Body Change through Clothing in the Renaissance of Stiffened Collar Emphasized the Neck and Shoulder - Essay Example

Student Name: Instructor’s Name: Title: The body change through clothing in the renaissance of the stiffened collar that emphasized the neck and shoulders Course: Institution: The body change through clothing in the renaissance of the stiffened collar that emphasized the neck and shoulders Introduction Fashion between 1550 and 1600 within western European clothing is typified by increased lavishness, the emergence of the ruff, the extension of the farthingale for women as well as departure of the codpiece for men. In the image of Nicholas Hilliard, the stiffened collar emphasized the neck and shoulders, where the gauzy open ruff was attached with the center and the exterior edge of the ruff did not meet at the center. Normally, the ruff was on a different collar and the cuffs were almost not there (Netherton & Gale 2006). In addition, the ruffs were made from a translucent fabric and this represented an evolution of English ruff. The stiffened collar emphasized the neck and the shoulders and this led to the changing of the clothing to fit the fashion. The design of the stiffened collar was started as a high frilled collar for women. This would finally develop into male attire, since then it developed on gauze wings which enabled elevation of the back of the head. To sustain the position of the ruff on the clothing, a unique mixture of water along with some plant that created starch was applied into the ruff to stiffen the material and also make it less prone to becoming flimsy (Netherton & Gale 2006). The ruff that was worn by men, women as well as children was developed from the small fabric ruffle at the drawstring neck of the chemise. The ruffs were about a foot wide or more. By the end of the 16th century, ruffs were getting out of fashion within Western Europe where wing collars and falling bands were preferred. However, the fashion stayed much longer within Holland and this can be indicated by the portraits into 17th century and father east (Janet 1998). Figure 1: Nicholas Hilliard image Ashelford (1996) notes that ruffs developed from a narrow frill at the neck as well as shoulders to a broad “cartwheel” style that necessitated a wire for support by the 1590s and some ruffs were so large that the individual wearing them was unable to turn their head. Later on, ruffs were made from a delicate reticella that developed into the needlelaces within 17th century. The Spanish style also consisted of the farthingale, which was developed within 1545. It was attire that included a hooped skirt made from wire for the hoops and wool for the skirt. Afterwards this style turned out to be popular and spread to France. The skirt came from waist falling to the ankles and in Spanish style the women had a cone-shaped bottom while in French style it was a cylindrical shape. This particular version of skirt was worn by all classes; nevertheless the middle class wore less extreme versions of the skirt referred to as “bum roll”. The “bum roll” did not have a wire within the skirt but had large clothing rolled up in order to fit the waist region creating padding. Later, bodices that were developed from whale bones were utilized in adding to a woman’s shape along with the skirt (Karen 1995). Spanish style became popular all over Europe where there were several diverse variations of the primary Spanish clothing which were molded in order to fit the culture of diverse nations. Basically, for women the clothing was heavy and complex in using since most of it was made from wire, whalebone in addition to clothing and this plainly would trap women into their attire since it was a hard thing to wear and take off as well. As a result, changes from medieval period of fashion were developed. For instance, skirts and bodices were separated instead of being full dresses, the underskirts turned out to be more visible and had decorations in sophisticated ways. In addition, the Spanish did away with the trains on the dresses’ skirts and the sleeves were tightened: rather than them being loose and hanging past the elbow, they were tightened up to the wrist. The shoulder part of the sleeve turned out to be bigger as well as puffy and at time had slits revealing a brightly-colored fabric beneath (Netherton & Gale 2006). In order for the corsets to fit the new bodices, they were shortened and some had an extremely stiff bust at the center while the front extended to the stomacher’s depth. Skirts were help within the appropriate shape through a padded roll and this would hold the skirts out forming a round shape at the waist and fell in soft folds to the floor. Within convectional Spanish court style, the Spanish farthingale of the preceding century lingered well into the era and was replaced with the broad French farthingales during 1650s (Ashelford 1996). The dress’ sleeves were zipped to the bodice and fastened using a lace. The sleeves were generally big and baggy towards the shoulder but they were tight near the wrists. Commonly the sleeves were stuffed with lightweight materials for them to hold their shape. There were numerous different kinds of sleeves, even though most of them were adorned with padding and this added to the gown as a different entity. The parts that were covered the seam between the sleeve and the bodice. The wide-cuffed sleeves that typified 1540s and 1550s slowly disappeared with succession of Elizabeth where the French and Spanish styles having narrower sleeves were favored. A technique known as slashing was used in expanding the range of colors in addition to clothing selections amongst Elizabethan gowns and formal attire as well (Ashelford 1996). During this time, high or wide shoulders were emphasized and hence the sliced upper sleeves that were stiffened pulled through as observed with Italian dress within the 1560s and this developed into single or double paddles of loops at the shoulder with divergent linings. By 1580s, England has already tailored this as padded as well as jeweled shoulder rolls. In particular, shoulder rolls refer to the decorative clothing crescents that enlarge up and also outward. The decorated shoulder pieces were joined at the shoulder of the doublet for further emphasis of the wide shoulder style that women liked (Ashelford 1994). The bodice as well as sleeves of a dress described Elizabeth’s gown. They were basically developed to go with the men’s body types, fashioning slim waists, wide shoulders in addition to broad hips. The spotlight was mainly on geometric shapes, where the gown’s bodice started with a corset. The corset highlighted the woman’s waist through developing a flattened and also a triangular shaped bodice. This offered a foundation for all clothing; nevertheless, the corset was used for providing a tight in addition to a condensed surface for fabric to lie on (Netherton & Gale 2006). According to Arnold (1988) bodices were either high-necked or wide, low, square neckline mostly having a small arc at the front early within the era. French, Spanish in addition to England bodices were stiffened becoming cone shaped and used corsets. Bodices were tied with hooks and they formed high-necked bodices. The end of the bodice was V-shaped at the frontage waist within Spanish, French and also England fashion. Italian along with German fashion maintained the front-laced bodice of the earlier era, where the bodice had ties fastened within parallel rows; Italian fashion outstandingly has a wide U-shaped bodice instead of the V-shaped bodice at the front waist (Janet 1998). Additionally, a low neckline at times was filled in using a partlet. Usually, a partlet refers to a piece of fabric worn on the exterior of the gown covering low cut necklines. In most cases, the partlet was created using similar fabric as the dress and splendidly ornamented with lace detailing to match the dress. Essentially, England partlets were embellished linen with corresponding sleeves. During this period, embellished sets of partlets as well as sleeves were often given to Elizabeth as gifts during the New Year. On the other hand, a high-necked chemise having a stiffened and standing collar as well as ruff was worn (Arnold 1988). However, between the Tudor and Elizabethan eras, the partlets were changed and they started being worn as undergarments. This is the period when sleeves that were detachable were matched with the clothing of the partlet and hence they were worn as a distinct silhouette for complementing the beauty of the garment. The color of the partlets could vary but the most common partlets were the black ones and white ones as well. Even through the partlets were at times embroidered with jewels and laces, they were in most cases plain and gathered with cloth. The partlets during this period were not only fashionable but they were also essentially utilized as undergarments for keeping warm during winter and also for preventing sunburns during the summer. In addition, ruffs were added on the partlets to include detail along with visual appeal (Diana 2000). Conclusion In the 1590s and early years of 16th century, the stiffened collar highlighted the shoulders and the sleeves and this led to the development of fashionable bodices which having high necklines or very low rounded necklines as well as short wings at the shoulders. Moreover separate closed cartwheel ruffs were worn in order to match and also long sleeves having deep cuffs were worn to go with the ruffs. However, the round neckline as well as ruffs faded away within England by 1613. Bibliography Ashelford, J., 1996, The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500–1914, Abrams, London. Ashelford, J., 1994, The Visual History of Costume: The Sixteenth Century, Abrams, London. Arnold, J., 1988, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlocked, W S Maney and Son Ltd, Leeds. Diana, S., 2000, Tudor and Jacobean Jewellery, Tate Publishing, London. Janet, A., 1998, Patterns of Fashion: the cut and construction of clothes for men and women 1560-1620, Macmillan, New York. Karen, H., 1995, Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530–1630. Rizzoli, New York. Netherton, R & Gale R., 2006, Medieval Clothing and Textiles, Volume 2, Boydell Press, Rochester. Read More