at a more acute angle with an elevated back and dropped front" (406). Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel wears the newly fashionable titled farthingale in her 1609 portrait (Fig. 5). Her high hairstyle was also common in this period, as the Royal Collection Trust explains: "Her hair is piled high over pads and decorated with another ribboned jewel and pearls." Anne of Denmark, Queen consort of England after Elizabeth's death and wife to King James VI and I, wears a similar hairstyle (Fig. 6).

In Anne's portrait we also see two new fashion trends, the first being much narrower sleeves: "padded leg-of-mutton sleeves were replaced with close-fitting cylindrical types that were cropped several inches short of the wrist" (Hill 406). The second trend was "shortened hems to make feet-in new, heeled shoes, visible for the first time. These [shortened] skirts marked France's ascent as Europe's' fashion leader" (Brown 98). Anne was said to have brought other French trends to the English court, including a preference for rather low necklines that revealed the bust (a less extreme version can be seen in figure 4, the portrait of Maria de' Medici then Queen of France).

Elsewhere in Europe, fashions changed more slowly. In Spain and Holland, the large cartwheel ruff was retained as figure 7 attests:

"Flemish artist Rubens painted his wife, Isabella Brandt, wearing this huge ruff edged with lace. Ruffs achieved their greatest width in the Low Countries, where starching techniques originated. The low, curved bodice front also became a regional style." (Brown 98)

Another terrifically elaborate ruff features in Juan Pantoja de la Cruz's 1603 portrait of Doña Ana de Velasco y Girón (Fig. 8). Pantoja de la Cruz's portrait of Margaret of Austria, Queen Consort of Philip III of Spain (Fig. 9), offers another example of Spanish court fashion where the cone-shaped Spanish farthingale also endured, as did the enthusiasm for long hanging sleeves (Hill 406). Italian styles featured elements that were popular at other courts, retaining the Spanish hanging sleeves, for example, but adopting an open standing ruff, a hybrid of the cartwheel ruff and the open standing collar (or Medici collar), as seen in Pourbus's portrait of Margherita Gonzaga, Princess of Mantua (Fig. 10).

Fashion Icon: Anne Vavasour (1560-1654)

The beautiful Anne Vavasour (Fig. 1) achieved early success in life by joining Queen Elizabeth's household in the late 1570s, as Tudor historian Bart Casey explains:

"many heads were turning in the direction of Anne, who had recently come to court from Yorkshire as a Gentlewoman of the Bedchamber, the queen's most intimate group of attendants. The girl had been groomed since childhood to follow in the footsteps of her uncle Sir Thomas Knyvet, who was a Groom of the Privy Chamber, and her aunt Katherine Knyvet, a Maid of Honour. The Knyvet family was well known and well loved at court since the early days of King Henry VIII when an older Thomas Knyvet had been the king's Master of the Horse."

This attention soon became serious as she became the lover of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, a turn of events which became disastrous when she soon gave birth to a son, Edward. The Queen's spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham, wrote a letter on 23 March 1581, describing the affair:

"On Tuesday at night Anne Vavasour was brought to bed of a son in the maidens' chamber. The E. of Oxford is avowed to be the father, who hath withdrawn himself with intent, as it is thought, to pass the seas. The ports are laid for him and therefore if he have any such determination it is not likely that he will escape. The gentlewoman the selfsame night she was delivered was conveyed out of the house and the next day committed to the Tower. Others that have been found any ways party to the cause have also been committed. Her Majesty is greatly grieved with the accident, and therefore I hope there will be some such order taken as the like inconvenience will be avoided." (Casey)

As the letter suggests, both Anne and the Earl were sent to the Tower of London by orders of the Queen.

Yet that was not the end of Anne's story; after her release, she later became the mistress of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley. Sir Henry had been Queen Elizabeth's personal champion at the joust, but in 1590 at the age of fifty-seven, he was a widower. Casey continues the story:

"His wife and three children were all dead, and he was facing lonely years ahead. And that's when he invited Anne Vavasour, then about age twenty-seven, to join him (with her child) as his mistress and de facto wife. She not only accepted but also soon gave birth to her second child, fathered by Sir Henry."

Considering the Queen had banished Anne to the Tower less than ten years before, Anne (and Sir Henry's) situation was somewhat precarious. Sir Henry thus organized a charm offensive, commissioning poetry and most importantly what's known now as the Ditchley portrait of Queen Elizabeth. A highly flattering rendering of the Queen astride the globe, the portrait tellingly includes the inscription: "she can, but she does not, take revenge."

The campaign was successful with the Queen and her court even visiting Ditchley in 1592. Sir Henry and Anne were able to live happily at Ditchley throughout the rest of Elizabeth's reign and even became close with the court of King James VI and I. Anne Vavasour and Queen Anne of Denmark seem to have gotten on well and even commissioned quite similar portraits (Figs. 2-3) from John de Critz around 1605, where both wear white satin gowns with French farthingales and open standing collars and stand next to the same red chair. Anne's bodice is low, like that of the Queen, and both are decorated with pink ribbon rosettes. They share an "upswept, formal hairstyle, its structured braids elaborately decorated, [that] marks a temporary elongation of the female appearance" (Cumming 23).

An earlier portrait (Fig. 1) had shown Anne in black and white, the favored colors of Queen Elizabeth and with the pale powdered face also made fashionable by the Queen, suggesting Vavasour was quite adept at manipulating her appearance to suit the times.

As in womenswear, early 17th-century menswear styles maintained the basic features of late 16th-century dress, as Hill details, "Doublets continued to be tight-fitting, though without the peascod belly... Whisks and ruffs were still rigidly starched and supported by wire frames" (397).

Sir Walter Ralegh and his son (Fig. 1) both wear tight-fitting doublets-Ralegh also wears a jerkin unbuttoned to the navel. Sir Walter wears bulbous trunk hose with canions, while his son sports knee-length Venetians. Elaborate surface embellishment, made popular under Queen Elizabeth, continued; as the National Portrait Gallery notes, "Ralegh's jacket is embroidered with seed pearls, and his son's blue suit is silver-braided." Both wear swords at their hips; swords were the must-have accessory of the 17th century, typically worn attached at the waist via belt as seen here.

Ralegh still wears a small stiff ruff, whereas his son wears a floppy, lace-edged collar instead. Boucher explains the diversity of collar styles then in vogue: "Ruffs could be round, as in the preceding period, or soft and falling, or alternatively a stiff collar ( collet monté) supported by a frame could be worn" (252). There were even two other options beyond those, in fact: standing bands (lace-edged collars stiffened with starch that stood up and flared away from the neck at the sides and back) or falling bands (lace-edged collars made of silk or linen that fastened at the neck and draped over the shoulders, chest, and back). Ralegh's son wears a falling band as do all the other men pictured (Figs. 2-7).

Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, gives a good idea of what more fashion-forward menswear looked like ca. 1600 (Fig. 2). He wears a white satin doublet, all buttoned up, with gold-braided trunk hose and coordinating canions, bright white hose held up with ribbon garters, and a limp lace-edged falling band at his shoulders. The National Portrait Gallery remarks: "Southampton was known at court for his flamboyant appearance, particularly his auburn hair, which he wore long as shown in this portrait." He also wears white leather gloves with embroidered gauntlets-a very fashionable accessory in the 17th century. The overall effect was to emphasize a narrow waist, as Valerie Cumming explains in A Visual History of Costume: The Seventeenth Century (1984):

"The fashions of the late Elizabethan period produced wide shoulders and hips which enhanced a narrow waistline." (Cumming 18)

King James I of England wears a similar set of clothes in a ca. 1605 portrait (Fig. 3), though his doublet features a line of ribbons with gold-tipped points along the waistline, which would become a fashionable detail for several decades. His trunk hose are encrusted with seed pearls as Ralegh's jerkin had been. King James wears a cape draped over his shoulders, which are topped by a falling band. As for footwear, Boucher describes the latest styles:

"With Henri IV... shoes developed more solid forms, which were to stay in fashion without major change for most of the century: they were fastened on the instep with a bow, then with a buckle" (266).

Versions of these shoes can be seen in figures 1-4. Sir Reginald Mohun (Fig. 4) wears a white satin doublet, black and gold jerkin, dark trunk hose and canions. His jerkin like Ralegh's is unbuttoned; but jerkins in general were on their way out, being rarely seen after 1620 (Cunnington 12).

There was a new enthusiasm for coordinating ensembles, as in the pomp dress of the Elector Christian II of Saxony (Fig. 5). As the Cunningtons remark in their Handbook of English Costume in the Seventeenth Century (1972): "During the first half of the century a gentleman's suit consisted of doublet, hose or breeches, mandilion or cloak, all made to match or harmonise, with trimmings en suite" (11-12). Long, knee-length breeches like those seen here would soon replace the combination of trunk hose and canions seen in the English portraits. In the Low Countries, we see a more subdued palette in menswear looks generally. Kaspar Schoppe (Fig. 6) sports a sash, which will become a common accessory, particularly in the Netherlands. Rubens in his self-portrait (Fig. 7) wears a striking pair of orange hose-brightly colored hose also become a fashion trend in this period. Both men wear falling bands with their tight-fitting satin doublets.

As Boucher remarks: "In the seventeenth century, children's clothes were more than ever small-scale versions of their parents'" (286). There was an enthusiasm for dressing children alike as is dramatically in evidence in Lavinia Fontana's portrait of Bianca delgi Utili Maselli with six of her children (Fig. 1). They all wear elaborate Italian black and gold silk brocade fabrics paired with white, starched lace ruffs. Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Sir John Harington (Fig. 2) are also dressed alike in green doublets and breeches accented with gold. The Prince wears knee-high leather boots with large cuffs, which was one of the major trends of the first half of the 17th century.

Princess Elizabeth, aged about 15 (Fig. 3), wears a dress nearly identical to that seen on Anne Vavasour and Queen Anne of Denmark (see "Fashion Icon" section above), complete with French farthingale, standing lace collar, and elaborate high hairstyle. Maria Anna, Infanta of Spain (Fig. 4), is dressed nearly identically to her mother, Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain (Fig. 9 above). Eleanora of Mantua, then a Princess and later Holy Roman Empress, appears not at all childlike in her portrait by Frans Pourbus when she was about 7 (Fig. 5), which is perhaps for the best as such portraits were typically used in marriage negotiations between noble families.

References:

Boucher, François, Yvonne Deslandres, and John Ross. A History of Costume in the West. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/443676264.

Brown, Susan, ed. Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style. New York: DK Publishing, 2012. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/840417029.

Casey, Bart. "A Tudor Love Story: Anne Vavasour and Sir Henry Lee." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2019/03/17/a-tudor-love-story-anne-vavasour-and-sir-henry-lee/.

Kyoto Costume Institute Digital Archive. "Collections ｜Collections -1700s｜KCI Digital." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.kci.or.jp/archives/digital_archives/.

Cumming, Valerie. A Visual History of Costume: The Seventeenth Century. 3. London: Batsford, 1984. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9761398.

Cunnington, C. Willett, and Phillis Emily Cunnington. Handbook of English Costume in the Seventeenth Century. Boston: Plays, Inc, 1972. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/755269282.

Hill, Daniel Delis. History of World Costume and Fashion. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/768100950.

Royal Collection Trust. "Jacob van Doort (d. 1629) - Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel (1593-1650), Later Duchess of Saxe-Altenberg." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.rct.uk/collection/404963/princess-elizabeth-of-brunswick-wolfenbuttel-1593-1650-later-duchess-of-saxe.

National Portrait Gallery. "Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05918/Henry-Wriothesley-3rd-Earl-of-Southampton.

---. "Sir Walter Ralegh (Raleigh); Walter Ralegh." Accessed January 13, 2020. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw05205/Sir-Walter-Ralegh-Raleigh-Walter-Ralegh.

Reynolds, Anna. In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion. London: Royal Collection Trust, 2013. http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/824726826.

Events:

1600 - The East India Company is granted a Royal Charter in the Kingdom of England for trade with Asia.

1601 - Possible first performance of William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet.

1603 - James I is crowned as King of England in Westminster Abbey.

1605 - Guy Fawkes is arrested for trying to kill King James I of England, AKA. The Gunpowder Plot of November 5th.

1605 - Hemlines go up to show feet, following the introduction of heeled shoes for the rich, hence the expression "well heeled."

1606 - Jamestown, Virginia, is established as the first permanent English settlement in North America.

1609 - Galileo Galilei demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian officials.

Resources for Fashion History Research

To discover primary/period sources, explore the categories below.
Have a primary source to suggest? Or a newly digitized periodical/book to announce? Contact us!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The first decade of the 17th century saw a continuation of many Elizabethan trends, with small changes in skirt length, sleeve shape, and collar types slowly being introduced. Just as the reign of Queen Elizabeth I would last into the first years of the seventeenth century, fashion trends of the 1590s would also endure into the new century.

# data[].attributes.body
Met collection

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "In Style: Celebrating Fifty Years of the Costume Institute," November 17, 1987-April 17, 1988.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire," December 12, 1989-April 15, 1990.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Evening dress | French | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "In Style: Celebrating Fifty Years of the Costume Institute," November 17, 1987-April 17, 1988. New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Age of Napoleon: Costume from Revolution to Empire," December 12, 1989-April 15, 1990

# data[].attributes.headline
BOOK CHAPTER1 From the Artist’s Model to the Photographic Model: CONTAINING SEXUALITY IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

# data[].attributes.subject
BOOK CHAPTER1 From the Artist’s Model to the Photographic Model: CONTAINING SEXUALITY IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.

# data[].attributes.headline
JOURNAL ARTICLEFashion and Fin-de-siécle Feminisms in Rachilde’s "La jongleuse"

# data[].attributes.subject
JOURNAL ARTICLEFashion and Fin-de-siécle Feminisms in Rachilde’s "La jongleuse"

# data[].attributes.body
From book costumes of the 17th and 18th century, 391.009 c917c

# data[].attributes.body
Lionel Perau. Illustration of Regency Style couple dancing the Minuet, Publication: Vogue. 21-Aug-02. Artstor, library.artstor.org/asset/AWSS35953_35953_35707893

# data[].attributes.body
Pink was considered especially fashionable towards 1818. This portrays the transition into the Early Romantic Period.

“A Survey of Historic Costume” -Phyllis Tortora and Keith Eubank