FAQ: Men's Renaissance Costume
by Vangelista di Antonio Dellaluna
What Was the General Look?
In the last part of the 15th century (called the "quattrocento"), men wore a fluffy white undershirt called a "camicia" underneath a doublet called a "farsetto", and over that a "roba" of some sort. They wore hose called "calze" on their legs; if they had to wear shoes, like for being outside, the shoes are usually soft boots that hit about calf-height. On their heads they wore some sort of hat. Younger men usually wore simple woolen caps, while older men might wear more elaborate or stiffer-bodied hats. Very seldom does one ever see jewelry, even rings, in portraits, though when one does, they are of a pleasing, simple design focusing on cabuchon or simply faceted stones. Men are depicted as clean-shaven, with hair cut about like it is today, usually nape-length.Later in the period, one sees more fitted coats called "vestito" that
take the place of the doublet/robe combination. These coats have a
one-piece sleeve that almost looks leg-o-mutton, and a thigh- or
knee-length flared skirt.
The nice thing about this period, for men, is that while it does involve skirts and hose, it doesn't involve excessive ornamentation or complicated styles. Also, it isn't done to death -- men in Italian garb are still rare in the SCA.
Most men will find the simplicity of design, combined with the rich fabrics of the era, appealing. It's a very graceful, sophisticated silhouette, flattering to any size.
Starting at the Beginning
Camicia A thin, comfortable linen undershirt with poofy sleeves and a generally loose body. The neckline can be gathered to a standing collar, or left loose to be gathered in by the neckline of whatever's worn over it. The sleeves generally are considered to gather to a cuff, unlike women's camicia, which are thought to be loose at the edges (though if you leave the sleeves uncuffed, make them a couple inches longer; in wearing, my own uncuffed camicia sleeves frequently did funny things under my sleeves). Most patterns for a man's camicia utilize a raglan construction, with the sleeves inset to the collar. This pattern here, at Reconstructing History, is slightly different, but would work, with modifications to the neckline.
The important thing about the camicia is it's meant to stick out a bit from whatever's underneath it. This accomplishes two things: First, it keeps the potentially scratchy material from irritating your skin, and second, it keeps the dirt and sweat of your skin off your expensive fabrics. If you can avoid spilling things on your garb, the only thing you should need to wash frequently is the camicia.
Fabrics to use: ideally, extremely light linen, but sari cotton works nicely here as well. Any thin, light, cotton or linen fabric will work, as long as it's white. Even peasants are shown in white undershirts.
Underwear If you're really interested in period underwear, think "low-cut white boxers". Make that "VERY low-cut white boxers". There do not appear to be waistbands or leg bands associated with them. One assumes that linen was used here as well.
What the Well Dressed Florentine Man Wore
Doublet The doublet is sometimes called a farsetto, though there are dozens of terms describing different kinds of doublets. In the period from 1450-1460 or so, sleeves are shown as two-piece, with a very full upper sleeve and a very fitted lower sleeve that hits just above the elbow. From 1460-1500, sleeves are usually one-piece and very fitted, with some fullness at the shoulder like a leg-o-mutton sleeve. The sleeves usually lace at the forearm, either by holes cut into the fabric, or by way of rings sewn on top of the fabric (or on the bottom of it).
Doublets close in front in a variety of ways, from ribbon bowties to buttons to laces; there doesn't seem to be any one popular style. They are almost always front-opening. Sometimes they are closed up tightly in front, though sometimes the sides allowed to fall apart loosely. In some cases, the doublet is almost entirely open in front, revealing the white camicia underneath behind long swathes of lacing. The doublets almost always have standing collars, but not quite as high as the one of the camicia underneath. They also almost always have skirty-looking panels sewn to their lower edges, usually 2 in front and 2 in back. The panels range in length from 2" to 6" or so. Since you were always supposed to wear something over them, this immodest display almost never shows anyway.
Later in this period, around 1460 or 1470, one begins to see skirted doublets worn without robes over them. These doublets feature a fitted torso and sleeves, with knee-length pleated skirts. One also may occasionally see young men in doublets with very short or nonexistent skirts worn with only hose, with no robes. It was a daring time. Of course, older men, or men in authority, were more conservative in dress.
Robes Similar to the houpelandes of other countries in Europe,
these outer garments, called, variously, cioppas or giorneas, were very
pleated. These are thick garments, with big, bold pleats held in place by
way of fabric tapes sewn to the inside of the garment. They generally
reach to the knees or mid-thighs of younger men, though older men seem to
prefer ankle-length cioppas. The sleeved varieties are usually belted,
with buckles usually in back. Sleeves can be of almost any shape, but are
usually very full-cut. The most common style is split, similar to the
Spanish sleeve of later Elizabethan times. Angel-wing sleeves, cut in a
giant circle shape, are also popular. Unsleeved varieties of robes, called
giorneas, can be either open or closed at the sides. If open, the sides
can either overlap to form a functional barrier, or can be totally open so
anybody can see the wearer's clothes through the sides the giornea. If
giorneas are belted, sometimes only the front part of the garment is
belted, so the back panel flies free (as many SCA ladies already wear
belts with sideless surcoats). The panels are still caught with tapes, so
the pleating never falls out. The giornea is by far the preferred outer
garment for young, fashionable men for most of the period.
Fabrics to Use: Almost anything that makes you happy. Canonically, wool or silk is traditional for doublets, and wool or velvet or heavy silk for the outer garments. However, I've found references to linen doublets in online dictionaries. The outer garments do need to be of something heavy. I've used quilted linings (quilting batting between layers of thin cheap cotton) very successfully here. For hot weather wear, use a single layer lining of Trigger or 100% cotton denim under your fashion fabric, and go with a sleeveless giornea, or, if you're adventurous, just a doublet and hose.
When trying upholstery fabric, avoid anything with a backing. Also try to avoid man-made fibers if you can. I say this not out of snobbery but because they are VERY heavy and hot. Search sale tables for your fabric: a full angel-wing sleeve cioppa can run you up to 15 or 16 yards of fashion fabric. A giornea, you can expect to run about 4 yards of 60".
Trims: Not strictly necessary. Florentines liked to let the fabric speak for itself. If you must trim your garment, think about a fake-fur trim along your hemlines and neckline, or thick velvet ribbon trim. Avoid lace or anything frilly-looking. Metallics are fine here. If you feel adventurous, sewing pearls and gems onto the fabric is fine. Embroidery can be as simple or as complex as you like, but blackwork extravaganzas are a bit later in the period here, 1520ish.
Accessorizing
Hose These are the leggings your mother warned you about. Fitted
through bias cutting, these hose can be more like footie tights, or they
can be single-leg jobs that can interchange. Either way, they lace to the
doublet by way of rings or holes set into the doublet's waistband or lower
edge. Cutting-edge fashionistas would wear different colors per leg. If
you really want to get daring, try making one leg partecolored. Red is a
very popular choice for hose, but they come in just about all vivid colors
from white to red to green to blue to black. Color matching is not
necessary in the slightest, incidentally. Hint: If you want to cheat,
regular opaque tights will do here, in a pinch. If you wear them
without a robe over the doublet, you're also supposed to wear a codpiece,
which is basically a padded triangle-teardrop laced over the hole in your
hose. Codpieces range from subtle to silly -- you pretty much can't go too
wrong here.
Fabrics for hose: In period, wool was the common hose fabric. For moderns living in hot climes, allow me to suggest linen or 100% cotton, both in thin weights.
Shoes Hose evidently came with thin soles, because most of the indoor portraits show men wearing hose and no shoes at all. Outdoor portraits show men wearing, variously, flat shoes of the deck-shoe/Chinese flat variety, sandals similar to the toe sandals the Japanese wear, and calf-high, somewhat floppy soft boots. I have seen little indication of lace-up shoes or boots, though that doesn't mean they don't exist. Chopines were sometimes worn over footie hose when one had to go outside.
Headgear Headgear could go one of two ways: a complicated,
padded-roll liripipe sort of affair, or a very simple cap of the
brimless-baseball cap genre. Brace yourself: the flat caps of the
Tudor-ish renfaire don't really happen here. You do sometimes see what
looks almost like a felt cavalier/swashbuckling hat, but the traditional
circular flat cap and mob cap are not in evidence. Headgear is usually
black or red, though other vivid colors are evident -- deep blues and
greens predominantly. Hats are almost always made of wool, either felted,
knitted, or woven. Within these constraints, men of this era enjoyed a
wide latitude in fashion. You will see hundreds of different kinds of cap,
and as many designs in the more complicated headgear.
Jewelry Brace yourself again: Except for chains of office, there really isn't much ornamentation on Renaissance men's portraits. A few portraits, notably one of Duke Montefeltro's son, show pearls edging clothes, and some descriptions give us an idea of the lavish decorations employed, but very few portraits show any kind of adornment. Pearls are definitely the fashionable adornment, particularly pearls that spell out mottoes. By far the most popular kind of jewelry is the ring. Though details are difficult to make out in many portraits, a channel-set cabuchon appears to be the most popular style. Faceted gems are fine, as long as they aren't too complicated.
Jewelry sourcebooks also note that a peculiar jewelry called "memento mori" was making inroads in Europe around this time -- jewelry depicting skulls, bones, and skeletons, thought to remind people of their own mortality. Though many examples of this style exist, I have not seen these pieces in portraiture.
More to come.......
