Cesare Vecellio’s Habiti Antichi et Moderni

When looking at this book it is striking how many different ranks and roles there was in Renaissance society and how clearly clothing denoted rank.

I was looking through this book trying to find an illustration of a Mayor, or a civic official. I did not find these roles in particular but I did find some interesting forms of gown.

I think it is good that I have broadened my research into other forms of robes/gowns and medieval dress. I feel it has given me a broader knowledge base. I have rarely done any research into these areas before and I have found it fascinating. I find it interesting how readily clothing, through its use of fabrics and colours, denotes rank in society and is symbolic of different things.

This book is a valuable source as it is written by a contemporary. There are bits where he looks back at ancient clothing where he has got his information from paintings or altarpieces.

This, from Early Venice, is a dogalina, which is a ‘rich-looking brocade or velvet robe with knee length, full flaring sleeves, which were contrast-lined, sometimes with fur. Ankle of calf length 14^th Cent.’ (Davies, 1994). The most striking part of this illustration is the turban-like hat but unfortunately this is not written about.

I thought the shape of this robe, worn by a Venetian merchant in Syria, had a similar shape and construction to the robe we are making. The gown is collarless with a pettorale (chest covering) and made of velvet or satin. 

These illustrations show contemporary senators and magistrates. I consider these roles of a similar status to that of a mayor or alderman. The magistrates are elected and is an office of great power. They wear a red over garment and the same gown is worn by the Dottori who go to govern cities subject to the Venetian republic.

These are gowns of professionals, the rector of student schools, doctors of law and vicars, doctors or local magistrates. The rectors gown is of gold brocade and has a hood lined with fur, under his gown he wears a doublet and hose. The doctor of law has open hanging sleeves and is black and made of wool, damasco or velvet in the winter and ormensino or ciambellotto in the summer. It is interesting how most of these gowns are made for summer and winter use like the gown that we are making for the Mayor.

The primo, who are in public office in Florence, wear a lucco, which is like a mantle, open at the front and sides and lined in black. Their sleeves and undergarments are then made of stamped rascia or some kind of patterned cloth.

This is a Senator of Germany and the garment he wears is similar to the robe we are making. This dress is worn by many magistrates and is made of velvet, fine wool or silk and is black. It is bordered with fur around all edges

Lastly this is an illustration of a Turk riding in the rain which I found interesting. This book clearly displays bias to Italy where Vecellio is from!

It is interesting to learn more about different types of robes. I would like to learn more about the origins of the shape of robe we are making, though as there are so many varieties around this time it may be hard to pinpoint

The Robes of Queen Victoria

I have looked a bit into Queen Victoria’s coronation before with my trip to Kensington Palace, I think she is a fascinating monarch ruling for so long in a patriarchal society. I think it is beneficial to look at coronation robes in my research as they are the most lavish robes.

Queen Victoria’s coronation took place I Westminster Abbey in June 1838. The coronation was notably less flamboyant than George IV’s in 1821 as there was strict control over the monarch’s spending after the expense of her predecessors. The robes were made by John Hunter and his final bill for all the garments was £2467 18s 6d.

This accounting breakdown shows all the elements used to make up the Coronation Robes which is interesting. It is fascinating to see what fabrics are used on a top of the range robe and how these influences trickle down to modern mayors robes.

This is the parliament robe, which consists of the mantle (the long trailing cape) which was made in 1838 for her coronation and a kirtle made in 1851 at a cost £118. I think the kirtle is absolutely beautiful, it is an elegant shape and evokes the medieval silhouette with the long hanging sleeves and yet the neckline and waistline is very contemporary Victorian. It is very similar to the example I saw at Kensington Palace

Midway Evaluation

I realise now is a good time to evaluate my progress so far on this project.

This week Abi has been on work experience. We decided to postpone the making until he was back so that we could both do an even amount. I think we are working well together and quite efficiently in order to optimise time.
I have been trying to immerse myself in the subject by visiting London and reading books. I feel however that I haven't really got anywhere with my research, as this area is so rarely written about. I love research and this has been incredibly frustrating as I have just been searching for where the origins of the silhouette may have come from. I really enjoyed going to the National Art Library. It was an environment that I loved and this, along with the lectures I attended have made me more determined to carry on my studies into postgraduate level. I feel that research is one of my strongest skills and I would like to develop these with regards to academic study.

The sewing of the toile was really interesting. I originally found it hard to visualise the 2D pattern pieces as the 3D robe and the toile allowed me to get my head around the shape of the sleeves. I feel I am becoming more confident with my understanding of it as well as with my pattern drafting skills.
We have just started cutting into top fabric which is nerve racking as it is so expensive and I dont want to make any mistakes. 

In the next few weeks we plan to be in uni nearly every day to get the robe finished as soon as possible.

Mondrian!

Today I went and helped a friend with measurements and fittings for the film she is designing for SDP. The film is inspired by the abstract paintings of Piet Mondrian. Actors wearing black walk in lines representing the lines of the portraits while 3 primary coloured people dance in a manner representing their colour in the middle. For instance Red is representing anger and fire and so has to dance like this. It is all very abstract but really interesting to watch.

I have rarely been on a film set/rehearsal before. It is a very different environment to the theatre which I am used to. I found the action a bit staccato because the cameras have to be moved to focus on different areas.

Mayors and Lord Mayors throughout History

I thought it would be interesting to look at how Mayors have developed throughtout history from paintings of Renaissance Mayors to modern photographs. I will be looking at Bournemouth Mayors from the Victorian era onwards as this is when the town established the role. 


I have created a timeline illustrating the changes in styles of Mayors. Please refer to my workbook to see.

I have really enjoyed putting this timeline together. It is fascinating to see how much styling has changed with hair as well as the fashionable silhouette when the garment is kept at a relative constant. 

Pattern Layouts

Original pattern layout 

Today I have been working on how would be best to fit the back panel into the 140cm wide fabric, when the pattern is 147cm.

These are a few ideas:

Putting a seam in the CB

Putting a seam into the CB

Putting two seams where the darts are

I spoke to Graham in tutorial and he suggested that we just take a section out of the back panel down the middle. This seems like such an obvious thing to do! I hadn't thought of doing this as it will take fabric out of the hem width but it will only need to be 18cm at the most, which, in the grand scheme of things isn't that much. I suppose with time and practice these kinds of solutions will come more obviously!

Line Drawings

I found doing the line drawings for the robe quite challenging. It is hard to show all the detailing of the robe in two sides but I think that with my pattern drawings (please see workbook) the construction of the robes becomes more clear. 

Civic and Municipal Robes

The title of Mayor comes from Norman origin incorporating earlier Saxon officials such as reeves and ealdorman. The Mayor of London was first mentioned in 1191 and by the 17^th century the role had become one of great importance. He was the first citizen and therefore chief magistrate and chairman of the council and coroner and was therefore quite powerful.

Councillors were elected to represent townspeople, who then elected their mayor and aldermen. This arose form merchant and craft guilds of the towns as they were the most wealthy and powerful. The guilds were presided over by an alderman. These guilds became known as livery companies and each wore a distinctive uniform, the alderman got renamed as the warden and aldermen were restricted to a territorial administration.

The livery companies dress was quite sombre and usually included a houppelande, which is a full garment with long and loose sleeves worn over a gipon or doublet and hose. This houppelande became known as a gown and often had hanging sleeves. A hood was also worn and this soon became decorative and was worn over the shoulders. By the end of the 16^th century this gown had become rather standardised, with long hanging sleeves with slits for the arms with a fur trimming around the front.

During the 16^th century gowns became more standardised in colour. Scarlet, violet, crimson were popular but black prevailed. From the 17^th century onwards fur edging was common on the fronts, hems and hanging sleeves.

For a long time the Lord Mayor was chosen out of the12 great livery companies. These comprised of: Mercers, Grocers, Drapers, Fishmongers, Goldsmiths, Skinners, Merchant Tailors, Haberdashers, Salters, Ironmongers, Vintners and Clothworkers. Anyone not in one of these companies that was elected would have to be ‘translated’ to one of the great companies.

From about the 15^th century it is clear that Mayors and their wives wore distinguishing dress and this dress was often exempt from provisions or laws regarding dress standards. However in some documents rules were laid down to Mayors and aldermen outlining days that they had to wear their gowns, which if they didn’t comply to they would face a fine of £10.

Scarlet was the most popular colour for gowns from early on with velvet tippets. Councillors had murrey gowns. In 1721 the mayor was to have a scarlet gown, the alderman black with scarlet velvet or fur facing and the councillors or capital burgesses black gowns faced with black velvet. Court dress is worn under the robe for civic occasions.

With the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 local elections were open to all rate payers as candidates and voters, where it was just the rich and elite before, and this meant councils became a lot more democratic. This resulted in a lot of the councils changing the robes to black or abolishing them completely. Later in the century however robes were generally put back into use. Also in Victorian times new cities and corporations were created, just like Bournemouth and the councils for these new places established mayors. 

Rich Apparel

I found this book really interesting and it has helped me to understand the origins of these robes. I do not know an awful lot about pre-16th century costume, very little in comparison is written about it and so I have found it great to really branch out and try and find more information. It broadens my knowledge, which I think will be beneficial in the future and it has helped me to develop my research skills. Now that I am familiar with the National Art Library I will able to use it much more easily, which will, hopefully, initially help with my dissertation in level 6.

In 1515 'all noblemen and others are to be apparelled according to their degrees and no man must presume to wear above his degree' (pg41), this shows the importance of dress showing status in the early 16th century, it would be seen to be unjust to wear certain colours and fabrics that were socially higher than oneself. This rule however was not necessarily followed. Philip Stubbes in 1583 described the fashion of London as 'there is such a confused mingle mangle of apparel in Ailgna... that it is verie hard to know who is noble, who is worshipful, who is gentleman and who is not'
This outlines some of the social positions in England at the time:

The House of Tudor - King and family
Nobility - Dukes, Earls, Marquesses and Lords
Gentry - Knights, Esquires and Gentlemen
Middling and Lower Sort - Yeoman, Husbandmen and Labourers

(Exceptions: Women, Ecclesiastical and Clergy, Entertainers, Secular professions and Urban Elite)

Social hierarchy was much debated at the time, for example, contemporary social theory suggests there were 3 social orders: the nobility, the clergy and the rest, whereas another theory suggests society is split into 2 groups, the landed rural and the urban. The landed rural consists of Dukes, Earls, Barons, Knights, Gentlemen, Yeomen, Husbandmen and Labourers and the urban are Merchants, Mastercraftsmen, Journeymen, Servants and Marginals. Mayors fit into the the urban society.



Hayward argues that society did comply to the social dress as demonstrated in Hans Holbein's series of engravings called 'Dance of Death', which shows distinctive styles of dress for social groups. Also as Holbein was a German Renaissance artist it shows that rank was demonstrated through dress throughout Europe.

It is interesting to learn of the restrictions on dress. For instance, in France only the elite were allowed to wear long gowns. Also I found this quote really interesting: ' The Henrican acts of apparel were highly gendered. They were intended to establish and reinforce the male hierarchy.. The acts concentrated on male dress because men were seen in the public sphere, they held office and they could use their clothes to assert their identity' (p.45). Female dress had no state regulation and therefore there was little concern regarding it.
I would like to learn more about this in my spare time, it would be interesting to learn how long these regulations were in place and how this affected the development of female dress as well as their place in society.



Clothing in the 16th century was highly gendered and was influential in the formation of the gender. Male dress had broad shoulders and codpieces, clearly denoting masculinity. Also the gowns became shortened for younger men, meaning their legs were now visible, helping to stress how they were physically, socially and politically more mobile. I think there is no better example of this masculine clothing than the above portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1537.

Interestingly the showing of legs in male fashion has continued in history. For instance in Regency fashion fashionable pigeon-chested men would often pad their calves to show strength and masculinity.  I find that it is so subtle in comparison to female fashion that you hardly notice its significance or statement. Where women in history have used fashion to express themselves in a patriarchal society, men have had no need and the changes that have occurred have often been to signify their superior position in society.

The Urban Elite - Mayors!


Consisting of merchants, members of livery companies, professional men and parish clergy, the urban elite had no restrictions on dress through legislations and they were beginning to play an increasingly important role in society as became richer through trade and therefore gained political influence.

After Henry VII's victory at Bosworth in 1483 he came to London. It was decided that on his arrival the Mayor and his Aldermen should dress in scarlet in order to greet the King, accompanied by 435 citizens who wore 'bright murrey' gowns.
'Clothing of specific colours was used to create a corporate identity and to emphasize the social and political hierarchy in an urban context' In an increasingly rich new society I imagine it was now important to show the rising power if the professional men and they had more freedom to do this as they were under no clothing laws.

From the 14^th century onwards civic authorities were increasingly conscious of a need for their officials to dress appropriately so as to represent them well. For instance from 1377 onwards sergeants were given livery to wear (see Civic Livery page)

If you had either a professional or mercantile background you could make a career in civic government though this became an increasingly expensive position as their company had to pay for gowns and so by 1540s people sought to avoid the position!

Scarlet was the usual colour for the Mayors robes but this varied as there have been references to grey robes. Also interestingly the White Book of London referred to summer and winter robes.

The Maire of Bristowe in Kalendar from September 1479 depicts the induction of the new mayor of Bristol.

The new mayor, the mayor and the aldermen are all dressed in scarlet robes with grey fur lining.  His attendants are dressed in blue and murrey parti-livery with horizontal red stripes. I think this is referring to the ‘visual straightjacket’ that the serjeants had to wear as outlined in the Civic Livery page.

Rank was linked to colour and so the Mayor wears scarlet as it is the most expensive of the red shades as it is made from insect dyes, whereas lesser roles wore cheaper shades made from madder

Around 1446 Aldermen of London wore a pink mantle, fastened on the right shoulder with a checked lining as well as black coats, helping to give them a group identity

This book has been a very valuable source of research for me. I feel I now know the context of the mayors robe and the reasons for its use of colour. I have also really enjoyed visiting the National Art Library and feel this has helped me to develop my 

National Art Library

When Aileen Ribeiro came to the AUCB to do a lecture on Hogarth I asked her where she did most of her research and where was a good starting point for me to look into Mayors gowns and she suggested the National Art Library. I have found the lack of books discussing Mayoral gowns or civic robes very limiting and frustrating.

When browsing the National Art Library however I found 2 books that I thought might be interesting:

• Ceremonial Costume by Alan Mansfield  - has a chapter entitled 'Civic and Municipal Robes and Dress' which sounded ideal for the subject of Mayors robes
• Rich Apparel, Clothing and the Law in Henry VIII's England by Maria Hayward - and its chapter on the urban elite/civic livery 

I registered and ordered these on Friday. The library have a system where you order books online and then every hour the librarians will find them and have them behind the counter for collection. Its a very different environment than a normal library where one can browse an area with the Dewey sequencing. 

William Dudley and Trevor Nunn

This weekend has been dedicated to Shakespeare at the V&A and with that Tassie and I arranged to go and see 2 lectures, one by William Dudley, a British award winning designer and a conversation with Trevor Nunn, who was artistic director at the Globe.

Trevors Nunn's talk was mainly about how he approached Shakespeare plays, setting them in different times, working with the language etc, which was interesting but would have been more relevant to other SDP projects. William Dudley's designs are quite multi media based, he uses a lot of video and he showed us amazing animations and set designs he had produced on the computer.

The content was interesting but what I found these lectures helped to confirm that I am determined to do a postgraduate degree. I have been looking into this for quite some time and after doing such a practical undergraduate I would like to do a more academic masters, though I understand the difficulty of continuing onto something like this without a humanities degree. I don't know when I should do this because of money but one day I would be interested in studying History of Dress or Museum Studies I think.

I will forever have time for the V&A...

After seeing the beautiful gowns in the palace I headed down Exhibition Road to the V&A, where I spent the next 10 hours! (I will being writing some separate posts on the things I did there)

I was very keen to find some more images or information on Mayoral gowns in there collections, but no joy on that front. These are a few exhibits that I came across though that I thought were interesting in their use of gowns.

Charles II Giving Audience at Christ's Hospital circa 1680

I thought the above painting of Charles II that is on display in the British galleries was interesting. It shows the King at Christ's Hospital in London with governors, masters and children who are all dressed very lavishly. 


http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78682/painting-charles-ii-giving-audience-at/

This is a wonderful temporary exhibit that is a modern interpretation of a gown. The silk has been spun completely by spiders and it is stronger than steel. The embroidery is of spiders and flora and is just beautiful! 

I also went to the Cecil Beaton exhibition on his portraits of Queen Elizabeth II. The portraits followed the Queen through her life from the whimsical war portraits that were trying to confirm Britain and the monarchy as an unshakable stronghold to genuine portraits of her with her family. This is a portrait of her wearing the robe of the garter. 

Beautiful Kensington Palace.

The newly restored Kensington Palace 

On Friday I took a trip to London to do some research on the Mayors gown. I have found research into the gown quite limiting, it is sparsely written about as it is a regional garment and as there has been little development in its silhouette since about Tudor times.

I have broadened my research into different kinds of gowns/robes as this is an interesting and varied subject.

I was informed that the newly renovated Kensington Palace has a collection of robes on display and they were not wrong! I last visited the Palace when it was undergoing restoration and so a few rooms were open in an exhibition called 'Enchanted Palace'.
This was interesting as it made me consider exhibition methods in historic houses and what I think is effective in engaging with a public. I think the Enchanted Palace was targeted at girls in particular and was effective at this. Beautiful displays were brought into the rooms to give them a magical atmosphere and it told the history of the Princesses that have lived at Kensington through a kind of mission where the clues were riddles.

'Luminous Lace' sculpture in the Entrance Hall

I thought the restoration was great, it is nice to see the rooms at their best and it is a lot more light (within the restrictions of conservation) and spacious than before. It was divided up into 4 quarters: The Queens State Apartments, The Kings State Apartments, Victoria Revealed and Diana (temporary display)

The council chamber of the Kings State Apartments had been magically reinvented with branches protruding from the walls and stacks of books around the edge, in the centre there was a lady playing cards and talking bizarrely to unsuspecting guests. There are 3 display cases with costumes in, suggesting what would have been worn in these rooms.

Sack-back Court Dress
English
About 1780
White cotton embroidered with gold and silver thread
Possibly worn by Mary Watson Wentworth

Tabard
English
1820
Silk satin embroidered with silk, metal thread, beads, sequins, bullion (precious metal) and semi-precious stones.
Worn by George Harrison Rogers-Harrison Bluemantle Pursuivant Windsor Herald.

Knights Robe
English
1800
Silk velvet with embroidered badge
Cordons - silk and gold thread rope tassels.
Doublet and trunk hose - silver lame trimmed with silver and silk ribbon
Garter - corded silk with motto embroidered in metal thread
Robes of Knight of the Order of the Garter - Reverend Henry Lewis Hobart 1774-1846

Court Suit
English
About 1780
Silk brocade embroidered with metal thread, bullion, sequins and metal foil.

Court Mantua
English
About 1750
Silk brocade

















These were beautiful examples of historic garments. I found that through my summer project and independent study I knew a lot more about the style, history and dates of these garments than I had realised. It was interesting to see the mantua on a mannequin. I have seen a few of these in boxes and had not realised how thin they were from the side.
The Knight's robe was most relevant to see for this project. I think I really need to establish all the different kinds of robes from different areas. I know that the colours and fabrics are important to robes but I would like to find out what status these all represent.

Queen Caroline's Closet housed the Kings Coronation robes which were amazing.

Coronation Robes
English
1761
Silk velvet trimmed with gold lace, ermine cape and lining
Worn by King George III

 The gold lace that trims the whole of the train

The front of the robe. The top is held together with white ribbon, which are also on the CF to keep the fronts open and on the shoulders, presumably to hold the chain

The robe is lined fully in ermine fur, this is without a doubt a very lavish robe. The court suit is a replica and I assume inspired by the yellow suit worn by the King in the famous Ramsay coronation portrait (See my Ede and Ravenscroft post)

















I lastly explored the rooms on Queen Victoria, which included the rooms where she was born, lived in and held her first Privy Council just after learning she was to be Queen at age 18.

 It was amazing to see the size Queen Victoria's garments. I find that you can read as much as you like about how small she was but until you see it it is hard to visualise her and  how it must have felt to be a female monarch in a patriarchal society.

 This is Queen Victoria's wedding dress for when she married Albert in 1840. The rooms are displayed in a very elegant manner, with quotes from her diary pasted all over the furniture and cases to try and create a story as you go around.

2 adorable child's costumes

I thought the rooms on her mourning of Albert were particularly effective at conveying her emotion. Overall however, I found the self guided tour and messages quite confusing. I did not have time to read everything and absorb all the information and this meant that in parts I was a bit lost to what was going on because of the fantastical methods of exhibition and I found it hard to understand why they had put certain exhibits in places as I thought they were not always necessary. I appreciate that they have been a bit different and challenging in how they have displayed the house, but I would have found it beneficial to have a board (nicely decorated to fit with the theme) to just tell me some history of the rooms rather than the riddles or the occasional paper booklet.
I enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere and I thought the palace looked beautiful and the articles on display were of a wide variety and interesting. In particular it was great to see and learn a bit more about the coronation and Garter gowns. Though they were behind cases, you could see the fine sewing and shapes that were created.