Renaissance Dress in Italy
ISBN: 0 391 02362 4
Part of the "History in Dress Series". General Editor: Dr Aileen
Ribeiro.
Published by Bell & Hyman: London, and Humanities Press: New
Jersey, 1981.
First published by Humanities Press Inc., Atlantic Highlands, NJ
07716.
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This large, splendid book forms the cornerstone of my collection.
Without a doubt it is worth the money I paid for it and the time it took
to track down. It isn't a pattern book and won't show you exactly how to
make a cioppa. What it IS is a book to teach you what to look for in terms
of getting "the look" right.
Chapters include sections on clothes, jewelry, and other topics of
intense interest to costumers. A very comprehensive glossary and
bibliography are also included.
Chapter Overview
The Quattrocento: An
Introduction. Covers a brief historical overview of Italy. Discusses
city-state political systems and development of the Renaissance economy,
the rise of the florin as a monetary unit, and the importance of banking.
Also discusses some aspects of social life, such as surnames, how girls
were raised, and how one attained and kept noble status. Extended
discussion of marriage contracts and ceremonies. Art and art patronage,
especially the sometimes strained relationship between a patron and his
artist. Sumptuary laws and conspicuous consumption, and sermons
railing against excessive adornment.
Chapter Two: The Making of Renaissance
Dress: 1400-1430. Gothic fashion and how it gradually changed. How
Classical-era nostalgia brought togas and mantles to early Renaissance
art. The layers of men's and women's clothing, and differences between
summer and winter garb. Some terminology. Discussion of headgear and
cloaks as well as other women's accessories (among other things, balzos
and turban-style headdresses). Trim and embellishments. Men's attire --
layers, fabric types, accessories, terminology. Hemlines, sleeve lengths,
and a full-page-sized shot of the infamous Sienese fop. More sumptuary
legislation information.
Chapter Three: Cloth of Gold. Luxury
fabrics: wool, silk, cloth-of-gold, furs, fustian, linen. Florentine
luxury woolens, plus information about fulling and dyeing. Information
about English imported woolens. Various guilds and their involvement with
the clothing trade. Much discussion of silk and velvet production and
trade. Some pictures of extant woven fabrics. Damask weaving and figured
textiles. Importance of various motifs, particularly the pomegranate.
Trade connections between Italy and the Orient and Near/Far East. Dyes --
where they came from, what was most fashionable, sumptuary laws regarding
them, costs of them from an extant document.
Chapter Four: Dress as Narrative:
1430-1450. A shift to a more urban, humanistic lifestyle, particularly
around the Medici family of Florence. A resurgence of interest in
classical Greece and Rome -- long lost texts and treasures sought. A new
concept of the courtier and the importance of fashionable dress. A gradual
shift in the cut of clothes from the Gothic to a recognizable Renaissance
silhouette. Discussion of headwear -- ghirlande and balzi
particularly. Discussion of how a balzo may have been made. Much
discussion of how fashion was depicted in art, and how clothes of
allegorical figures were frequently "timeless". Metaphors such as clothing
colors. Mourning colors and sumptuary laws about it.
Chapter Five: Extravagance at Court.
Focusing on Pisanello's costume designs -- the fantastic and fanciful and
how much of it actually appeared in real clothin of the time. Fantastic
portraits painted to display the wealth of leading families and
commemorate their life events. Various extant letters detailing fabulous
court garb. Discussion of Beatrice and Isabella d'Este, including a full
shot sculpture of Beatrice and Ludovico's tomb.
Chapter Six: The Image of Beauty:
1450-1480. Printed books, the spread of ideas, and the establishment
of the portrait as an art form. Sumptuary laws made in reaction to the
runaway conspicuous consumption of fine clothing -- the new bourgeoisie.
The expansion of wardrobe sizes. A change in the structure of garments,
with a closer-fitting bodice, tightening of the sleeves, and separation of
sleeves from garment bodies. Raising of the shoulderline. Terminology is
discussed. Sleeves were specifically mentioned as tying in at the
shoulders. The ideal woman -- appearance and clothing. Simonetta Vespucci
discussed. Savonarola's views discussed. Perfumes discussed. Some extant
documents' references to period beauty "aids" given, as well as recipes (I
don't think modern readers should try these). Hair lighteners and
dyes.
Chapter Seven: Jewellery and Embroidered
Devices. Splendid discussion of jewelry in period. Discussion of why
there is little surviving jewelry from this period. Gemcutting techniques
-- cabuchon, faceting. How stones were arranged (bold and simple designs).
Relationship of jewelry and clothing. Influence of Classical themes and
archaeology in jewelry (particularly in cameos). The importance of
goldsmiths and engravers to the jewelry trade. Gem-engraving, niello,
miniatures, and other techniques. Fabulous displays and conspicuous
consumption. Men's jewelry. Jewelry worn on the head -- tiaras, circlets,
brooches, hat badges, plumes, and the pearl-strewn rete. Jewelled
belts. First mention of earrings 1425 (Sicily). Bracelets coming into
vogue. Embellishments such as points and eyelets, as well as buttons and
decorative beading. Embroidery also covered, particularly embroidery
involving pearls, slogans, motifs, and other forms of personal and
familial devices. Genoese tower motif mentioned.
Chapter Eight: The Diffusion of Foreign
Dress 1480-1500. Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael -- high Renaissance
art contrasted with numerous social and economic problems throughout
Italy. Invasion of 1494 by Charles VIII of France. Final transition to
very close-fitting garments and a youthful, nubile silhouette,
particularly in young men (tight doublets and hose without an
over-garment), and very low necklines on women. Substantial contrast
between voluminous undergarment and constrictive dress/doublet. Sleeves
not only split from bodices but also split top from bottom, with lacing a
major design element. Spanish influences on various city-states,
especially Milan, Ferrara, and Naples. Blackwork, fine silk veils,
embroidered chemises. Other influences: Oriental, German, etc.
Glossary. See a copy of it here.
Appendix: Extracts from contemporary
documents relating to clothing. Inventories of various people,
including a merchant (1424) and one of the Medici girls' gift lists
(1432). Materials for a rich silk merchant's wife's wardrobe, 1447.
Inventory of Puccio Pucci, just clothing (original list includes,
apparently, room-by-room inventory of everything), 1449. The dowry of
Ippolito Sforza, 1465. Various letters of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 1475,
detailing his expenditures on fabric. A doctor's inventory of his own very
practical wardrobe, 1483.
Select Bibliography. See a copy of it here.
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