2005-02-17 - 3:50 p.m.

So no fencing practice for me tonight. I will be at home working on my now infamous Italian Ren dress for this Saturday.

But it will be worth it.

Darned dress is coming along really nice, and I am hoping that I will be able to make the coverciere on time as well. If not, oh well. There is KASF.

Speaking of dresses, I have found some more information on French fashion, and this time people did have their clothes on. (What more can I ask for?)

According to Andre Blum, author of "The Last Valois," and who was a conservator at the Louvre (book was published in 1951), French fashion at the time I am studying, was heavily influenced by Spanish, Italian, and even Flemish fashion later on. So my theories seem to be correct. Yay!

It appears that a point was reached when everybody influence everybody else. However, everyone put their own flair to each particular fashion.

In a very simplistic way, it can be summed up as follows (or at least this is what I currently think, barring some more research -- remember, this is work in progress):

Spanish Fashion: Somber elegance. Monastic. If you are the kind of person who likes to dress all in black, this is the look for you. They invented the "quilted bodice" and the farthingale. The "Spagnolized" figure, meaning the corseted figure with the small waist, is their invention. (No wonder, they are also the cradle for the Spanish Inquisition. So which came first?)

French Fashion: Sober and delicate elegance, some frills, clean lines. Borrowed heavily from Italy but they had their own thing going on too. Lots of black but also lots of red and white and gold. They borrowed the "quilted bodice" and the farthingale from the Spanish, the ruff from the Italians, and put their own stylish flair to it. Carcanets galore (although they did borrow those from the Italians as well). Mutton-leg sleeves, hanging sleeves, padded rolls. You name it. Partlets are worn open at the neck with a small ruff and a carcanet, or closed with a medium ruff.

Italian Fashion: Imaginative, festive and very sleek. Cool doublets with short-sleeved, puffed and slashed jerkins and/or overdresses. Lots of reds, salmon, russet, black, gold, green, orange. Although they invented the ruff, you won't see the "head in a platter" effect as much as the open neckline, which is much more flattering.

German Fashion: They are their own thing, particularly where the Landsknecht is concerned. They go from very simple doublets and skirts, to really outlandish stuff such as plunderhosen (for the men). However, you can see some Spanish influence on the Surcotes they wore as well, and Italian on their ruffs.

English Fashion: Bigger is better. Louder is even better. Take all of the above and elevate it to the N potential. And you don't even have to be tasteful. They can make a peacock hide in shame for not being flashy enough. Embroidery? Why stop at the cuffs when you can embroider the whole damned thing? Big sleeves? We'll show you big sleeves! And I think that they were the only ones who used the partlet opening in a "triangle" between the ruff and the bosom. At least, I have not seen it anywhere else.

There is of course much more to those fashions than what I have mentioned here, but this is just a short journal posting and not a research paper. I am seriously thinking about creating a costuming diary -- not a journal but a webpage -- and take it from there.

With my famous HTML secret powers, that should be interesting . . .

Frogs of the world, unite!

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