The 14th Century bust: part 3

I spoke in Part 2 about the fashionable female silhouette of the first 3/4 of the 14th Century and how it is very different from the 15th Century fashions, particularly in the bustline which is de-emphasised through flattening of the bust and the lack of visible cleavage, even on reasonably low/wide necklines. Here I'm going to do a quick jaunt through female fashion of 1375-1400, again with emphasis on the bustline.

~ Part 3: The Fashionable Female Silhouette 1370-1400 ~

Heavenly headdresses

No, I haven't forgotten about this blog - or about the series I was writing about the 14th Century bust. I haven't just been somewhat consumed by work and by modern projects (lots of knitted Christmas presents) and now by Christmas itself.

However, this lady's page was just too inspirational not to share. In particular, her headdress interpretations here, her St. Brigitta caps and her AMAZING step-by-step photo-guide showing how she arranges her veils. (I particularly love seeing a fellow uberlong-haired lady demonstrating how the hair itself has the potential as a base structure for the fantastical headdress structures).

There is also an interesting series of headdress interpretations here.

I often feel headdresses are an underrated, underappreciated part of medieval dress. Far too many people ignore or forget headdresses, either out of ignorance of ways to wear them, fretting about them being "uncomfortable" or because they let modern sensibilities and/or politics tell them that "it looks stupid/ugly" or "it's anti-feminist".

Personally, I don't see the point of going to all the effort of making a beautiful, accurate outfit only to ruin it by missing out the crucial accessories or by wearing the wrong accessories with your outfit (clue: a large, plain oval veil is not appropriate for all eras or all classes!). It is not that difficult to make a basic veil appropriate for your era. It only takes experimentation and practice to make it comfortable (or, at least not uncomfortable). As for them being ugly - well, men's hose, codpieces or the pregnant look of the 'gothic slouch' are pretty ugly to most modern eyes. Finally, whatever your opinions on veiling in a modern context, I think it does our forbearers (for-mothers?) a disservice to ignore what was a critical part of their dress and their everyday life.

Well, enough ranting from me for tonight. Happy holidays, all. I shall see you in the New Year.

The 14th Century bust: Part 2

I started by considering the common methods of bust support used by individuals reproducing English/French 14th Century female fashions. However, of course, it is more important to consider the historical evidence: the silhouette of the era and any primary sources (documentary or archaeological) for bust supportive methods. This post will consider the historical silhouette. 

I shall not be considering the 15th Century - it is not my area of interest whatsoever. However, I hope I can convince you that for the vast majority of the 14th Century the female silhouette is completely different from that of the 15th Century and thus what applies to the latter will not necessarily apply to the former. 

~ Part 2: The Fashionable Female Silhouette 1300-1375 ~

The 14th Century bust: Part 1

When it came to making an English upper-class 14th Century dress, there were lots of things to consider. Now, one day I will sew all the buttons back on it (!), acquire a camera that works (mine recently died), put it on and get some good photos for you all. In the mean time, I shall ramble a bit about my thoughts on English/French 14th Century female fashion and the bust in particular.

~ Part 1: Introduction ~

Lace cowe de race: redux and analysis

Ages ago, I wrote about my first attempts at some fingerloop braids. Among those was the cowe de race, a rather intriguing braid which includes an instruction that is not seen in any other braids in the Tollemache, Harley or Serene manuscripts:

"...and then shall A right enter into B of the same hand from within outward and under all the bows of both hands take the over side of A left reversed..." (Tollemache)

The missing 14th C sleeveless shift

I'm afraid work and hot weather mean no actual interesting things of my own to report on.

However, in more Lengberg-related news, Cathy Raymond has written an interesting blog post about late medieval underwear, specifically the Lengberg pants and whether they are a male or female garment.

She also links to a recent PDF by Rebecca Lucas, who has hunted through the literature to answer one of the great mysteries of late medieval underwear. Namely, the source of the sleeveless "chemise of the fourteenth century" shown in a black-and-white photograph in Kohler's "A History of Costume":

It is from a cash of objects found during building work in 1867 in Burg Rahnis, Thuringia, Germany. It is described as being made of coarse linen, not silk as has been previously speculated, with "inserted wedges on both sides" (translation by Rebecca Lucas). It was kept in a private collection, possibly the museum at Burg Rahnis - however, this museum was sacked in World War II and its contents stolen. The whereabouts of the shift is currently unknown.

However, that's a lot more information than I previously had - simply that it was lost in World War II.

Germanic weirdness

Someone Germanic, please, please make a reproduction of this!

Oh, my goodness. How much weird awesomeness can you fit into one effigy? It's got utterly bizarre tippets, an off-the-shoulder dress for Elizabeth, and look at those slits with the three buttonholes on Ulrich's tunic. Interestingly, they both have long, loose, wavy hair and a band around the head - possibly this is because they were both children when they died, as is revealed in the inscription (see bottom of page).