Historical Fortnightly #1 the 13th year of any century

1513 Italian style dress

The inspiration:



Engraved silver plaque showing the 32 year old Lucrezia presenting her son and heir, Ercole (b. 1508), to San Maurelio, protector of Ferrara. The plaque was executed by Giannantonio da Foligno to commemorate the victory of the French and Ferrarese forces over the papal and Spanish armies at the battle of Ravenna in 1512. (from source) Taken from wikipedia

The research:

The high waist, big sleeve style appears in the early 1500's in Northern Italy and stays in style well into the 1520's. There are some small changes to the bodice shape and the width of the sleeves depending on the city state they are worn in, but the dress varies little from the high waist, big sleeve style pictured above. Additional images depicting this style are on Anea's website and show a date range of 1504 to 1528.

Links:

• Orange and Yellow dresses, Birth of the Virgin, 1514
• Orange Dress, The Preaching of John the Baptist 1520
• Mary Magdalene,
  Lamentation 1527
• Yellow Dress, 1526
• Red Dress,Portrait of a Woman 1505-1510
• Green Dress, Portrait of a Lady1505 (?)
• Blue Dress, Christ Taking Leave of His Mothe1521
• Red Dress, Court of Isabella d'Este 1504
• Multicolored Dress, Frescoes in the Oratory of St Cecilia1504
• Blue Dress, Court of Isabella d'Este 1504

Materials:

For my dress, I used a red linen blend brocade. The design of the brocade is very similar to what was found in period paintings and is a color red that is very common as well. Although it's a blend, it's a 60/40 blend, with 60% being linen.

The lining is a brown hemp silk fabric. According to this site "canvas 15th century hemp cloth used for outer clothing by lower classes and lining garments by the more wealthy." And according to this site hemp was so important a fiber that "in the UK, in 1535 Henry VIII passed an act compelling all landowners to sow 1/4 of an acre, or be fined. During this period hemp was a major crop and up to the 1920’s 80% of clothing was made from Hemp textiles." The fabric itself looks like silk but smells like peanut butter when burned.

For the inner lining, I used duck cloth to give added stability.

Pictures:



This photo is really poor, however I wanted to get one up before midnight on the 14th to show that I did, in fact, have a dress done before the deadline. I promise to update this post with better pictures later tonight.