 Resources Getting Started Introduction to 16th century German Costuming
Written by Marion McNealy
Inspriation - Online Art ResearchThanks to the Internet, there is now a large amount of artwork easily available, and its getting better organized all the time. I find portraits and etchings of real people to be the most inspiring sources for costuming. Artcyclopedia is my favorite place to start when looking for a new artist as it has gathered pointers to many different online art collections into one central place. The German Artists page The page for the Northern Renaissance artists, Germany and beyond. Die Augsburger Monatsbilder Bildarchiv der Kunst und Architektur REALonline is the Austrian version of Bildindex.de, except with more color pictures, vastly better indexing and a much faster user interface. It has over 14,000 works of art, many of which have detail images, that are available for viewing online and they have been tagged with catalogue entries in 13 available catalogues. I've written a help guide for it as well, For more Art Research sources, see the Art Research page
Key ArtistsThese German artists are the ones I find particularly helpful since they focused primarily on portraits and costume studies, or artwork that depicts regular people in ordinary everyday settings.
Note: Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger where the court painters for the Princes of Saxony. The clothing depicted in their paintings is not typical clothing for anybody outside of the Saxon Court. Inspriation - DocumentationTextiler Hausrat: Kleidung und Haustextilien in Nurnburg von 1500-1600 by Jutta Zander-Seidel. ISBN 3-422-06067-7. A great resource in German, with good artwork. Hard to find for sale but is possible to get via ILL. English translation of some sections online in the Files section of the GermanRenCostuming Yahoo Group. Alpirsbach, zur geschichte von kloster und stadt , Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart, 2001. ISBN 3-8062-1336-4. History of Costume by Blanche Payne. Harper & Row, 1965 Has some good artwork, unfortunately all in black and white. The text is definitely a bit dated, however the 1965 version has pattern drafts in the back of extant garments from many different periods. Some are covered in Pattern’s of Fashion, but others such as the extant set of bases (waffenrock) are not. The newly re-printed version doesn’t include the pattern drafts. Three Essentials for 16th century clothing construction
A detailed analysis of surviving garments with construction details, close-up pictures and other great little goodies. A facsimile of a tailor’s pattern book from 1589. A good resource for pattern shapes and period layouts. A wonderful resource if you are interested in Spanish influenced German styles as portrayed in Jost Amman’s books. While not a technical handbook on how to draft patterns in a period fashion, it is a good resource on pattern drafting and tailoring basics. Inspriation - History and GeographyA short little history time line with relavant fashions from the period. Its not a comprehensive list of every single historical event or fashion, but it should at least give you a grounding in what happened when. Details the location of the principalities and cities of the Holy Roman Empire in 1547. , Fashions often flowed along trade routes. Marriages were another way that fashions transfered from one region to another. This is why you see very Italian influences in the southern German clothing in Nuremberg and Ausgberg because they were on the direct trade route from Italy. If you look at the fashions from Cologne and at Flemish fashions, you see that they share things in common as well. It all really depends on who your neighbors are and who you trade with. Each Imperial city and state belonged to a circle and a bench. While this is not a direct indicator of fashion influences, it does at least show you the political influences on each area, and what areas where most likely to interact with each other. Inspriation - Everyday life (Political, Social, Religious)A list of books that I have found useful for giving a good inside view into daily life, religious issues and social change. This is by far not a comprehensive list, but just the resources I like best. Magdalena and Balthasar : An Intimate Portrait of Life in 16th Century Europe Revealed in the Letters of a Nuremberg Husband and Wife by Steven Ozment (Translator) The Burgermeister's Daughter : Scandal in a Sixteenth-Century German Town by Steven Ozment When Fathers Ruled: Family Life in Reformation Europe (Studies in Cultural History) by Steven Ozment Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany, by Steven Ozment The Reformation in the Cities: The Appeal of Protestantism to Sixteenth-Century Germany and Switzerland, by Steven Ozment Protestants: The Birth of a Revolution Fugger News-Letters</i> [FACSIMILE] (Hardcover) by Victor Von Klarwill (Editor) Luther on Women: A Sourcebook, by Susan C. Karant-Nunn, Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks A Mighty Fortress : A New History of the German People, by Steven E. Ozment The Habsburgs, by Dorothy Gies McGuigan The Habsburgs, by Andrew Wheatcroft Inspriation - FoodOK, maybe this isn't that closely related to costuming, but everybody needs to eat, right? Thomas Gloning’s German language cookery texts 1350-1896 Ein Buch von guter spise(the book of good food), dated to 1345 to 1354, translated by Alia Atlas, 1993. Master Eberhard's Cookbook. 15th C. cookbook and dietetics from Landshut. translated by Volker Bach Kochbuch a. d. Archiv. d. Dt. Ordens -15th Cent East Prussia translated by Volker Bach Inntalkochbuch, and early 16th Century Bavarian cookbook .translated by Volker Bach Sabina Welserin, 1553 , translated by Valoise Armstrong 1998 From Marx Rumpolt, Ein New Kochbuch , c. 1581; translated by M.Grasse (work in progress) FabricWoolAlways period, if a little warm in hot climates. Keywords to look for when purchasing online: broadcloth, tabby, worsted, flannel, tropical weight worsted. SilkSilk comes in many different weights and weaves, from light as down to a heavy full bodied satin. Interlining silk with linen can give it more body and help it hang better. Keywords to look for when purchasing online: Satin, poplin, broadcloth, twill, shantung, brocade, taffeta, faille, repp, habotai. Silk noile is controversial as a period fabric, as is duponi in some circles. LinenWhile there are not many extant outer garments made from linen, there are a few! Linen is undeniably documentable for underwear, linings in garments, stockings and ladies headcoverings. Its a good fabric for hot days since it keeps you cool. Fabric to avoidAnything knit, jersey fabrics, rayon or polyester. Striped fabric is not documentable for the German lands, although fabric pieced into stripes is, go figure. ColorsThere were no chemical or aniline dyes during the 16th century, but they still wore plenty of color. Reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, greens, blues, browns, blacks, greys are all represented in period artwork. A good resource on what colors can be obtained with natural dyes is the book Wild Color Online Fabric SourcesWonderful selection of linen at good prices, never had any trouble with customer service and very prompt delivery. www.fashionfabricsclub.com www.fabric.com Has occasional fantastic sales on merino wool and silk. Definitely get on the email list so you find out about the sales Typical Styles for WomenDuring the 16th century the style of women’s clothing changed dramatically from the relatively unstructured gowns of the Housebook Master to the very tailored structured Spanish influenced styles of the 1570’s. There are some consistencies throughout the century however:
Typical layers, from the skin out
Typical Styles for MenMen’s clothing also underwent a serious transformation from the beginning of the century to the end, with the fashion staring out as hose and jerkin, transitioning to Rocks (gowns) and then transitioning to the Spanish influenced styles of doublet, jerkin and breeches. There are a lot more extant examples of men’s clothing from the period than there are of women’s, Janet Arnold’s book Pattern’s of Fashion does a good job of explaining the different types of men’s garments in the second half of the century. Unlike women’s clothing that just changed the styles of the layers, men’s clothing changed the layers involved completely. Unfortunatly as I don't have a man who is interested in wearing these types of clothes, my research into this area has been limited. A good resource for men’s clothing is the archives of the GermanRenCostuming group on Yahoo! Groups.
Originally a class handout, August 2004. Updated in 2006 and 2009 |
