Jaarboek Kostuum 2012

Table of Contents

1. Pierre Eijgenraam
   Granny Driessen's golden cap
   

   In 2008 L. van Eijle en A. Klap published a book about regional costume worn in the region between Utrecht and Amsterdam. When the author of this article discovered that his great-grandmother, Anna Johanna Driessen-Verhoef, was mentioned in this book, he decided to do some research of his own.

   Granny Driessen was born in Baambrugge in 1862, a village close to Amsterdam. In 1883 she married Jan Driessen (1858-1908) and went to live in the village of Vreeland, where she died in 1951. Her descendants still remember the valuable golden ‘cap’ she used to wear, and supplied information about her life. This golden cap was an oorijzer, the metal frame worn underneath the actual cap, which was usually made of white linen and/or lace.

   The author wondered how Anna Johanna managed to afford this expensive oorijzer. Her background must have played an important part. She was from a fairly well-to-do farming family, whereas her husband was of poorer stock. Many of her sisters and sisters-in-law will have worn a less valuable headdress. Presumably religion played a part in this, as most of them became members of the Reformed Churches founded at the end of the 19th century. In these stricter communities a golden oorijzer may have been considered as ostentatious.

   A few of granny Driessen's cap pins still survive in the family. They were converted into pendants and a brooch. According to family members the oorijzer and forehead ornament were sold to an unknown buyer. This may have been the collector Marinus van Hoogstraten (1921-2010), whose collection was exhibited in the Rotterdam Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in 1975. The catalogue mentions an oorijzer and forehead ornament from Vreeland, which may once have been in the possession of the author’s great-grandmother.

   Hoogstraten's collection has been in theme park Huis ten Bosch near Nagasaki, Japan, since 1986.

2. Leonie Sterenborg
   'The loose flowing gown with a long line'
   Henry van de Velde and the Dutch ‘Lebensreform’ movement

    

   This article discusses Henry van de Velde's influence on dress design in the Dutch Lebensreform (‘life-reform’) movement (1899-1908). The reform movement criticised the prevailing fashion for women, which primarily featured tight corsets and pointless ornamentation. New perceptions of health, body hygiene and manners also inspired the reform movement to oppose the existing fashion. In its periodical Maandblad der Vereeniging voor Verbetering van Vrouwenkleeding (monthly magazine of the Society for the Improvement of Women's Clothes) the Dutch reform movement published patterns that conformed to the requirements it had formulated. Designs should be made of lightweight fabrics and they should offer the wearer freedom of movement.

   As the reform movement was working on this, the artist Henry van de Velde also occupied himself with designing clothes. It was his opinion that an artist should address himself to all aspects of art, i.e. not just painting, but also architecture and applied arts. He shared the reform movement's criticism of the prevailing fashion, but the health aspect was not his sole motive. Important features of his designs are the lack of pointless ornamentation, the visibility of the construction, a good fit and a uniform style.

   Although there are similarities between Van de Velde's designs and those of the reform movement, he did not belong to this movement. To his mind this was 'too puritan, too strict and too rigid' to obtain its goals. For Henry van de Velde the beauty of clothes was the main thing, whereas to the reform movement functionality and hygiene were the most important. In spite of this we do see the influences and typical features of Van de Velde’s designs in the patterns published in the Maandblad. The visibility of construction and abstract decoration for instance, were incorporated into several reform designs in that magazine.

3. Eva Lassing-van Gameren
   For herself and others: Elsje Rappard-Broese van Groenou's lace work
   

   In the first quarter of the 20th century Elsje Rappard-Broese van Groenou (1881-1968) was known to Dutch devotees of the applied arts as a maker and designer of bobbin lace. She took part in exhibitions and obtained positive reviews. In 1992 her work was reintroduced by a lace exhibition in the Haags Gemeentemuseum (Municipal Museum, The Hague).

   Elsje Rappard lived in Hellevoetsluis, a village on the isle of Voorne-Putten, in the province of Zeeland in the south-western part of the Netherlands. Here she set up a lace school. Her purpose was to create employment opportunities for women and girls by stimulating the making of bobbin lace. This is how the Voornsche Kantwerkerij (Voorne Lace Works) was established in 1928. A few years later she joined the countrywide association Het Molenwiekje.

   As an addition to the catalogue texts of 1992, this article focuses on Mrs. Rappard's life and her own lace work up to World War Il. It also describes the history of the Voornsche Kantwerkerij, in as far as this can be reconstructed from the meagre sources available.

4. Johan de Bruijn and Jacco Hooikammer
   'Ask her next door what they're wearing these days'
   Confirmation dress in Staphorst and Rouveen 1900-2005

   This article describes what confirmation dress for women looked like in Staphorst and Rouveen between ca. 1900 and 2005. Staphorst and Rouveen are two neighbouring villages in the province of Overijssel, in the north-eastern part of the Netherlands. Public confirmation is seen as a very important sacrament in the Orthodox Protestant churches, which are the focal point of this article. It is a rite of passage, and its nature is marked with specific dress and customs. For this survey some sixty women were interviewed. It turned out to be quite difficult to discover what the details of the dress were, as people are confirmed only once in their lives and the ceremony takes place only once a year.

   The last time a Staphorst woman made a confession of faith in regional costume was in 2005. Although nearly the same costume is worn in both villages, their respective confirmation dress differed quite a lot. In Staphorst the dress looked subdued. The Rouveen dress looked just as subdued to inexperienced eyes because of the use of sober black, but in shape and fabrics this was actually related to christening and wedding outfits. In both villages no specific confirmation dress was worn in periods of deepest mourning.

   From the 1950's and 1960's onwards both types of confirmation dress changed. Groups of women decided to adjust details to meet their own taste. In Staphorst the most typical elements of confirmation dress were either left out entirely, or were replaced with elements of ordinary Sunday church dress. This made confirmation dress look more and more like ordinary dress. The Rouveen dress changed less radically, it disappeared sooner though.

   Nowadays confirmation candidates may only be distinguished by the new clothes in the fashion of the day that they have bought for the occasion.

5. Annekatrien Pereira and Ingrid Grunnill
   'I prefer squares and linen thread'
   Original lace work by Toos de Klerk

   Toos de Klerk was erelid van de Nederlandse Kostuumvereniging, en voormalig voorzitter van Het Kantsalet, de twee verenigingen die zijn gefuseerd tot de huidige Nederlandse Kostuumvereniging. Zij overleed op 4 mei 2011.

   Toos was niet alleen expert op het gebied van allerlei soorten kant, maar ook een enthousiaste kantkloster. Zoals vele kantwerksters gebruikte zij in eerste instantie patronen van anderen, maar later maakte ze haar eigen ontwerpen. Dit was haar door haar kunstacademie-achtergrond wel toevertrouwd.

   Waar andere kantwerksters vaak allerlei soorten nieuw materiaal gebruiken, behield Toos een voorkeur voor de conventionele linnen garens. In haar werk is te zien dat haar lievelingskleuren groen en blauw waren. Ze hield ook van vierkante vormen, en maakte graag objecten voor interieurdecoratie. Mogelijk heeft dit te maken met het feit dat Toos in haar professionele leven interieurontwerpster was.

   Voor dit artikel zijn zes objecten gekozen die ze naar haar eigen ontwerp maakte. De huidige bewaarder van haar werk hoopt een permanent onderkomen voor Toos’ collectie te vinden.

   Ritme, blauw/groen zilver is het oudste ontwerp, mogelijk van 1980. Het bestaat uit vijf verschillende stroken die, samengevoegd met 1 cm tussenruimte, een vierkant van 28 bij 28 cm vormen. De inspiratie hiervoor was waarschijnlijk een foto van de gevel van een flatgebouw, die tussen haar kantpatronen werd gevonden.

   Haar ‘Schalen’ van papier en kant maakte ze tijdens een cursus van twee jaar, Kant Speciaal, die tot doel had kantwerksters met andere kunstvormen te confronteren. Toos deed haar inspiratie op in een workshop vormen met papier.

   Na Kant Speciaal sloten Toos en enkele anderen zich aan bij Experikant, een groep van experimentele kantwerksters. In hun exposities waren de volgende vier stukken te zien:

   Zaaibakjes, weer een vierkant object, won de publieksprijs bij een textielfestival met het thema ‘tuinen’ in Arnhem in 1997.

   Groepswerk (2001):dit object, bedoeld om aan een metalen traliewerk te hangen, zou deel van groepswerk van Experikant zijn. Uiteindelijk waren de stukken van de verschillende leden zo verschillend dat ze los van elkaar werden tentoongesteld. In Toos’ bijdrage komt een speciale weefsteek voor die zij in 1997 in Praag had geleerd.

   Visvangst werd in 2003 tentoongesteld in Zandvoort. De zee was het thema voor deze Experikanttentoonstelling. Als je goed kijkt kun je zien dat alle zilveren visjes in het net verschillend zijn.

   Onkruidjes, ook weer een vierkant, werd in 2005 tentoongesteld. De onkruiden zijn op rommelige wijze tussen de tegels gewerkt. Dit is helemaal niet Toos’ normaal heel zorgvuldige en nauwkeurige stijl, maar het geeft perfect het welig tierende onkruid weer.

6. Irma van Bommel
   Fashion photography in the Netherlands
   

   In the early 20th century the first fashion photographs began to appear in Dutch magazines. This was connected to the development of the ready-to-wear clothing industry.

   After World War Il the need for clothes was enormous and the Dutch clothing industry had trouble supplying demand. Also, with growing prosperity the desire for fashionable clothes gradually mounted. Paris still set the tone and launched a new line every season. When Max Heymans was the the first Dutch couturier to open a fashion house as, this boosted the Dutch fashion industry. His example was soon followed by, amongst others, Dick Holthaus, Edgar Vos, Ferry Offerman, Frank Govers and - in the 1960's - Frans Molenaar. They created haute couture, but also designed for the ready-to-wear industry.

   Both couturiers and producers of ready-to-wear clothes wanted to advertise their new collections and this increased the demand for fashion photography. The fashion photographs appeared in newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines and trade catalogues. Examples of magazines in which fashion photographs appeared are De Gracieuse, Maandblad der Vereeniging voor Verbetering van Vrouwenkleeding, De Vrouw en haar Huis, Het Rijk der Vrouw, Elegance and Avenue. Dutch photographers used, with a bit of delay, the American fashion magazines Vogue and Harper's Bazaar for a model.

   Fashion photography was at first very similar to portrait photography, but under the influence of portraits of glamorous actresses it developed into an autonomous genre. The first Dutch photographers specialising in fashion, Lood van Bennekom and Hans Dukkers, became known in the 1950's.

   The illustrated magazines with their quality paper and high-grade printing techniques turned fashion photography into an independent genre. The fashion photographer Paul Huf played a crucial role in this. He was one of the founders of the lifestyle magazine Avenue, which for three decades, from 1965 to 1995, set the tone for Dutch fashion photography.

   The history of Dutch fashion photography contains much information on the development of haute couture and the clothing industry in the Netherlands, and also shows us how women wished to be perceived. It was actually an ideal image that was changing again and again: from well-to-do lady to champion of women's rights; from glamorous to self-confident, youthful and sexy.

   The history of fashion photography also ran parallel to developments in photographic and printing techniques. As late as c. 1850 the invention of a practical negative-positive process for photography became viable as a means of reproduction, be it still on a small scale. The introduction of the screen which could hold printed inks made it possible to include fashion photographs in large-circulation newspapers and magazines. The transition from a view camera to a handheld single-lens reflex camera that could 'shoot' pictures in fast succession, was revolutionary. But the development from glass negatives to roll film and from black-and-white to colour photography was also spectacular. These days digital storage of images is the norm, and digital image editing has become commonplace.