Jaarboek Kostuum 2003

Table of Contents

1. Betty Aardewerk
   Drizzling
   Innocent pastime or theft?

   Parfiler, or drizzling as it was called in English, is a curious pastime which in Europe was mostly practised at the French, English and Austrian courts during the last quarter of the 18th century. At that time silver and gold thread were made of real gold and silver, so it was worthwhile to unpick the metal thread from its silk core, after which the precious metal could be sold back to the supplier of fancy goods or to the goldsmith, be it usually at half price. Of course people have always reused expensive materials, but there was no connection between drizzling and thrift. The precious metal was melted down and the only one to profit by this was the goldsmith.

   Drizzling was done in company, in the salons for instance. The aim was to unravel other people's gold lace and gold braid, either with or without the owner's permission. Goldsmiths even made drizzling presents, small objects wound with gold thread, just so they could be unravelled again. Even unused skeins of gold thread, braid discarded from gentlemen's clothing and dress trimmings were avidly unravelled. The necessary tools were a pair of scissors, a piercer and a small knife. These were kept in expensive cases, usually made of enamelled silver.

   The French Revolution brought this custom to an abrupt end in France. However, the French nobles who managed to escape the country, the émigrés, introduced the pastime in England, where it was still practised in 1829 by the future king of Belgium Leopold of Saxony-Coburg, the widowed husband of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales.

2. Marjan Blomjous
   From base metal to gleaming gold
   Developments in the shape of Dutch oorijzers

   Oorijzers are head ornaments consisting of metal braces with decorated extremities. They are often seen as frames for caps and shown only together with the caps that go with them.They are well worth being examined on their own though. The development of both braces and extremities can be traced from circa 1600 onwards.

   The first literature on oorijzers dates from the 19th century. It was not until the early 20th century that the developments in shape were recorded in series of photographs of oorijzers. In a semi-permanent display in the Nederlands Openluchtmuseum (Netherlands Open Air Museum) in Arnhem, a ‘family tree’ demonstrates the developments as well as possible.

   The earliest examples of oorijzers are the so-called archetypes, worn between circa 1590 and 1700. Their shapes are simple and functional, but their extremities were fashionable. They existed in different shapes and were worn throughout the country. At the end of the 16th century one of the models was made of thick wire, the extremities of which were wound with thinner wire. By 1640 women wore oorijzers with extremities in the shape of birds' heads, and at the end of the 17th century there were silver oorijzers shaped like a flat, curving tape.

   From the archetypes shapes with more obvious characteristics developed, such as extremities in the shape of spirals, cows' heads or small rectangles, and the braces gained width. In contrast to the archetypes each of these differentiated shapes tended to be associated with a certain region. During the 19th century the shapes of oorijzers became less and less general, and at the end of their development we see divergent regional types, each of them with many variations. For instance, from the early cows' heads the flowerpot- and spade-shaped extremities evolved in countless variations. We can also distinguish at least nine different types of spirals.

   Several lines may be traced in the development of the Dutch oorijzer. The brace and the extremities usually did not develop as a whole, but at some moment in time they would be combined and from then onwards go through another period of development together.

   The family tree in its current state is a groundwork for further investigation.

3. Marian Conrads
   Lucas DHeere (1534-1584) and his Theatre…
   A book of costumes or of customs in dress?

   The modern term ‘costume book’ for 16th-century books with pictures of different peoples all over the world is not a correct one. This article proposes to use the term ‘book of customs in dress’, the purpose of such books being to picture the customs in dress of different peoples; they were not about pictures of fashion. The French word costume in the 16th century meant ‘custom’ and it is not until the end of the 18th century that it is used in the modern sense. Also in the 16th century the French used the word mode for the way people dressed. It is only from the end of the 17th century that it is used in its modern meaning of ‘fashion’. The word theatre or theatrum occurs in the 16th and 17th centuries in the titles of books in which we find pictures of different ways of dress, but it may also denote a general view of the world or humanity in a moralistic sense. In 1567 Lucas DHeere uses the word ‘theatre’ for the first time in a book with pictures of dress, his Theatre de tous les peuples et nations de’ la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que’ modernes diligemment depeints au naturel….

   It is obvious that there was much interest in books of customs in dress the 16th century. Some of them were reprinted or copied many times and even appeared in translation. They could serve as examples for pageants held at the occasion of royal entries, for the stage, for painters and even for tailors. Clothes were important to 16th-century wealthy Europeans, they displayed their social status. Garments might even be used as barter. The interest in the dress and customs of unknown peoples grew enormously when the first explorers returned from their voyages at the end of the 15th century.

   With his Abkonterfeitung allerlei Ordenspersonen in ihren klaidungen… Sigmund Heldt (1528-1587) published a book which is a transition from a book of customs in dress to a costume book. In his manuscript Lucas DHeere published watercolours of clothing from the past to the (16th-century) present. He added some moralistic poems voicing his opinion on the relationship between dress and a way of life. The manuscript was never printed, but may be seen as the first costume book in our modern sense of the term.

4. Aaf Steur-Sombroek
   The Volendam jacket
   An investigation into the provenance of the fabric

   In 1994 two wooden stamps for cotton printing, made of apple or pear wood, were donated to the Volendam museum. This gift also included samples of fabrics for jackets, some of which have the same pattern as the hand-printing blocks. These samples came from the Dröge company, originally established in Winschoten in the Dutch province of Groningen, later in Amsterdam.

   This donation made us look afresh at old photographs of Volendam women in regional dress and several cotton jackets which the museum already had in its possession. We began to wonder where the fabrics used for the jackets came from, when the scattered flower patterns changed into striped flower patterns, and when the blue background became a black one.

   The help centre for Volendam dress, the Stichting Klederdrachten (Regional Dress Foundation), had no answer to these questions and this is how we started an investigation into the provenance of the fabrics through research in archives and literature. Those among the Volendam shop owners who sold fabrics for jackets were interviewed. Many of them told us they used to buy their fabrics from the Dröge company, which had its fabrics printed in Switzerland. During the Second World War, when fabrics were very scarce, one enterprising shop owner even persuaded a family of house painters to print fabrics They actually did this, under difficult circumstances.

   Through the Vlisco company in Helmond the research led to the Kralingsche Katoen Maatschappij, one of many Dutch cotton printing works. KKM was established in Rotterdam at the beginning of the 18th century. When the company went bankrupt in 1932 several rollers were sold to the Twentsche Stoomdrukkerij (Twente Steambleaching Works) in Goor. One private person kept trading in remaining textiles from KKM, among which were some with the patterns used around the entire Zuiderzee (now IJsselmeer), on the shore of which  Volendam is situated too. He possessed some vulders (wooden hand-printing blocks) as well.

   The various procedures in this period of great developments in technique, and in particular in the chemical field, vary from resist printing with indigo, through printing on an aniline black background to mordant style and silk-screen printing.

   Essential data regarding the Dröge family and the exact provenance of the fabrics have not yet been discovered; the purpose of this article is to initiate further research.

    

5. Madelief Hohé
   letse Meij: Four decades of working in Fashion and Costume, an inspiring life's work
   A conversation with the former curator of fashion of the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague

   On 1 February 2003 letse Meij (1940) resigned from her position as fashion curator, which she had held since 1985, of the costume department of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, also known as the collection of the former Nederlands Kostuummuseum (Dutch Museum of Costume). This is where she started her career as a museum assistant in 1966 after having graduated from art school in The Hague in 1961.

   Anyone who has worked with her, knows her as a very passionate, enthusiastic and artistic woman, a perfectionist with a great amount of expertise. She carried out her work in a very serious and expert manner and in doing so helped to make the field more professional. She also contributed to the expansion of the costume collection of the Gemeentemuseum through her commitment, genuine interest and dedication. In 2002 letse Meij received the Max Heymans ring from the Dutch Society of Fashion Journalists for her special contribution to Dutch fashion.

   During her many years of working for the costume collection she was involved in many important changes within the (international) world of fashion and costume, for instance in the field of displaying costumes. The 1960s’ semi-permanent exhibition at the Nederlands Kostuummuseum, where costumes were shown on manikins with stylised faces, was, as letse Meij now terms it, 'an academic way of presenting'. Through the years exhibitions evolved towards abstract displays of costumes on headless manikins, directing all attention towards the clothes. letse Meij is very glad that since the 1970s historical costumes are no longer displayed on living models, because this was then recognised as very harmful to the objects.

   In 1985 the Nederlands Kostuummuseum moved to the Gemeentemuseum, where a semi-permanent costume exhibition was realised focusing on themes like democratisation, emancipation, poverty and eroticism. After 1993 this exhibition was closed, as a result of which the costume department no longer had an exhibition space. letse Meij regretted this very much, because in her opinion 'a collection which cannot be shown, is dead'. The opening of the Fashion Gallery in 1998, a space specially designed for the display of vulnerable costumes, is considered by letse Meij to be 'the happiest day of my life'.

   letse Meij’s choice of her favourite historical and modern costumes represents the acquisition policy of the collection: the emphasis is on clothes which were worn by Dutch people in the Netherlands or abroad, and beside that trend-setting (international) fashion. letse Meij stresses the importance of this specialised costume collection of the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, not just within that city, but also on national and international levels. Because of its characteristics, and the scrupulous acquisition policy kept to through the years, the collection occupies a unique place within the Netherlands, Europe and the world. letse Meij leaves behind a wonderful collection, which is a witness to many years of commitment. Her life's work is a true source of inspiration for the future.