Women Fashion During the Renaissance Period.

Women Fashion During the Renaissance Period.

Abstract.

During the renaissance period, various factors affected the fashion of clothing to be adopted as the designs were influenced by the extravagant costume history and the cultural trends of the time. Additionally, these styles and designs kept changing from one year to another. History places Italy at the center of the renaissance era. Fashion regarding women outfits taking a more complex and extravagant approach. Women’s personality was valued dramatically by what matched them in terms of style and design of clothing. Despite various factors that dictated what women would wear such as climate (sunshine forbid women from having their head uncovered by hats or scuffs in step to prevent tans and burns from the sun, from the fact women were much valued with a whiter complexion), and sumptuary laws as well as the economic status that guided on the capacity of owning luxurious clothing, women’s value on fashion remains upright. This went to the extent that they appeared to have been bewitched by lavish displays and female ornamentation that was the order of the day.

Introduction.

Though there are many variations in fashion from era to era, for the renaissance life, clothing and fashion were critically important. Mostly, the style and dress of that period were greatly influenced by the wealthy who used style to convey a way of displaying their wealth and success. Wealthy individuals would display themselves in a variety of clothes made from finer materials of silk and fur, unlike peasants who would present themselves in one or two fashion sets. Fashion was significantly adopted by both genders; though women presented out more complex designs, men appeared to embrace colorful tights or stockings with a shirt and coat called a doublet with hats as well.

The fashion designs for women constituted long dresses that were maintained with high waists and puffy sleeves and shoulders. For the wealthy, elaborate jewelry ornamented from gold and expensive jewels like sapphires and pearls distinguished their class. At times, they incorporated gold and silver threads as embroidery on their dresses. The underlying culture during the period reflects total reliance on fashion, particularly in women. This exploratory research paper analyzes the renaissance period to examine how women, mainly, thrived with fashion as a very crucial way of life during that time.  The article further examines the influences that dictated fashion, such as war and laws, and gives a clear analysis of the period and its influence on fashion and clothing. Specific examples of designers for the period and modern designers or fashion houses utilized during that period are also explored.

The Northern Renaissance Period and Women Fashion.

The fashion and clothing designs for the period 1500s-1600s were influenced by royalties. Civil wars, too, brought in tensions that played a part in influencing what to wear. For the case of England, both civil wars and royalties played as influencers of fashion. It’s archived that Ann from Austria ones wore an open bodice that had closed cuffs, only for this fashion to trend later. Furthermore, the women’s dress during the Elizabethan era influenced fashion as ii presented itself with an elaborate and detailed way of relaying information about the woman wearing it (Welch, 2009).

According to Welch (2009), during the renaissance period, rules about clothing and fashion depended on where one lived as there were all sorts of rules and laws that governed and dictated what to wear. Typically, these laws and rules were passed with the intention of keeping the poor or the lower classes of individuals from wearing clothes that were deemed fancy. These rules in some regions only allowed the wealthy and nobles to wear fur. For the case of England, long enumerations of rules and laws referred to as Sumptuary laws were listed to serve as the distinctive constitution of who would wear what type of cloth and of which fashion. Therefore, depending on one’s station of life, a person was only allowed to wear clothes of certain materials and colors. As fun fact during the period in relation to women dressing and fashion, the Jewish people (men or women), were coerced to wear a different type of fashion to distinguish them from others. The basic distinction encompassed Jewish men wearing yellow circles on their shoulders while the Jewish women were to wear yellow scarfs. Also, given the fact that women were desired with white complexion, they were referred to often wear veils or hats to prevent them from getting tan from the sun.

Relating the renaissance period influences on fashion to the current world fashion trend, the older days of the renaissance period’s fashion was varied by the abundance of control, influence, and power trend that changed the styles. Unlike those days, present fashion styles and clothing is dictated by celebrities. For the most part of the Western and Northern European regions, numerous monarchs influenced renaissance fashion. History presents that the most influential monarchs that significantly affected the fashion and clothing designs of that time were associated with Henry VIII and Elizabeth 1. During the beginning of the renaissance time, women renaissance clothing was made to constitute a high and round neckline that covered their chests. These clothes were made with layers of fabric. But as time went by, fashion was influenced, and the neckline began to drop and became more V-necked around the chest. Further over time, sleeves and dresses became fuller and with more intricate details and designs. As time dictated fashion at the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, women used to wear an undergarment called a chemise that was a snowsuit and was worn privately, but over time this undergarment became part of the wardrobe. As illustrated earlier, class played a critical role in what women wore; the wealthy would present themselves in dresses with added color, flare, and fullness of outfit with a more ornate chemise underneath, unlike lower-class women who were only allowed to put on one color, and thus, would slash their clothing to make the underneath color visible through (McCall, 2017).

Women’s fashion during the renaissance period was also influenced by marital status. Women’s hairstyles and hair dresses were relied on whether they were single or married. Single women would wear their hair down in loose curls. After the wedding, they would start to wear their hairs up and in tight braids (McCall, 2017). Rules and laws played a part in deciding clerical dresses later during the renaissance period; black became the accepted color for the lay and clerics, white for pope’s biretta, scarlets for cardinals, and purple for bishops.

It is worth noting that during the 15^th -17^th century, there were many sumptuary laws that aimed to regulate the resultant extravagance observed by women with regard to fashion. The vast majority of the Italian sumptuary laws regulated women’s attires, which was an aspect that was overlooked in the sumptuary laws of the monarchies whose objectives were to increase the grandeur of the king and limit the power of the nobility. Women of this time appeared to have been bewitched by rich displays.  Female ornamentation was the order of the day (Currie, 2018). The vast majority of women during the renaissance times due to reliance on fashion and clothing, they have held captives of what to wear as the only way to tailor their social persona. But the emergence and increasing application of the sumptuary laws started to shape a different thriving environment for women’s fashion given the fact that Italian Sumptuary laws applied equally to all the women of the period with little regard to social class.

Due to the patriarchal society of the renaissance time, women were essentially outsiders from her husband’s lineage. As such, the identity of women was more fluid compared to that of men. This thrived as an aspect for women to thrive on by embracing fashion. However, despite the fact that the sumptuary laws focused on the extravagance of fashion embraced by women, it as well served to limit women from making independent decisions regarding dresses as they could wish (Currie, 2018). But this does not mean that women had no voice whatsoever with respect to fashion and the sumptuary laws. There were instances of women protest against these laws concerning their limitations to fashion. History puts that Venetian women in 1537 petitioned to the pope regarding these laws and were successfully exempted from them. This was not experienced by women from the aristocratic republics as they held fewer instances of protests against sumptuary laws that limited them.

The renaissance period also did influence fashion from the fact that clothes were often recycled as the creation of textiles appeared to be time-consuming and extremely expensive. This explains why only rich people and the political class were the ones associated with exemplary fashion and designed clothes. For the many who were poor, clothes were usually recycled and reused. The scarcity of materials placed women in this social class out of the extravagant fashion (Welch, 2009).

Eventually, it is worth concluding that perhaps the one biggest factor that influenced fashioned during the renaissance period between 1500-16000 was the wealth of the European kingdoms and powerful cities in Italy. This originated from the emergence and exploration of trade that boomed the European economies that led to growth and appreciation of the fabric and textile industries that were at the center of the economic boom—the production of wool and silk, presenting a very important influence of fashion. The presence of tailor guilds and skilled craftsmen turned fabrics and textiles into outfits that reflected unique and outlandish fashion designs. As a result, the wealthy and the middle class enriched this trend by creating luxurious clothes. This later established a norm that powerful kings and queens of the time would display their power through their fashion and clothing. Some monarchs adopted the king’s fashion as a way of asserting his leadership.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, it is not about wars that posited a thriving environment for women fashion during the renaissance period. Rather, the booming of the European economy with the fabric and textile industry at the center of the boom that influenced the emergence of high reliance on unique and extravagant outfits. Also, the political and the wealthy class influence played a significant role in enhancing the adoption of fashion at the center of time. Sumptuary laws as well were legislated only to provide room to regulate the extravagance of fashion among women, particularly in Italy.

The designers of the renaissance clothing fashion mainly constituted the tailor guilds and skilled craftsmen who turned fabrics and textiles into outfits that reflected unique and outlandish fashion designs. The designs were influenced by extravagant costume history and the cultural trends of the time. However, too, the increase in wealth and power of most kingdoms or monarchies dictated what people would wear and, as such, contributed significantly to frequent variation of styles and the emergence of fashion trendsetters who up to now are the characteristics of modern fashion (celebrities).

As a fertile ground of inspiration, modern design houses like Alexander Mc Queen and Valentino embrace the old renaissance era fashion as a new fashion. For example, one of the collection that dates far into the renaissance era is the Curiel collection. The modern design houses still embrace this collection as a Curiel culture collection. This style depicts a theme that bases on the Renaissance and the Tudor style. Modern design houses in extending fashions to represent the older ones, incorporate the renaissance clothing materials such as embroidery of silver and gold, lace, velvet, leather, silk, and linen to design the today representative fashions.

Reference

Currie, E. (Ed.). (2018). A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in the Renaissance. Bloomsbury Publishing.

McCall, T. (2017). Materials for Renaissance Fashion. Renaissance Quarterly, 70(4), 1449-1464.

Welch, E. (2009). Art on edge: hair and hands in Renaissance Italy. Renaissance Studies, 23(3), 241-268.