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| Miss E in her camicia, gamorra, and tie-on sleeves. |
This is my brief historic documentation for an outfit that I created in 2011 for my daughter. It was intended for and presented in an informal setting. I have added some annotations since then.
The goal of
this project was to create a complete outfit (hábito) for my daughter, referred to here as Miss E, age 6, that was both functional and worthy of court. Certain considerations needed to be made for
her growth so that this outfit could be worn for many years. I will discuss these adaptations in my sewing
construction notes as they can be applied to other garments. The outfit also needed to remain correct in
it elements and silhouette throughout any changes Miss E will go through over
time. I choose to do a gown from the
Italian Renaissance (also now called the early modern period by scholars). The
outfit is composed of a camicia (chemise), a gamorra (gown), giornea (tabard
but might also be called a guarnacca) and a set of detachable sleeves. A set of panni lini di gamba (linen stocking)
would also have be added to this outfit along with shoes and a caul but I have
not constructed them as yet. (Annotation: She out grew the outfit before I could add them.)
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| Miss E in the complete outfit including the giornea |
In
general terms, clothing for children echoed that of their parents in style and
function until the Victorian period with only small accommodations made for
nature of children, such as deep hems to accommodate growth. Fashion scholars sometimes refer to the children in these elaborate outfits as "little adults" and the implication is that the child thus filled a more adult like role in the house hold. The idea that children were "little
adults" I think is partially flawed because that it assumes that children
might behave a little adults which, as any parent can tell you, is
impossible. Children, were however, a
important part of a family both symbolically and physically. They were
the future of the family and for noble families that meant they were often put
upon display for political, symbolic, and financial reasons. Therefore, I believe, the set of garments I have made, because it
is a very luxurious, were not for daily use around the home but
rather a set used to enhance the reputation of the family as a whole under certain circumstances. It would have been worn for a special
occasion such as a court appearance, a holiday, a marriage, or to have a portrait
painted. This is not to say a noble household would dress their children in less luxurious or comfortable clothing the rest of the time. I believe that the clothing for daily use would never diminish the families reputation but was also not as elaborate as those created for the high holidays and weddings.
The
sources we have for these garments are usually paintings (my primary sources)
which almost always shows individuals in their best attire due to the enduring
and expensive nature of a painting rather than their clothing for daily
use. The paintings themselves were
designed to enhance the reputation of the family as a whole just as the
luxurious garments were in real life.
Young children were not widely painted until later in the early modern
period (16th century). There are a few
paintings from the early Italian renaissance that show young girls in
them but the children are shown as part of the household and not on their own. This would change as a young girl would reach a marriageable age, approximately age thirteen.
These
paintings show young girls with their families but they are both a little off-point for the gown I constructed for Miss E.
They are presented primarily to demonstrate that young girls were dressed
like miniature adults for specific occasions or reasons. The
Daughters of Giovanni II Bentivoglio and Ginevra Sforza are a little before
the period of the garments I made but more importantly they are from a
different location with different regional dress than Florence. The
Daughters is from Ferrara, located in the Northeastern end of Italy,
compared to Florence, located approximately 160 miles to the South. It's not far by our standards of modern
travel but for the medieval world it would be a considerable but not an
insurmountable distance, thus allowing for regional differences. The second painting, The Miracle of the Cross at the Bridge of
Saint Lorenzo, is separated from my project by both time and distance. So again both examples are used to illustrate
that young noble girls were well dressed on special occasions and were considered to be an important part of the family and its reputation.
Historic Sources and the Sewing Process
I find it generally useful to being this discussion with a list of terms used. Below please find a brief list of historic terms for the parts this outfit. In addition, as I discuss each part of the outfit, beginning from the chemise (camicia) and working outward, I will include a small selection of references for each rather than separating the sections of this documentation into sewing and historic sources.
Cuscitrice
- a woman seamster
Gamorra
- a woman's garment or gown (also Gamurra)
Gonna
- a woman's upper gown, robe or mantle
Guarnacca
- a kind of upper garment for women (also Guarnaccia)
Gonnellaro
- a woman's robe maker
Magnossetta
- a little coif or caul
Panni
lini di gamba - linen hose or stockings
Rezzola
- a coif or caul of fine net work such as women use to wear
Sbraccita
- a find of sleeveless garment, also open or without arms.
Stringhette
- little, small points, laces ...or such bindings
Ucchiéllo
- an eyelet hole, a buttonhole
All of the garments were
constructed with both machine and hand sewing techniques, but the former was
limited to locations that would not show in daily use (the inside seams). Hand finishing techniques were used for all
sewing that would be visible to the viewers when the gown was worn. My general rule for historic reconstructions of any garment, is machine sewing is allowed but never in a visible location. (Annotation: There are, of course, some exceptions, as I have hand sewn a few garments completely over the years.)
The camica
(chemise) was made of light weight 100% linen.
The pattern is made of simple
rectangles with a gentle scope neckline that was gathered to fit on a flat
band. The pattern pieces were clipped
and torn to measure from Miss E's arm length, wrist circumference and height. Extra volume was added to allow the camica to
show at the top of the arm, elbow and forearm as seen in many paintings
including Frescoes in the Tornabuoni
Chapel of the Santa Maria Novella-The Nativity of Mary (detail) by Domenico Ghirlandaio. Additionally gathers were put at the center
front of the garment to allow them to show later if her chest circumference
grew and the gamorra (gown) begins to fashionably gap. (This was one of the best choices I made, because she wore the gamorra several times.) The wrist and neck were closed with thread
loops and either buttons from Billy and Charlie's Fine Pewter Goods or a hook from a hook and eye set. The neckline had to have a slit
put into it to allow it to pass over the head.
As in historic examples this camica is bright white; it should be noted
that bright white linen was designed to be seen because it was expensive and therefore the color,
texture, and drape of this garment mattered. It was not simply underwear.
The gamorra (gown) was made from light
weight silk twill in a light blue and a adorned with a single blue and gold
ribbon at the neckline. The garment
closes in the center front with eyelets from Billy and Charlie's Fine Pewter Goods because I did not want to put hand sewn eyelets (ucchiéllo) into this
fabric which frays very easily and is not very strong. I have also used the same eyelets to attach
the points of the sleeves at the shoulder seam.
I drafted the pattern and used a muslin mock up to test the fit of the
gown on Miss E. It has the typical high
waisted appearance that can be found in Domenico Ghirlandaio's Saint Francis Stories in the Saddetti Chapel-Resurrection of the Notary's Son (detail) from 1482-85 (shown below). Other paintings illustrate this shape, including Gentile
Bellini's The Miracle of the Cross at the
Bridge of Saint Lorenzo (detail) c. 1500 and Domenico
Ghielandaio's Frescoes in the Tornabuoni
Chapel of the Santa Maria Novella-Birth of Saint John the Baptist (detail), 1486-90. In the later case it
is the servants in the orange and red gowns that are useful in illustrating the
cut and fit of the gamorra because a noble woman would be shown with more layers hiding the silhouette of the gamorra. In the case
of my gowns I made it so it would open at the center from as seen in many of
the gowns including the servant girl in the red gown and on a number of noble
women in the other paintings shown (the Portrait
of Giovanna Tornabuoni for example, shown below) The skirt of the gown was pleated into place
on the high waist line. The bodice was lined and topstitched on all the seams and edges both to press them flat and to keep them
from fraying further. The skirt is unlined but the seams were topstitched and finished to prevent fraying.
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Frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel of the Santa Maria Novella-Birth of Saint John the Baptist - by Domenico Ghielandaio - 1486-90 - Florence, Italy- 1486-90 - Florence, Italy
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As to fit in the future, a number of these
gowns (Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni and Frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel of the
Santa Maria Novella-Birth of Saint John the Baptist, detail of the noble women
on the right in pink and a servant in red and green in the back) show a gap in
the laceings at center from allowing the camica to show. As Miss E grows the front of this gown will
begin to gap fashionably. Also a
generous two inch hem will allow her to gain height. (Annotation: both of these modifications proved useful)
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Detail photo of Miss E's sleeves. They are tied on with
silk ribbons. The sleeves have been embellished with
gold sequins and garnet beads. |
The sleeves on
this gown are detachable as seen in many paintings shown thus far and there are further examples below. It should be noted that there were many styles of sleeves in Florence in the 1480-1490s. The style I choose was only one of many possibilities. The nature of the tie-on or partially-sewn-on sleeve line, allows the camica to show at the sleeve cap. The cut of the sleeves varies in these
paintings. In many cases the sleeves are
cut to allow the camica to show in gaps at the elbow and forearm. I did not want to do a complicated pattern with
a lot of slashes or cuts as seen in The Visitation, Fresco Cappella Tornabouoni, by Domenico Ghirlandaio (shown below), but rather something simple such as The Birth of St. John in the same frescoes (shown above in full and in detail). The weight of the fabric and its willingness
to fray at a moment's notice meant that it needed to be both simple and fully
lined (which dealt with the fraying but added to the weight and stiffness of the sleeves).
The pattern was drafted by hand with a sleeve seam line
on the back of the arm (as seen in many gowns from the early 14th century
onward) rather than the under arm like most modern sleeves. This allows the elbow to bend at the correct
point and the textile pattern to be shown off to maximum effect. I flat-lined the sleeves with the
same violet even weave silk that was used for the giornea lining. This allowed me to topstitch the edges as I
had with the gown and to then hand sew the back seam line together with a whip
stitch. This allowed for two things: the
look I wanted at this moment and when she grows the arm seam line and be undone
and more lacing points can be added. The
sleeve is currently a little long on her arm as you can see on the picture with
her elbow being a little high for the sleeve.
While this is not what I intended it's a blessing in disguise because it
will allow for growth. I embellished the textile pattern with small garnet beads and gold sequins. There is more information later in the
documentation on the textile patterns used for both the sleeves and the
giornea.
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| The Visitation (detail), Fresco Cappella Tornbuoni - by Domenico Ghirlandaio - 1485-1490 - Santa Marria Novella, Florence Italy |
The giornea (tabard) is an over robe
that is worn by some wealthy young women during the late 15th century. Domenico Ghirlandaio's Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni from 1488 shows the young woman wearing a orange giornea but a better
view of the same gown can be found in Frescoes
in the Tornabuoni Chapel of the Santa Maria Novella-Visitation (detail), 1486-90, also by Domenico Ghirlandaio (shown just above). The young lady and her gown are the same in
both paintings. There is also another
painting by the same artist that shows a giornea: Frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel of the Santa Maria Novella-Birth of
Saint John the Baptist (detail) from 1486-90 (shown above). Others can be seen in paintings by Gentile
Bellini.
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| Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni - by Domenico Ghirlandaio - 1488 - tempera on panel - Lugano, Thyssen Collection (Elliott, page 52) |
I have made this giornea out of a rayon/silk blend with a lavender, even weave, silk lining. I chose the outer fabric for the pattern and used it to drive the color choices for the rest of the outfit. While I would have preferred the more historic figured, 100% silk for the top layer, it was cost prohibitive and on a garment that would not last more than a year or two, I could not cost justify it.
The shape of the giornea is an open sided
garment with a deep v-neck (in at least the front, as no back view I know of
exists) that shows off the gown below it.
In the back there is a train. It
is a simple pattern to make and like the other parts of this garment I drafted
my own. Once I cut the back and the
front I stitched them individually, bag lining them and hand stitching the
edges to make them perfectly flat. Rather than attaching the shoulders before bag
lining them I did it afterwards. The
shoulders were overlapped and hand stitched together so that when Miss E grows
they can be unsewn and reattached adding a little length. The overlap is about 1.5 inches.
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A back view of the giornea. You can clearly
see top stitching along the edges. |
Historically this garment would not be bag lined (nor would any garment) but rather a method similar to flat lining was used. I have chosen to bag line this garment because it is
easier for me and this is a child's garment. The results are almost indistinguishable from edge stitching two layers together and then top stitching them. I know how Miss E will wear it and wear it out. While I'm willing to put a lot of effort into
a garment for her, fully hand sewing them at this time is not an option.
The tabard and the sleeves would have been
made of the most luxurious fabrics in the entire outfit.
Textiles
I will not bother with the documentation for
the basic fiber types that comprise this garment, that is silk and linen, as
this is well covered ground. A mention is, however, due for the patterns used on the giornea and sleeves as an attempt to
use patterns similar to historic patterns was made. Italian
textiles dominated the market during the early modern period, with Florence,
Genoa, Lucca, Milan and Venice dominating production of fine silks. It is rare however to be able to attribute a
specific textile pattern to a specific location.
None of the examples seen here can be.
Many of the fine silks of the period were designed for use in wealthy
homes, palaces, and most often, the Church. One need only look at the paintings of the early modern period,
including those provided in this documentation, to see that personal adornment
was also a use for these textiles.
In the case of the silk giornea the style of
patterns, flowers within lozenges, can be dated from the later 16th century
from both Italy and the Ottoman Empire.
Examples of similar historic patterns can be found in the Keir
Collection, the MET and the V&A Museum.
The dominate features of these silks is symmetrical curvilinear vines in
a lattice pattern or lozenges. Examples of this type of pattern, dating from
the late 16th century can be seen below. They are similar to the silk that I used for Miss E's giornea expect
the scale on the one I used is smaller.
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| Brocatelle dalmatic apparels, Italy - second half of the 16th century, acquired in Florence - The silk is yellow on a green back ground and the pattern measures 45 x 14 cm (King, pages 140-143) |
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Silk and linen lampas cover or hanging - Italy - second half of the 16th century - The silk is a yellow on a blue background with the pattern measuring 56 x 13.6 cm (King, pages 141-143)
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Since the pattern used for the giornea is not
quite authentic to the time period of the gown (my gown is c. 1490 vs the extant textiles listed above are from 1550-1600) I feel I should mention
what would have been used. The fingered
silks, as seen in Frescoes in the
Tornabuoni Chapel of the Santa Maria Novella-Visitation detail by Domenico
Ghirlandaio (shown above) were most likely of a lampus, brocade, or damask in technique and
similar to the other extant lampus of the 1400's in style. (A lampas is defined as a weave generally warp faced, with the
pattern formed by floats of weft and brocaded weft ground by a binding warp.) They typically feature large patterns of lozenges with
symbolic objects, such as animals, crosses, suns or crowns, woven into
them. These figures are often heraldic in nature and thus highly symbolic. This is clearly seen in Domenico Ghirlandaio's
Frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel of the
Santa Maria Novella-Visitation (detail)
from 1486-90 on the young lady's giornea. The main difference in pattern choice between the frescoes and the extant textiles shown from the late 16th century is that the animals, crosses, suns and other symbolism have been replaced with flowers, leaves, and vases. The lozenges that surround the figures or flowers remain similar. Thus I think that the fabric I choose is a reasonable compromise between cost, authentic materials, time periods and authentic designs.
The sleeve fabric was picked purely for its
colors and pattern and not its fiber content.
Normally I would not work in these fibers (rayon and polyester) but in
this case I choose to make an exception due to the similarity in both pattern
and color. The sleeve fabric was bought
at least 4 years after the silk for the giornea. It is not a truly documentable pattern either
but is similar in style and size to the textiles found on the sleeves of Antonio
del Pollaiolo's (AKA Antonio Pollaiuo) profile
paintings of young women dating from approximately 1460-1475. These images show young
women with relatively (but not always) plain gowns with very ornamental
sleeves. The patterns on these sleeves
are large and bold, mostly floral in nature.
The pattern I therefore looked for in my sleeve choice was one that was
in the correct colors, larger than the pattern for the giornea, floral and
bold. I wanted it to stand out on its
own so that it could be worn both with and without the giornea as my daughter
wished. In the period these textiles
would of course be silk, most likely a brocade, lampas, or damask in nature. Given that these silks are featured in
Italian paintings, it is very likely that they were Italian in origin.
In short, the textile patterns I choose for
this project are 50 to 100 years later or earlier than the garments themselves, in style. I chose them in part because I had the
primary fabric for the giornea in my stash for years and did not mind parting
with it for this project. I chose it
also in part because it was the most "Italian" of the silks that I
owned and spending another $100 a yard on fabric for this project was not
possible. I needed something with a
pattern that was not obviously and glaringly modern as many other options were. So this was, a
compromise. I also had all the other
fabrics, except the sleeve fabric, in my stash to make a coordinated outfit and
thus the textiles chosen made for a viable compromise. If a better fabric comes along for the sleeves, they are easily replaced.
Wake, Anabella: A Glossary of
Sixteenth Century Italian Words Relating to Costume, (transcribed from Florio's
Worlde of Wordes, 1598) 2004,
<http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/wardrobe/florio.htm>
Domenico Ghirlandaio - Frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel of the Santa Maria Novella-Visitation (detail) - 1486-90 - Santa Maria Novella, Florence (Beck, James H. Italian Renaissance Painting, page 304)
King, Monique and Donald King, European Textiles in the Keir Collection 400 BC to 1800 BC, page 126
Bibliography:
Books and Online Resources
Beck,
James H. Italian Renaissance Painting,
Konemann Verlagsgesellschaft, 1999. ISBN# 3-8290-0486-9
Elliott,
Sara, Italian Renaissance Painting,
New York, Phaidon, 1993. ISBN# 0-7148-2868-8
Frick,
Carole Collier, Dressings Renaissance
Florence: Families, Fortunes and Fine Clothing, Baltimore, Maryland, John
Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN#
0-8018-8264-8
Jones,
Ann Rosalind & Peter Stallybrass, Renaissance
Clothing and the Materials of Memory, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University
Press, 2007. ISBN# 978-0-521-78663-8
King
Monique and Donald King, European
Textiles in the Keir Collection 400 BC to 1800 AD, London, Faber and Faber,
1990. ISBN# 0-571-13370-1
Mola,
Luca, The Silk Industry of Renaissance
Venice, Baltimore, Maryland, John Hopkins University Press, 2000. ISBN# 0-8018-6189-6
Rublack,
Ulinka, Dressing Up: Cultural Identity in
Renaissance Europe, London, Oxford University Press, 2010. ISBN# 978-0-19-929874-7
Wake,
Anabella: A Glossary of Sixteenth Century Italian Words Relating to Costume,
(transcribed from Florio's Worlde of Wordes, 1598) 2004,
<http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/wardrobe/florio.htm>
