Fashion during the Renaissance period

Fashion during the Renaissance period (1400 to 1600)

During the Renaissance period, Italy was the centre of the Roman empire.

Wool fibre was imported from Britain and silk was locally available.

Cotton, silk wool and linen were used in Italian dresses.

Well off people ordered their clothing from tailors or doublet makers

While the less affluent [people made their clothing at home or purchased used clothing.

During this time the turks had a control over a particular land routes. Thus they influenced the turbanlike hat style!

Costumes for men(1400-1450)

Many doublets worn with hose were knee length. Hukes were placed over doublets.

Whether they were long or short, most houppelands had either wide funnel shaped or hanging sleeves.

Although they were pointed, Italian shoe styles did not have the extreme piking seen in other parts of Europe.

Although hair was cut short, the bowl cut does not seem to have been adopted in Italy.

Women costumes(1400-1450)

Most houppelands for women had imaginatively cut sleeves

Foreheads were bare and fashionable high like in the rest of Europe but Italian women covered their head less completely than women elsewhere.

Italian women distinctive style of headdress was a large round beehive shaped hat, the head coverings were somewhat turban like.

Costumes for men

(1450-1500)

Worn as an undergarment, shirts were visible at the edges or openings of the outermost garments.

Lower-class men wore only shirts and underpants for hard labor.

 

Shirts were made of coarse heavy linen for lower class men and finer softer linen for upper class men

Sleeves and body were cut in one piece with gussets inset under the sleeve to permit ease of movement,

Length ranged from between waist and hip to above the knees

Doublets ended anywhere from waist to below the hip. In longer lengths, doublets were sometimes cut with a small skirt.

Four seams (front back and both sides) allowed for a close fit.

Jackets fit smoothly through the torso. They had a flared skirt that attached at the waist and ended below the hip. In the last half of the century, jackets were usually fitted over the shoulders and upper chest then fell in full pleats from a sort of yoke. Fullness was belted in at the waistline.

Towards the end of the century sleeveless jackets looking much like hukes, were seamed at the shoulder and open under the arms. Full and plated, this version was worn belted or unbelted.

Early in the century the sleeves were cut into two sections. One section was full and somewhat puffed from shoulder to elbow and the other section as fitted from elbow to wrist.

Slightly later, one-piece sleeves were full at the shoulder and tapered gradually to the wrist.

Even later, sleeves narrowed to fit smoothly to the length of the arm.

If sleeves were too tight to allow easy movement, one or more openings were left through which the long white shirt sleeve could be seen.

Some ways of permitting this ease included leaving seams open at various places and closing them with laces, or making a horizontal seam at the elbow and leaving it open at the back where the elbow ends.

 

Attachment of sleeves could be done either by sewing them into the body of the doublet or jacket or by lacing them into the armhole.

The fabric of the camicia was then pulled through the openings between the laces to form decorative puffs.

If laced, sleeves were interchangeable from one garment to another.

Hanging sleeve that were generally non functional purely decorative and attached to the jacket were still seen. This style appeared mostly in costume for ceremonial occasions. Jackets with hanging sleeves were worn over doublets so that the sleeves of the doublets were exposed.

Ceremonial robes worn by state officials and lawyers ere usually full length gowns. Placed over doublet and hose and jacket as a third, outermost layer, robes often had hanging sleeves

For outdoors and for warmth, men wore open and closed capes. These always coveted the jacket completely, varying in length to correspond with the length of the jacket.

Often they were trimmed in fur or lined in contrasting colours.

Headdress

Turban like styles, brimless pillbox styles, either soft or mid high toques and hats with soft crowns and upturned brims or round crowns and narrow brims

Costumes for women (1450-1500)

Most common combination of garments for women during the Italian renaissance was a chemise worn as an undergarment beneath a dress an a second overdress on top. There are also a number of examples of women’s dress in which only the chemise and an outer dress are worn.

The chemise called camicia in Italian was made of linen. The quality of the fabric of which it was made varied with the status of the weaver.

The fullness of the cut related to the weight of the fabric, with sheerer sleeves being cut more fully.

 

A camicia was made full length to the floor. Sleeves were generally long, some were cut in rangan style.

In  the last art of the century large sections of the neckline of the camicia were displayed at the neckline fo the gowns and fine embroidery , bindings smocking or edgings were added.

Although the camicia was an undergarment, peasant women worked in fields in camicie and in hot weather they wore camicia in the privacy of their own quarters.

Lavish use of opulent fabrics for the dresses of upper class women gave garments if relatively straight cut a splendid appearance.

By carefully manipulating the layers if the camicia, dress and overdress and choosing contrasting fabrics for each layer, rich decorative effects were achieved.

Dresses without an obvious overdress were usually either straight from shoulder to hem with a smooth fitting yoke like construction over the shoulder which opened into full pleats or gathers over the bustline.These gowns were generally belted.

Alternatively gowns could be made with a bodice section joined to a full gathered and pleated skirt. The dresses usually closed by lacing up the front and also sometimes at the side.

At the mid century necklines were usually rounded, but cut relatively high. Toward the end of the century necklines tended to be lower some more square than round , or with deep Vs held together by lacing that showed off the upper part of the chemise.

When two layers of dresses were obvious, undergarments were usually made with bodices and skirts joined.

Hey were fitted fairly closely and were visible at the neckline, sleeves and often the underarm of the outer dress.

Other dresses were often cut like a man’s huke, i.e., sleeveless, seamed at the shoulders, and open under the arm to display the underdress.

 

Sleeve styles for women were similar to those for men. The most common were sleeves that were wider above the elbow and fitted below or close fitting sleeves with opening to display the sleeves of camilia or hanging sleeves.

Mantles or capes worn outdoors were both open and closed, often lined in contrasting fabric and sometimes matching the dresses  with which they were worn. A purely decorative cape, fastening to the dress at the shoulder but not covering the shoulder or upper arms and extending into a long train at the back was also used.

16^th century costumes- influenced by French and Spain as they occupied large areas of Italy and Venice remained independent and continued to wear some styles that had unique qualities.

men costumes

white linen camicia often had embroidered necklines and cuffs. Black work, a black on white Spanish embroidery was especially popular.

Over a camicia a man placed a close fitting doublet that was sometimes worn without a jacket to create an extremely narrow silhouette.

Later on the doublets became fuller, though never o full as France, England or German islands.

Some had deep, square necklines to show off embroidered camicia, decorative slashing, sometimes with puffs of contrasting fabric pulled through slits was more restrained than other parts of Europe.

Some jackets had short sleeves, ending just below the shoulder line, which allowed a contrast between the jacket and the sleeve of the doublet.

Hose which were attached to the doublets, had a distinct, usually padded codpiece.

Codpiece- practical solution to relieving men.

Gradually became obvious feature in men’s clothing.

It was introduced to response to an epidemic in Europe, which spread very quickly.

It later disappeared when epidemic subsided.

 

Women costumes

Camicia were sometimes cut high, to show the neckline of the gown. Sometimes this was just high enough to form a small border at the edge of the neckline.

Camicia were often embroidered or otherwise decorated and sometime finished with a small neckline ruffle.

Silhouettes of the dresses grew wider and fuller.

Bodices became rigid, a reflection of the increasingly Spain’s influences on Italian styles. Square , wide, and low necklines predominated.

Sleeves widened. Often they had a full, wide puff from above the elbow to the wrist. Many were decorated with puffs and slashes. Waistlines were straight in the early part of the century. Spain influenced v shapes in front gradually began to appear as the century progressed.