Jaarboek Kostuum 1994

Table of Contents

1. Saskia Kuus
   Children in skirts in the Netherlands 1560-1660
   A study of the difference in clothing between girls and boys in skirts

   In a lot of costume literature children's clothes from before the late 18th century are dismissed with a single remark: children were dressed as little adults. But there are differences: in 17th-century family portraits the children often wear bright colours such as red and yellow, whereas their parents are dressed in sober black. It is also said that young boys were dressed in women's clothes; but in the regional dress of the island of Marken, where the practice of dressing small boys in skirts survived well into the 20th century, there were several subtle differences in dress to distinguish boys from girls.

   The origins of the practice of dressing boys in skirts probably lie in the 16th century, when men wore very short trunk hose together with tight-fitting hose. This would have been very unpractical for children in nappies and the simple solution was to lengthen the basques of the doublet, so the trunk hose were not needed. And so a new tradition was born which was to last in mainstream fashion until the 1860s. As no 16th- and 17th- century children’s garments remain, the most important sources of information for children's clothes are portraits.

   So far there has not been any extensive research on the subject of children in skirts. In a number of studies of literature and portraits the following conclusions were drawn in regard to recognizing a child in skirts either as a girl or as a boy:

   1. boys wear a pointed cap over a cap with a raised lace edge until ca. 1630.
   2. 2.boys wear a medal on a chain across the chest. It is usual for the youngest son of a family to be portrayed with this; girls wearing such a medal are exceptions.
   3. girls wear flowers on their cap, which may be set far back on the head.
   4. girls wear a round cap over a cap with a raised lace edge until ca. 1630.
   5. both boys and girls wear ornaments of feathers on hat or cap.
   6. both boys and girls wear jewellery.
   7. both boys and girls are depicted with dogs, not always necessarily referring to hunting

   The following features can be added to those drawn from literature:

   1. in the 1630s boys wear a decoration of several ribbon rosettes at the waist.
   2. from 1650 onwards boys wear collars with tassels.
   3. boys are portrayed with a goldfinch as a symbol of the willingness to learn.
   4. girls never wear their hair cut short and are practically always shown with some kind of head covering.
   5. in the period 1620-1640 girls wear a special type of puffed sleeve consisting of a long, slashed undersleeve with a short, puffed uppersleeve bound by a bow just above the elbow.
   6. in the 1630s girls wear a waist decoration consisting of only one rosette.
   7. girls carry a fan.
   8. in some portraits girls are shown with a diamond-shaped escutcheon.

   The study of the difference in clothing between boys and girls in skirts is not yet finished; more distinguishing characteristics may be discovered in the future.

2. Simon Honig
   The women’s costume of the Zaanstreek: reality or fantasy?
   

   The aim of this article is to show that the existing idea of the regional dress of the Zaan region, which lies north of Amsterdam in the Dutch province of Noord-Holland, is largely based on an anachronism, fuelled by performances of the play ‘The Flower of Zaandijk’ in original 18th century clothes.

   The last quarter of the 18th century is the only period from which a lot of clothes remain in collections. In the Zaans Historisch Museum for instance there are many late 18th-century jackets. It was impossible to remodel these after they went out of fashion, which is probably the reason they survived. Other items surviving in great numbers are skirts.

   The remaining oorijzers (the metal frames worn in caps) and matching jewellery nearly all date from the last period the cap was worn, because jewellery used to be sold for melting down when a new style came into fashion.

   A more comprehensive image of what especially the richer women in the Zaan area wore over a longer period of time can be found in paintings and drawings. From the images included in the article we may conclude that there is no such thing as a typically ‘Zaans’ costume. However, during the 18th and 19th centuries the headdress went through its own specific evolution.

3. T. T. Zweers-van Giffen
   The development of dress in Western Europe from the early Middle Ages to the 16th century, with the emphasis on women’s dress
   

   This article is based on a comparison of the description of costume in handbooks, descriptions in contemporary literature and depictions in the visual arts. It concentrates on the changes in the shape of women's clothes and on the consequent changes in neckline.

   Before the early 12th century there was no difference in cut between men's and women's clothes: all clothes were basically T-shaped tunics . This T-shape was continued until the early 14th century, although around 1100 for women it changed from loose to close-fitting around the upper part of the body. The skirts were so long that they had to be lifted to make walking possible, and the vertical lines of body and clothing were accentuated.

   Next to the skin both men and women wore a pleated or gathered shirt made of linen or hemp. Over this a chainse was worn, made of the same fabrics. Rich people, men and women alike, wore another garment, the bliaut, made of costly materials. This consisted of three parts: the top with long, wide sleeves which might trail over the ground, the tight-fitting part around the hips, and the long wide skirt.

   In the 13th century the chainse was replaced by the close-fitting woollen cotte. The sleeves of the cotte were not shaped, so there was excess material under the arms which was sewn in pleats which radiated across the chest and back. Over the cotte a sleeveless surcot of the same pattern was worn, usually in a contrasting colour.

   The cotte and surcot Eleanor of Castille was buried in in 1244, have survived. Her cotte is sleeveless, with small armholes and laced up the sides. The surcot has large armholes reaching down to the hips, through which the cotte was visible.

   North of the Pyrenees this garment did not come into fashion until the 14th century, when it was called surcot ouvert and quite soon became ceremonial court dress in France and England.

   The surcot ouvert was worn both by men and women, as was the corset, which in the 12th century was underwear but in the 13th and 14th centuries became outer wear.

   Round 1340 some striking changes occurred in the cut of clothes: the sleeves were cut with a head instead of straight across and the front and back bodice were also cut to shape. These close-fitting shapes made it necessary to have slits in the front, the back or the sides in order to get into and out of the garment. The slits were then either laced up, sewn together or buttoned up. It is thought that round about the same time it became customary to cut skirt and bodice separately; the skirt was gathered and sewn to the bodice. The first visual evidence of this style dates from the 15th century however. Another remarkable innovation in women's dress was the lowering and widening of the neckline. This development was probably linked to the tight-fitting sleeves of the new shape; the larger opening at the neck made it easier to put the dress on and only one slit, usually down the side, was needed.

   Another example of 14th-century women's dress is the souquanie or surcot clos. This usually had several pairs of loose sleeves. The buttoned cote hardie was worn by both men and women for riding.

   In the second half of the 14th century the houppelande became part of the women’s wardrobe. It was a loose-fitting overdress with wide sleeves and a trailing skirt. It was lined with fur, which in the case of royalty would be ermine. First the houppelande replaced the surcot ouvert as court dress and then in the 15th century it was adopted by the rich bourgeoisie.

   The term ‘robe’ dates from the 12th century. Originally it designated a set of garments all worn together(cf. the term 'wardrobe'). By 1425 it described just one garment which is generally seen as the successor of the houppelande. The front and back of the houppelande had both been cut in one piece; after 1425 the bodice and skirt of the robe were cut separately, which ensured a better fit. The sleeves were now tight and the original wide neckline of the houppelande now plunged down almost to the waist. This decolletage was filled with a velvet piece and a gauze gorgerette round the shoulders. The robe had a long train which was usually carried over the arm. Around 1460 the cut of the robe changed: the train was discarded and the skirt became less wide. This was called the robe toute ronde.

   Around 1470 even more remarkable changes occurred in the cut and shape of clothes: the vertical Gothic ideal made way for the more horizontal Renaissance style which did not develop at court but in the Italian cities.

4. Fransje van Eijsden
   ‘Everything at a reasonable price’
   The use, manufacture and sale of the fan in the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries

   All over Europe the heyday of the fan was seen in the 17th and 18th centuries, and so it was in the Netherlands. Until quite late in the 18th century fans were symbols of wealth and status, even for middle-class women.

   The earliest type, the fixed fan, usually consisted of an oval-shaped piece of precious metal with feathers along the edge, or just of a silver holder with feathers. In the first half of the 17th century this shape was very popular, especially with rich puritan women. The folding fan came into fashion as early as the 1620s , as did fixed fans in the shape of a pleated leaf.

   The first folding fans were imported from the Far East. Very soon new types were developed in China, especially for the European market. At the same time many chinoiserie fans were made in Europe. The earliest pictures on fans were copied from illustrated manuscripts and cartoons for tapestries. The subjects were mostly mythological or love scenes. The fan painters (on the whole miniature and portrait painters who did not sign their fan leaves) often used engravings after paintings by famous Italian and French masters. In the 18th century the subject was placed in a cartouche surrounded by garlands and other decorations, instead of filling the whole leaf.

   The second half of the 17th century saw the development of a modest fan industry in the Netherlands, which tried to imitate the folding and brisé fans from China. There was no special guild for the fan makers: they belonged to a kind of ‘collective guild’, for instance that of the painters, carvers and embroiderers. Fanleaf painters sold their own work or were employed by manufacturers. Ivory carvers made the ivory sticks and in the early years they also sold fans.

   The way ivory was carved and the necessary equipment for this is shown at length in the Encyclopédie Methodique (1783) by Diderot and d'Alembert under the heading ‘Tabletier-Cornetier’. At first the ivory sticks were plain, but later they were incrusted with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell or metal, carved, pierced, painted and gilded. Gold- and silversmiths also sold fans as did merchants in French wares and fancy goods. Pedlars sold them from door to door and on markets and fairs. The oldest known fan manufacturer and merchant in Amsterdam was Anthonio Boullar, who contracted with fan painters and gilders.

   After the French Revolution, which abolished class divisions, the fan industry dwindled. The fan was no longer seen in church and in the street; only small models were still used when going out in the evening.

5. Jolanda de Pater
   Development and survey of the men’s costume of Urk
   

   In the 17th century men’s dress  was more or less the same all over the countryside. There were no obvious regional or local differences, or styles belonging to certain groups. The dress took elements from citizens’ fashion which were adhered to for a long time.

   In the 18th century men’s dress of Urk -  a former island in the former Zuyderzee, now IJsselmeer, in the Netherlands - was not specific of the region the way women’s dress was. The Urk population had grown into a community where fishing was the main source of income. The occupational group of fishermen and sailors developed their own style of dress, which was characterised by 17th-century shapes, although in some aspects it was identical to the general style of dress, or dress worn by the lower classes as a whole.

   In fact the phenomenon of a typical Urk dress for men and women came into being during the 19th century. Changes in society, such as industrialisation, the greater availability of products and increasing mobility, caused most of the regional dress and (dress) traditions to disappear. They were preserved in only a few regions in the Netherlands, where a strong homogeneity existed and remained; the geographical situation also played a role. The isle of Urk knew this homogeneity: where religion, society and economy were concerned there were only small differences between the inhabitants.

   The dress of Urk from halfway the 19th century is reasonably well-known to us. In the men’s costume of Urk hardly any variants may be discerned which could express differences in religion, profession or prosperity. The reason for this can be found in the already mentioned homogeneity of the Urk community.

   The way the Urk men’s costume was put together in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (and in a number of cases also the individual pieces of clothing) is strongly reminiscent of the clothes and jewellery worn in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The dress is far from static though, even in this century it is still being renewed. However, various factors  are causing a gradual disappearance of the regional dress. The younger generations will wear it no longer on a daily basis, only an ever smaller group of elderly people have remained faithful to their local dress.

   Not only have just a few material sources regarding regional dress been preserved, a lot of knowledge of the dress and its traditions has been lost. Fortunately over these past years an increasing interest may be seen, and a start was made with recording the still present knowledge regarding the dress.

   The author finishes the article with an extensive description of the various pieces of clothing and jewellery worn by the men of Urk.