Jaarboek Kostuum 2021

Table of Contents

1. Annabella Meddens-van Borselen
   Government skirts
   The dress of female criminals at the end of the 19th century

   The dress and accessories belonging to women from the upper classes of society have been preserved in collections of museums and other institutes, whereas hardly anything remains of the dress of lower class women. What did they wear? Did they possess corsets, dresses, coats and shoes?

   During my archival research into 19th-century female criminals, I was surprised to find more than one hundred photographic portraits of women who had been released from prison after a few years’ sentence. These portraits are a unique source for answering questions about the dress of lower class women, as most of them were photographed in their own clothing for the Secret Register of Released Prisoners. However, on release some were wearing their institutional dress, because they simply had nothing else. The portraits are of servants, labourers, seamstresses, cleaning women and prostitutes, who had been sentenced several times for stealing money, textiles and jewellery, or for swindling, arson or murder.

   Beside these photos I also found clothing lists of female prisoners who had been transferred to the Governmental Insane Asylum in Medemblik. In these lists, all properties, jewellery and clothes the women brought with them were registered. From a number of these lists it becomes clear that some women were so poor that they didn’t possess any clothing of their own. They were wearing skirts, jackets, bonnets, underpants and wooden shoes handed out by the national government. Anyway, women housed in institutions and prisons were not allowed to wear their own clothing there, but received institutional dress.

   In the Secret Register one can see that nearly all the sentenced women were able to knit and sew, and that they were obliged to do this while in prison. Their portraits and lists of clothing show a lot of variety in the clothes they possessed in the period 1884-1911: some are wearing simple dresses, apparently made of cotton, others are better dressed, probably in woollen clothes. A major part tried to follow fashion trends: they bought, made and/or decorated dresses with passementerie and wore corsets, small hats and shoes. A minority was so poor that they couldn’t follow fashion, not even when after 1880 the cheaper ready-to-wear dress was available in shops. Thus we can see that for the very poorest, dire poverty and fashion don’t go hand in hand.

   avbmeddens@hotmail.com

2. Anne-Marie Segeren
   ‘But its’s nice to have, pleasant for whenever you need it.’
   Garments from the collection of the former costumier and rental business Gerlach in the Fries Museum

   Gerlach was the name of a costumier and rental business in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden, which ceased to exist in 2000. It was a family business, founded by the actor Albert Bakker, after whose death it was continued by his nephew Albert Gerlach. Albert’s son Harry took over in turn.

   Upon Harry’s death the rental business after ninety years closed its doors forever, because no long-term successor could be found. In 1998 the Fries Museum had the opportunity to buy a small part of the Gerlach collection. This selection consists of original garments and accessories which were not made to serve as fancy dress, but for use in daily life. They are of high quality, although some objects are damaged. Some have hardly or not at all been worn.  Most of the garments reveal interesting stories about their past.

   In the present article a number of objects are mentioned which show traces of intensive use and have a label or stamp of a dress rental, or even the name of the original seamstress hidden in them.

   annemariesegeren@gmail.com

3. Jankees Goud
   Protestant folds and catholic beads
   Religious differences in the regional costumes of Zuid-Beveland and elsewhere

   The regional costume of Zuid-Beveland (an island belonging to the Dutch province of Zeeland) was one of the few showing a clear difference between protestant and catholic wearers. The author takes a closer look at this phenomenon, within the framework of 20th-century traditional women’s clothing.

   After a short, general description of the components of the regional costume, the differences in design between identical garments of protestant and catholic wearers are described. Attention is given to the development of these differences through time, as well as to the question whether causes for these might be found.

   By comparing the regional costume of Zuid-Beveland with the costumes of West-Brabant, Het Gooi and Noord-Holland, it becomes clear that in other Dutch regions Catholics also made their religious belief visible, though in a different manner, viz. by wearing certain accessories such as a cross-shaped pendant. The costume of Zuid-Beveland distinguishes itself from this: clear differences came into being through relatively limited adaptations of identical basic shapes of parts of clothing. For example a protestant ‘beuk’ or ‘kraplap’ (a traditional Dutch breastcloth garment) essentially resembles the catholic one, yet one can see immediately which community the wearer belongs to.

   That both religious communities adorned themselves with similar garments, but during the 19th century proved able to attain an ever more recognizable differentiation, may be called unique within the field of Dutch regional costume.

4. Ileen Montijn
   Louis Couperus and fashion
   

   Louis Couperus (1863-1923) was one of the most famous Dutch authors of his time. He wrote successful novels such as Eline Vere (1889), and besides that published personal columns and stories, mainly in the The Hague newspaper Het Vaderland. He also was a popular speaker. With his precious diction and his refined manner of dressing, he was a kind of national dandy.

   Much of his work suggests a lively interest in dress and fashion; this is most evident in his contribution to a slim volume published by a men’s fashion store in 1915, at the occasion of the opening of a renovated establishment in The Hague, ‘A Meditation upon Male Dress’.

   The present article goes into the background of that booklet, as well as into Couperus’ ideas about fashion, both male and female. With his strong views and apodictic statements such as ‘The man who doesn’t know how to put on a cravat will never be elegant’, he is part of a tradition begun by Balzac with his Physiologie de la toilette [The Physiology of Attire] (1830). In autobiographical newspaper columns Couperus presented his preoccupations with fashion with slight self-mockery, knowing that the majority of his audience considered them frivolous – but nevertheless, or maybe even therefore, liked to read his texts. He also wrote about his long stays in cities such as Nice and Genova, where he felt very much at home, visited tailors with his Italian friend Orlando, and observed his fellow men. The passages about female dress in novels such as Extaze, Noodlot and Langs lijnen van geleidelijkheid mirror both Couperus’ sensitivity to, and his sharp eye for the fashions of his time. For us, they are still a rich historical source.

   www.ileenmontijn.nl

5. Madelief Hohé
   Fashion in colour
   

   The various COVID-19 measures imposed in 2020 brought the worldwide exhibition machinery of museums to a grinding standstill. For the Kunstmuseum Den Haag this meant that the exhibition ‘Mode in Kleur’ (Fashion in Colour) was to replace the original plans for the autumn of 2020. The exhibition was put together within less than three months and had to meet certain conditions: it shouldn’t be too expensive, preferably use as many objects as possible from the museum’s own collection (i.e. with just a few loans or none at all), and be covidproof. All of us still had to find out what that meant… But of course it was fantastic, because in this way we were able to realize a project at short notice. In addition it was wonderful to come up with a cheerful theme, since cheerfulness was very welcome in that uncertain and sometimes sad Corona period.

   An exhibition about colour was proposed, a theme already on the agenda of the fashion department, but now set into an accelerated pace. Colour is a fascinating phenomenon in a historical fashion collection: there is always discolouration to be dealt with. Colour is also defined by the kind of light falling on it: of course seeing the colour of textile in our well-lighted museum is different from seeing it by candle-, gas- or electric light as in former times.

   Unlike animals, humans are able to see most colours and this partly explains our love of art and fashion. Experiencing colour generates emotion in us. A colour entering through our eyes will get its meaning in our brain. A fashionable colour will never be just a colour. It often carries a message which society, time or a culture endows it with. Thus colour in fashion works as a code we don’t know the meaning of, or we know this no longer. The challenge is to break these codes.

   The exhibition demonstrated that our classification of colours has changed through history and that mixing colours hasn’t always been self-evident. In Western-Europe such colours as green and yellow were long in disgrace, and were given a negative meaning. On the other hand in China yellow was a colour which for ages was a privilege of the imperial family.

   One of the conclusions of the exhibition is that the meaning of many colours in the mainly Western-European fashion collection of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, may be traced back to medieval ideas about the use of colour. Christianity has left its mark on the way we use colour, its influence continuing into the 20th century.

   Colour in fashion has never become quite meaningless. We can see this in the choice of colour made by politicians, or in the meaning modern designers give to colour in their creations. Thus even nowadays colour is full of meaning.

6. Rosalie Sloof
   More than a refined costume party
   Costumes and lace for the Leiden Students’ Pageant of 1910

   The Academic Historical Museum in Leiden houses a small but intriguing collection of fancy dress and accessories, covering a period from the second half of the 19th century to 1910. During that period these costumes were worn at the occasion of lustrum festivities of Leiden University, the highlight of which would be a huge, costumed pageant. Students who could afford such festive, be it rather costly, attire, paraded through the city, thereby confirming their social status whilst re-enacting an actual historical pageant. In the case of the 1910 pageant this was the ‘Blyde Incomste’ (Joyous Entry) of Stadholder Frederik Hendrik and Queen Henrietta Maria of England in Amsterdam, 1642.

   Most of this masquerade clothing was made by expert hands, offering expensive and sumptuous garments to the students, who strived for historical accuracy. The author examined several costumes and lace used in the pageant of 1910, a spectacular event with a great deal of splendour, but also with excessive overruns of budget. In their communal pursuit of pomp and splendour artistic leader and director Henricus Jansen and the masquerade committee’s organisers required materials of premium quality. Inspiration and examples of period fashion were found in collections of 17th-century paintings and prints.

   The entire dressing-up event of 1910 is well-documented. Several original costume designs are preserved, photographs of participants were published in a memorial album, and national as well as foreign newspapers published full reports on all the preparations. The Leiden city archives also include heaps of invoices from renowned suppliers of luxury articles, not only from The Hague and Amsterdam, but also from Brussels and even Paris.

   The greatest care went into the production of accessories as well. At the Dutch Lace Work-school in The Hague, about 125 lace collars and cuffs were made by hand in 17th-century style. For the leading actors, lace for even more sumptuous collars was ordered from Brussels, a number of which were made of needle lace, after original examples.

   The very best was also required for dressing the twelve female participants, who represented a first in 1910. Henricus Jansen ordered their dresses from Metz & Co in Amsterdam, the exclusive Dutch agent for Liberty silks imported from London. In 1910 Metz & Co was the place to be for high quality silk fabrics in soft colours. One of these remarkable ‘Liberty dresses’ was preserved in the collection of the Academic Historical Museum, registered as ‘formerly owned by an unknown female student’. By combining the various sources consulted in regard to this investigation, it was possible to trace the gown back to its original owner: Wilhelmina van Oordt, daughter of a wealthy entrepeneur. Thus the history of this ‘anonymous’ dress could finally be reconstructed. More of these colourful fancy dress stories are waiting to be explored and told.

   rosaliesloof@gmail.com

7. Ezra Böhm
   Dressing up in regional costume
   Ezra Böhm’s photographs

   (photo-essay, no summary available)

8. Roy Verschuren
   A French coupe-system at a The Hague Fashion Academy
   

   The reason for this article is the donation in 2008 of a box of pattern drawing teaching materials from Mrs. A. de Ruiter (1902-1983), known as Aafje, who lived in 's-Gravenzande. She followed the classes at the Hague Fashion Academy J. & G. de Graaff and the teaching material has a link with the Parisian vocational school of Gaudet et Métairie. The contents of the box, in relation to other pieces in my collection, yielded surprising findings and invited further investigation.
   The Fashion Academy J. & G. de Graaff was started on September 16, 1901 by Geertruida de Graaff-de Rooij (1872-1961), presumably together with Johanna Wilhelmina de Graaff (1871-?), on the Nieuwe Schoolstraat in The Hague. . After nine months, the vocational school moved to a larger location at Denneweg 27a. The vocational school remained here for ten years before moving to another larger location in 1912, at Anna Paulownastraat 18a. This was a chic street in the center of The Hague, where 'Ladies from the first class as from civilian families' attended the vocational school that 'was recognized as a solid but also a neat establishment'. In February 1936 the school moved to Delistraat 39, which address is mentioned in the last known advertisement for the vocational school.

   The Parisian École de Coupe Napolitano has existed as a vocational school for three generations. mr. I. Napolitano founded the vocational school in 1871, after which it was run for over forty years by his sons-in-law Louis Gaudet and Joseph Métairie, and finally for several more years by his granddaughter Marie Marquant-Métairie. The last publication of the École de Coupe Napolitano dates from 1955. The books Traité Théorique de la Chemise, Caleçon et Gilet de Flanelle LINGERIE pour DAMES (1920?) and Traité Théorique des Vêtements de Dames (1928) form the basis of the teaching material at the Hague vocational school.
   Aafje followed the courses 'costume and coat trade' and 'lingerie subject' at the Hague vocational school. Her workbooks from both courses are handwritten in calligraphy and elaborated with the illustrations and pattern drawings in black and red. Much attention has been paid to this elaboration.
   In terms of content, Aafje's workbooks follow the two books of the Parisian vocational school: the sparse illustrations in the text have been copied exactly, with a few tracing examples left in the workbook 'lingerievak' that were used for this purpose. The drawn patterns state exactly the numbers as they appear in the pattern elaborations in both books. Aafje has not fully worked out both worksheets, so the question is whether she has completed the training.
   The fact that the Fashion Academy has literally copied the French teaching material raises questions: who gave the course to the Fashion Academy? And did that person go through the Parisian vocational school himself or did they work solely on the basis of the books? Was there permission from the Paris vocational school for the use of the material? And were they even aware of the use of this material?
   There is still more to discover.

9. Nelly de Bruin en Simone Coppieters
   Lace for the Netherlands
   Beveren lace: workmanship, diversity and lace-makers

   The subject of this article is Beverse lace, a bobbin lace with continuous threads, which was produced in East Flanders for about 150 years. Origin, characteristics and method of manufacture, as well as various variants of this side, are explained in text and images.
   The harrowing poverty in the countryside of Flanders, among others, at the end of the nineteenth century prompted an investigation into this situation. A report commissioned by the Belgian government and published in 1902 described the situation in detail. An updated edition followed in 1912. This article provides insight into the working conditions of the nineteenth-century cottage industry, the exploitation of lace workers, child labor and feudal relations.
   Children from poor families were given the opportunity to attend the so-called work schools, where some form of craft was taught in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic. There were special lace-making schools, including the school in Beveren.

   Because Beverse lace was a striped lace, virtually unlimited applications were possible in terms of model and cost. In almost all of the Netherlands, women and girls in the countryside used Beverse lace in their regional costumes. This cottage industry product was therefore exported to the Netherlands. How the lace finally got to the customer via traders is described in an interview with the son of one of them.
   The cottage industry no longer exists. Competition from machine-made lace eventually resulted in Beverse lace no longer being made professionally. Enthusiasts try to preserve the technique by studying and working the lace.