The Late Middle Ages were a time when religion overshadowed other preoccupations, including social life and clothing. Conventionally, it was still the period when women were treated differently than men. You might have noticed the several layers of fabric inside a woman’s dress and the silkier men’s trousers. Let me put the philosophy behind this fashion, which is as misogynistic as it sounds. The Middle Ages had this idea that the body is the home of the soul, and so it must be covered so that evils don’t enter through. Biologically, the sex organs of women are inside; they are considered inferior to men. Thereby, women are more susceptible to evil because of their anatomical fate, making them wear more and more layers at the bottom during the Renaissance so that they are protected from evil. In addition to this, the easily seduced men and the potentially impure ladies themselves are just hidden. This very detail explains why the bottoms of women were covered in comparison to tighter, sleeker men’s pants. It was only for the Renaissance fashion that clothing became an expression of status and well-being. In this article, I will talk about 10 such garments from famous Renaissance paintings, along with the stories behind them, so that next time you see a painting, you know even the slightest detail. However, before anything, here’s a word from the sponsor of this article.
Designing merchandise to increase a business’s income is one of the most profitable ideas while staying connected with your audience. However, it is the printing that causes headaches, and it is crucial to keep budget and inventory in control. Our sponsor, Best Price DTF, bridges this gap and delivers vibrant, durable direct-to-film prints at wallet-friendly rates while keeping a fast turnaround for small businesses. If you know any business struggling to find such superior service or you yourself are in this position, I recommend visiting them and giving them a try.
Historical Background of Renaissance Clothing.
Before we start with the particular garment, let me give you a few details on basic fashion and taste in European countries individually. Italians never used distortions in the outline of the figures, as they never used heavy padding in their clothes, which was far more popular in the North. Spain usually had a similar dressing sense as Italians; however, with their new wealth in the sixteenth century, they invented their own styles. In 1494, when Charles VIII invaded Italy, French taste was affected by Italians, and this in turn spread to England. Finally, later on, they looked for fashion inspiration from Germany, and it was here and in the Low Countries that the costumes became enlarged, as they consisted of enormous padding. Elbows were decorated with ribbons; headdresses consisted of feathers; the party-colored hose were halfed and decorated with variegated patterns.
The male costumes always had broad shoulders through padding, tight jackets, and padded thighs. The idea was to showcase the person’s bulk through heavy clothes. Several inventories mention silk and taffeta shirts in different colors. These shirts usually had full sleeves with ruffled wrists. Several paintings show that the shirts were embroidered from the neck to the wrist.
A short timeline of Renaissance fashion is that during the 1400s, the costumes were usually long and voluminous gowns, with the houppelande and elaborate headgear. In Italy, women usually wore fitted gamurra, tall foreheads, and headdresses, but mostly they had tight necklines with different kinds of lacing and a linen shift beneath. It must also be noted that the sleeves of this dress were usually tighter, and no artistic patterns were visible. On the other hand, men wore short and close-fitting doublets with tighter leggings in shinier fabrics.
During the 1490s to the 1520s, clothing usually had puffier sleeves with ruffle designs, as if the shoulders looked more decorative and broader. Furthermore, in Venetian costumes, the gowns were notably high-waisted with necklines showing cleavage. Moderately fitted around the bust, this antique tunic was inspired by the Greek and Roman tunics. Sleeves of these kinds of dresses were braided with an underdress of linen, giving a stylish look.
During the 1530s to the 1550s, there was strong structure and polish to women’s costumes with codpieces, padded doublets, and fur-lined gowns. This style had majorly brocaded silks, as the Medicis in Florence displayed wealth and political stability through these costumes. Neckpieces and jewelry were part of Renaissance fashion, as the clothing usually showed the increasing incomes of middle-class families and nobles. For instance, in the portraits of Domenico Ghirlandaio, he usually showed women wearing Saxon gowns with huge ornaments and pendants.
Lastly, from the 1560s to the 1600s, the gowns had more stiffness, as they preferred dark and severe dresses with artistic embroidery. There was extra heavy padding in the shoulders and torso, with the starched ruffs around the neck matching the overall costume.
9 Clothing Pieces From the Period’s Art to Understand Renaissance Fashion.
1. Jerkins From The Mass at Bolsena by Raphael.
To the right of the painting, several young men of the Swiss Guard can be seen in heavily padded dress, showing that Italian fashion was affected by bulkiness too. With loose hair, these men are shown to wear wide-necked bodices. With contrasting shades, there is use of different fabrics, and there has been no slashing, which was quite common in other clothing. The garment worn over the shirt, which gives corset structure, is a vest or jerkin. This jerkin can be varied in size, and the longer version of this jerkin usually has a pleated skirt with it. The front of this jerkin is almost cut away to reveal the magnificence of this doublet (the shirt inside with ruffled wrists and embroidered collars) and is tied at the waist with a belt or cord. Like the doublet, the sleeves of the jerkin are small and sometimes padded. When this jerkin became short in the 15th century, there were moral protests that the men’s private parts and buttocks were exposed. The morality of clothing didn’t entirely die.
2. Heavy Gown From The Wedding of Arnolfini by Jan Van Eyck.
A short torso, narrow shoulders, and only a hint of the breasts, with fashionable head coverings and a gown with excessive fabric over the abdomen, can be seen in The Arnolfini Portrait. Now, this exaggeration of the abdomen through clothing is to protect the female abdomen from all sorts of gazes and evils so that it remains protected. Some might interpret the woman as pregnant, but instead the extra fabric is there as she holds the dress. In the paradox of revealing, the fashion evolves as vagueness. This heavy gown is typically assisted by the tight ruffled sleeves and neck, stirring the fashion as men’s shirts. Further, this gown is decorated with a sash of embroidered material, and the skirt is made more voluminous. A belt is usually tied around the waist to make it more shape-appropriate.
3. Horn-Shaped Headdress From The Money Changer and His Wife by Quentin Matsys.
The use of headdresses was quite famous in the paintings of the fifteenth century. The horn-shaped headdresses are combined with the lace work in The Moneychanger and His Wife. By the 1570s, the headdresses became famous, and several paintings featured them. A fabric was artistically draped over these two horns to make such a headdress. These further fueled imagination in fiction literature. Blonde-haired, fair-skinned women wore a different kind of headdress than the black-haired ones, as the former were thought to be pure. The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck also portrays this kind of headdress. To complement this shaped headdress, a delicate open-neck dress is usually paired. In this composition, the fine, delicate fabric with a lace pattern is visible; so too is the fine fabric of her chemise showing an open neck. This style of Renaissance fashion became popular in Elizabethan England, where the portraits of Queen Elizabeth I show it in practice.
4. Codpiece from Holbein, Henry VIII.
During Henry’s reign, men’s clothing was elevated as they displayed bulky and impressive splendor. The doublet was usually stuffed and padded, as can be seen in this painting. Further, slashing was done to display the fine white shirt worn beneath. In this painting, in Henry’s own suit of clothes, the codpiece protrudes through the skirt of this doublet, and it was decorated too. The tight stockings and hose were further tied with the doublet and laces. This codpiece came into early 1500s as it represented masculine vigor. These were a definitive feature of the fashion and were often protruded through the jerkin so it could also serve as a pocket. This would often look like a separate piece of material. In definitive terms, it was a padded bag that was buckled to the man’s hose to conceal the opening.
In Agnolo Bronzino’s portrait of Lodovico Capponi, the codpiece was slashed and padded with white-hose paned to further emphasize the action of brilliant dressing.
5. Doublet From The Ambassadors (Holbein).
The doublet was basically a garment that was worn directly over the shirt, and it was different from cot hardie (worn in the previous century). This doublet, from the waist down, didn’t have a skirt and was usually a covering for the man’s torso. Based on the need and look, extra padding was provided to give bulk to the man’s personality. The padded sleeves of this doublet usually reached the wrist with the shirt ruffle, and this was further attached at the shoulder by the cords. The neckline of this doublet differed greatly, as it sometimes showed a narrow V-shaped slit or a square shape. In England and Germany, the material of the doublet was slashed to show the shirt beneath as part of fashion, with the padded sleeves. When this doublet didn’t have any outer garment, then usually the sleeves became heavily padded at the shoulders. In today’s fashion, this doublet is equivalent to the waistcoat. In the painting, The Ambassador’s, doublet is shaped like a fashionable tunic with knee-length sleeves. Slashing appears in different areas to reveal the silk shirt beneath. The doublet usually differed in style and padding across Renaissance fashion.
6. Beret From Baldassare Castiglione by Raphael.
As the collars of men’s and women’s clothing increased in size, the inner shirts became less prevalent, and this was the time when the most important piece of clothing in men included a coat with long and wide sleeves accompanied by beret caps. These caps were soft and flat-crowned with velvet fabric, sometimes decorated by a jewel or feather. These were worn at an angle on the head. In Baldassare Castiglione, the beret is worn with a heavy beard, long coat, and slashing at the neckline, governing the fashion of the time. It was usually worn by the noble clergy, professors, priests, and lawyers.
7. Cote-Hardie From Annunciation Triptych by Rogier van der Weyden.
The cote-hardie was usually a tight-fitting, long-waisted garment with a skirt falling below the hips. Usually buttoned from the neck to the hem and fitted with long, tight sleeves, the dress has several layers of fabric underneath. With a boat-shaped neckline, the cut of this cotehardie was usually designed to emphasize the small waist and broad shoulders, exceeding the tailoring developments of the time. In the painting, Annunciation Triptych, the rightmost figure wears the cotehardie with side lace. If you look carefully, she wears tighter sleeves with a cloth over her head. If the cote-hardie has a shorter length over a linen chemise, then it was called a gipon, usually worn in the winter. The sleeves of this cote-hardie were buttoned from elbow to the wrist, decorated with the tippets.
8. Houppelande From The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck.
The Houppelande was an ankle-length overcoat of rich material, flared from the shoulder to the hem and fitted with a high collar. This coat was slit down the front and then buttoned from the neck to the crotch. The sleeves of this garment are enormously wide at the wrist, sometimes falling to the ground and narrowing to the tighter points. These embroidered jackets are lined with fur and expensive fabric, which we see in The Arnolfini Portrait. The black-colored overjacket with the fur boundary is the Houppelande. Sometimes this was belted below the chest. It is remarkable that at the end of the fourteenth century, this houppelande was also adopted by women, and it was virtually identical to the male version. It was often paired with the high-necked dress with enormously voluminous sleeves and girded below the bust.
9. Chaperon From Portrait of a Man by Jan van Eyck.
The chaperon was the most popular mode of headdress. In both sexes, the headdresses were famous, but in men, the chaperon continued to be fashionable. A cloth wrapped over the head in different styles, this chaperon had an eccentric way of being worn; the opening, which was originally intended to surround the face, was put on the crown of the head. The cape part, with its jagged edge, was then draped over one side of the head, and the remaining cloth was wrapped around the head in a turban style. In the Portrait of a Man, the sitter wears this exact chaperon. However, some of them had a tail with a front and back, some had two points, and others a bag instead of a tail.
Final Words.
Clothing has always served as a mark of social and economic conditions, but there is always symbolism of religion, superstitions, and emotional vulnerability or power in them. In the Middle Ages, there was a strong emphasis on religion, which shaped fashion, but in the late Renaissance, we saw a surge in accessories and expensive fabric with excellent tailoring. The constant change of the style in Renaissance fashion shows the distorted, exposed, altered, or hidden human shape.
Resources.
- Featured Image: Angel Appearing to Zacharias by Domenico Ghirlandaio; Domenico Ghirlandaio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Fashion by Gertrud Lehnert.
- A History of Fashion by J. Andersom Black.
- A History of Fashion by Rebecca Rissman.
- Fabric of Vision: Dress and Drapery in Painting by Anne Hollander.
Related Reads.
