But...it is pretty! And I like it. And I'm stubborn, so I kept looking for documentation that perhaps sometime folks did this contrasting gores thing.
This evening I was wandering through the book, "Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince" by Newton, and stumbled across the following pictures:
And that last one reminded me of a line drawing from the book "Dress Accessories", from the Museum of London.
I'm thinking I'll make my cotehardie with contrasting gores, and feel pretty safe in the knowledge that it is perhaps plausible after all.
Edit: Also Figure 70 on this page: http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft8k4008jd&chunk.id=d0e3511&toc.id=d0e3511&brand=ucpress
Edit again: I tracked down the picture that the last line drawing was based on, and this is why you don't trust line drawings. Take a look: http://vieuxchamps.com/persona/enlarged/wg/wpic3.php . The figure on the right does not have contrasting gores after all. The artist who did the line drawing was, I think, not looking closely. This image does, however, show the variety of patterned fabrics that could be used.
Isn't it possible that in order to show their wealth, they would not have used gores, but for the less wealthy, merchant class, they may have worn the gores (a) for thriftiness sake, or (b) to show off fabrics? And in my mind, what's possible is probable, especially given that the time period of the cotehardie spans decades, if not centuries! I guess I just don't care enough for exact authenticity, as long as the spirit of it is intact. ^_^
ReplyDeleteOr, given that several of the images show dancers, the contrasting gores thing might have been for special occasions? Or maybe a regional style? Maybe an age thing, like teenagers wearing more outlandish styles?
ReplyDeleteBut I've been told that they NEVER used contrasting gores in the dresses, and I've happily proved otherwise to my own satisfaction. So I'm going to make my next dress with the style I like, secure in the fact that I can document the what, if no the why. (yet)
I would suggest looking up the color originals rather than relying on the black and white copies of these images. I believe that you are making assumptions based on your interpretation of how the original color shading shows up in the black and white versions, rather than reality.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea if my question will be answered 10 years after the article was written. If so: I am very interested by the 1st picture and I would like to see the original in colour. The book specifies 'missal of Louis de Male' , but I can't find this manuscript anywere. A gogle image search reveals that you are the only person to publish this picture. So I suppose the photocopied a book you personnaly own. Could you kindly find the reference of this illumination? Normally, at the end of your book, you would find the credits and and manuscript + library were the original artwork is stored. Many thanks in advance.
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm still here. The image information was 35. Grandes Chroniques, i p.27. Chasing that into the bibliography gave me: Les Grandes Chroniques de France, i. Chronique des regnes de Jean II et de Charles V, ed. R. Delachenal, SHF, Paris, 1910; ix (Charles IV le Bel - Philippe VI Valois) ed. J. Viard, SHF, Paris, 1937.
DeleteGood luck!