Jaarboek Kostuum 2024

Table of Contents

1. Emmy de Groot
   Textile treasure from the sea: the knowledge we possess now
   

   In the Kostuum Yearbook 2016 an article was published about the spectacular textile finds from a 17th-century shipwreck washed clean in the Dutch Waddenzee. That article described the wonder about this unique find, gave a first inventarisation of what had been found and listed questions regarding future examination.

   The finds are now in the hands of the Province of North-Holland and are kept in the Archaeological Depot Huis van Hilde in Castricum. Many examinations have already taken place and by now much more is known about the provenance and background of the found textile. For example we know now that part of the found clothing comes from eastern regions and that it is not only women’s dress.

   This article is about the search for information, technical knowledge and applicability of modern techniques concerning the examination and preservation of the textile objects. It describes the way the finds are preserved, the conservation strategy and how they are exhibited in specially developed showcases.

   Since the autumn of 2022 a selection from the finds is exhibited in Museum Kaap Skil at the island of Texel, in innovative showcases devoid of oxygen. Not everything is yet known about this method. Whether these showcases may actually protect the textile objects from decay, is being followed with a critical eye. A lot of current examination isn’t finished yet. Moreover new material among which are, again, textile objects, was found and landed in 2024.

    

2. Greet van Duijn
   The folklorisation of regional costume at the Olympic Games held in Amsterdam 1928
   ‘Some women from Katwijk, who also walked in the parade and who created quite a good impression.’

   In 1928 the ninth edition of the modern Olympic Games was held in Amsterdam. This sports’ event also had a lot of focus on manifestations of a cultural character. This article highlights the folkloristic parade of more than five hundred participants from all over the country. The fishermen’s village of Katwijk (situated on the western coast of the Netherlands) was well represented by a group of menders of nets, a seashell fisherman and a number of ‘visloopsters’ (women who picked up the daily catch from the beach in order to sell the fish in nearby towns).

   Around 1900 the visloopster would wear the Katwijk costume with jacket, skirt and apron. When she arrived at her clients’ homes she would put on a clean white apron. The visloopster wore a white cotton cap with the big ‘fish hat’ on top, to prevent water from the fish leaking onto her dress. A big basket of fish would be put on the hat, stabilised by a twisted piece of fabric between basket and hat.

   The folkloristic parade was held on the second last day of the Olympic Games. Not all participants were still wearing the costume of their town or region on a daily basis. In the case of the Katwijk group the question also rises whether they had dressed up specially for this occasion.

   The 1902 fishing exhibition in Katwijk started the musealisation of fishery and regional dress. Visitors would get an idea of a disappearing culture. Through the interest in traditional costume shown by artists from the 1870s onwards, there was a growing awareness in the population of how special their clothing was. In Amsterdam 1928 the folklore of the home country was seen by a wide public during the parade.

3. Gieneke Arnolli
   Marrying in black: a Frisian peasant tradition?
   Black wedding dresses in the Fries Museum

   In the Fashion and Textile collection of the Fries Museum (Leeuwarden, the Netherlands), about one third of the seventy dresses from the second half of the 19th century is black. Five of these entered the museum as bridal dresses between 1860 and 1930. The habit of marrying in black among well-to-do farmers was described by Waling Dykstra (1821-1914) in 1895. This was one of the starting points for taking a closer look at these black dresses.

   The oldest black dress entering the Fries Museum’s collection as a wedding dress is a silk one with a full skirt, a jacket with skirt and pagoda sleeves, worn by Dettje Winkler in 1862. A similar costume was adopted as thé traditional Frisian costume, with oorijzer  and floddermuts.

   In 1877 the wealthy farmer’s daughter Trijntje Halbesma (1850-1942) married in a fashionable black dress. Trijntje was a widow, moreover black was the fashionable colour and well-to-do farmers’ daughters followed the fashion. Not only farmers married in black; when the banns were read for Eelke Edens she wore a long, slim dress with a ‘cuirasse’ bodice and lavishly worked skirt. She married an oilman in 1882.

   In 1909 maid servant Klaske Sjieuwke de Jong (1887-1970) probably sewed her own wedding dress, decorating it with a ready-to-wear lace collar. But as late as 1931 Grietje Oosterhof (1901-1962) married her farmer also in black, in a simple, straight woollen dress.

   The Fries Museum also has coloured wedding dresses in its collection, among which are plain brown, twice in 1881, as well as multi-coloured ones (middle of the 19th century).

   The ‘Frisian tradition’ of wearing black at a peasant wedding (says Dykstra), hasn’t been handed down in Friesland. At the yearly Frisian ‘Boerebrulloft’ (Peasant Wedding) in the city of Joure, bridal couples have not been dressed in black from as early as 1955 onwards.

4. Marije Blaasse
   Fashion House Heinemann & Ostwald: a short history of its origin
   

   Before Heinemann & Ostwald became a fashion house, it was a lace shop known under the name of N. Heinemann, established in 1893 in the Kalverstraat 159-161 in Amsterdam. In later years N. Heinemann would develop from a specialist shop into a fashion house. When the twin sisters Marianne (1875-1944) and Hedwig Ostwald (1875-1961) together with their husbands each take over a N. Heinemann shop in 1905 and turn them into a fashion house, Fashion House Heinemann & Ostwald is born.

   Like many other fashion houses of that time Heinemann & Ostwald would hold a fashion show at regular intervals. At these one could enjoy the new designs for the coming season by, amongst others, Agnès-Drecoll, Philippe & Gaston, Martial & Armand and Jean Patou.

   The daily papers would describe the Parisian models extensively, for whoever didn’t set off for Paris to see the latest fashion could come to several Dutch fashion houses such as Heinemann & Ostwald. They would present original French couture designs, which they were licensed to tailor for their Dutch customers. Dutch ladies wouldn’t have to travel so far and prices were more attractive than the ones charged in Paris. However, the label of the fashion house which had created the design was never sewn into the clothing, although in some cases there would be a label of the client’s own, Dutch, fashion house.

   In some of the Heinemann & Ostwald dresses in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, a small linen tape with their name may be seen, sewn into the side seam. Based on this it is very difficult to find out which dress was designed by whom. In the collection of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag there are fifteen designs in total made by Heinemann & Ostwald, but at this moment the creator of only four of these is known.

    

5. Jeanine Otten
   Underwear in the 17th century
   The red underpants of Tjerk Hiddes and other forgotten Harlingers from the 17th century

   In this article the author intends to demonstrate that in the 17th century it was neither rare for men nor women to wear underpants, and that these weren’t exclusively reserved for the riches, as is often thought. Thanks to the ever-increasing digitalisation of sources results of research done in the past can be adjusted. As far as we know no women’s underpants have been preserved from the 17th and 18th centuries, but we know with certainty that women did wear them.

   Women’s underpants occur in 5.5 percent of the Harlingen estate inventories from 1617-1725. Men and children also wore underpants. Previously it was stated that white and linen underpants would be scarce in 17th-century inventories, but this statement is not applicable where Harlingen is concerned. In 18 percent of the Harlingen inventories mentioning underpants, white and/or linen underpants are specifically mentioned.

   Based on the Harlingen deeds we can state that woollen and linen underpants regularly occur in the period 1617-1725, besides white also in the colours red, yellow and green and in one case even in multicoloured stripes. They were made of cloth and says, of linen, bird’s eye, ‘dopjes’ (probably a variant of bird’s eye) and cotton, and even, in one case, blue silk. The earliest mention of a pair of Harlingen cotton underpants is from 1657.

   Underpants were sometimes lined with cotton. Leather underpants, worn by sailors and craftsmen, are a special category. In 1667 woollen, linen and leather underpants could be bought ready-to-wear in two Harlingen shops.

   A few rare cases demonstrate that underpants might be passed on to the next generation and reused. We may acquire some idea about the price of such 17th-century underpants through valuations of pieces of clothing in the inventories; this information may also be gleaned from the expenses of buying the fabric and the making of underpants by seamstresses.

6. Pim Arts
   Fashion for God
   

   The successful exhibition Fashion for God in Museum Catharijneconvent (Utrecht) was a feast for the eyes. Even so it was not obvious that it would be so successful, as it was about Roman Catholic religious textiles from the 17th and 18th centuries. There is a great interest in historical fashion and textile, but would that also be the case for religious textile? In this article curator Pim Arts discusses the considerations which played a part for himself and co-curator Richard de Beer, in putting together and designing the exhibition.

   The concept of the exhibition was based on three themes: the pomp and splendour of the textile objects, the (complex) history of the Roman Catholic church during the oppression of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the identity of makers, wearers and donors of the religious textile. Besides the processing of this multi-layered concept into an interesting and public-friendly exhibition, the curators also had the ambition to highlight the, hitherto unknown, role of the female makers of the religious robes as well as to emancipate the material (religious textile) as an autonomous form of art.

   Alongside the story line and the choice of objects made by the curators, it was especially the public mediation (texts and audio-visual support in the exhibition) and the design, which added a translation to complex layers and ambitions, giving extra depth to the exhibition and making it interesting for a wide audience.

   The strategical problems a museum experiences when programming an exhibition and the different practical elements arising in preparing it, are also discussed.

7. Jan Tasma
   Aukje Eelkes Sinia (1805-1848)
   A pastel portrait from the border region between Friesland and Groningen

   After the author’s interest and curiosity were awakened during his first encounter with the portrait of Aukje Eelkes Sinia, he put this teeth into this work of art. Questions like ‘who is the sitter?’, ‘where does she come from?’ and ‘who is the artist?’ drove the author to unravel Aukje’s life and bring this together with what one may see in the portrait.

   Aukjes Eelkes Sinia was born in the Groningen village of Westerhorn in 1805, as the daughter of Frisian farmers from the village of Moare (Morra). They had moved to the Groningen region called ‘Westerkwartier’ in order to start farming there.

   Aukje’s portrait is drawn around 1820, probably by the pastellist Theodorus Bohres, not by Berend Kunst, formerly seen as the artist. This is based on the fact that the portrait shows a better match with the oeuvre and style of drawing of Theodorus Bohres and that, where dating is regarded, it is more in line with the period during which Bohres was active.

   Looking at Aukje’s dress and jewellery the author has concluded that dating the portrait ca. 1820 should be correct. The fashion seen here is that of the transition from Regency to the Romantic era. Jacket, chemisette, oorijzer (the metal cap frame) and the ‘oortjesmuts’ (cap with ‘ears’) perfectly fit this period (1815-1830), which sees a lot of change in fashion. The waist is lowered almost to its natural place, shoulders and sleeves become wider and necklines less deep. The oorijzers become wider whereas the caps get shorter.

   It is remarkable that Aukje wears both a shoulder-scarf and a chemisette. Hers is a magnificent, intriguing portrait which offers us a good insight into the wearer of the dress and jewellery as well as this transitional phase in fashion.

8. Boukje Mulder
   Intrigerend negentiende-eeuws stoffen- en modewinkeltje in Stedelijk Museum Breda
   

   De in april 2024 afgelopen tentoonstelling Gedragen verhalen – Mode en kostuum rond 1900 in het Stedelijk Museum in Breda deed zijn naam eer aan. Er waren volwassen, historisch geklede figuren te zien, en oude foto’s, knipsels en archiefmateriaal droegen bij aan de beeldvorming van deze vroegere bewoners van in en rond Breda. Om ook de vroege kindertijd te accentueren stond er een poppenwinkeltje uit het depot tussen de kinderkleren, dat waarschijnlijk rond 1860-1880 door een timmerman gemaakt werd. Het Duitse opschrift luidde: Modehandlung (Modemagazijn), maar op de laatjes met verkoopwaar zaten etiketjes in het Nederlands. Een mejuffrouw E. Loder had het in 1935 aan het museum geschonken.

   Nadat textielrestaurator Marijke de Bruijne de collectie kostuums en kledingonderdelen had behandeld, werd een inventaris van het winkeltje gemaakt. Er kwam verbazingwekkend veel tevoorschijn. Talloze stofjes van katoen, linnen, gaas en zijde, in diverse ruit-, streep- en bloemetjespatronen, plat opgevouwen of om een kurkje gewikkeld met een lintje eromheen. De poppengarderobe bestond uit drie jurkjes, zes pelerines (schoudermanteltjes), rokjes, schortjes en, naar de kindermode van die tijd, zelfs pantalettes (een katoenen broek met lange pijpjes met een kantje). Het toonbankpopje met porseleinen hoofd (china doll), droeg een jurkje en rok met schort, daaronder pantalettes en zwart-papieren schoentjes. De Bruijne reinigde en herstelde alles met eindeloos geduld op de best mogelijke manier. Ook Peter Kipp, papierrestaurator, knapte het beschadigde houten winkeltje naar bevind van zaken op.

   Hoe het (in Duitsland gemaakte?) stuk speelgoed bij de familie Loder terecht kwam is onduidelijk. Wel staat er in ‘Herinneringen. Elisabeth Bryan Loder 1886-1978’, een in 1980 door een familielid uitgegeven egodocument, dat Elisabeth en haar zusters in 1897 ‘een winkel met lappen kledingstof van rond 1860’ kregen na de dood van een tante.

9. Rosalie Sloof
   Talking with honorary member Sytske Wille-Engelsma
   

   No summary of this interview

    

10. Judith van Amelsvoort
    ‘Gedragen verhalen’: the ‘mocca dress’
    A special discovery in the Stedelijk Museum Breda

    The Stedelijk Museum Breda has a collection of historical costumes, accessories and needlework from the 19th and 20th centuries. There is a sub-collection of religious textile and ca. 150 pieces of headgear belonging to the Brabant regional costume. The textile collection stands out from other museum collections because it includes a lot of daily clothing worn by ordinary citizens from Breda and its surrounding area.

    In the exhibition Gedragen verhalen - Mode en kostuum rond 1900 (literally: Worn stories – fashion and costume ca. 1900), held from October 2023-April 2024, the museum wished to match clothing with historical persons who had actually existed. But only two pieces of clothing could be matched with certainty with their actual wearers. Specially for the exhibition new outfits were put together for a number of historical inhabitants of Breda, based on extensive research regarding archives and provenance.

    In the depot a big box turned up which, according to its label, contained a dress for the stage or for dressing up. The various extravagant fabrics and particular neckline seemed to confirm that description. However, on further examination the impressive dress in shades of brown, nicknamed the ‘mocca dress’ by museum employees, turned out to be very exceptional. It was a very fashionable dress from the years 1880-1885, probably worn as a formal afternoon dress made of figured velvet and silk satin.

    Textile restorer Marijke de Bruijne discovered that the original sewing yarn was decayed in many places and that several parts had been fixed by pins. The dress also appeared to have undergone makeshift alterations with modern yarn more than once. Thanks to Marijke’s expert restoring and the mannequinage by restorer Floor van der Plas the ‘mocca dress’ could shine once more.

    In this article the author discusses the search for the provenance of this special 19th-century gown.

11. Hanneke van den Berg
    Saepck van Vervou: from picture to costume
    

    In 2021 I was asked to make a replica of the costume of Saepck van Vervou (1613-1671). Her full-length portrait hangs in Museum Martena in the Frisian city of Franeker and the costume would become part of the Aaitour (literally ‘caressing tour’), a tour for the blind and visually handicapped. This means that visitors would be allowed to touch and feel the costume.

    In order to make the contrasts in colour easy to see and those in fabrics easy to discern when touched, I chose red linen for the petticoat, blue and white linen plus synthetic boning for the corset, calico for the farthingale, red-brown silk with rich heavy lace for the petticoat and black heavy velvet for the gown.

    During the making each step proved a puzzle and I learned a lot during the course of this exceptional project. For example, the high standing collar was a nice challenge: how could I make it to stay upright? The answer was potato starch!

    In addition to Saepck's costume I was asked to make some other pieces for the Aaitour. I saw that this type of textile is a very nice addition to a museum collection which contains mainly objects made of wood and stone: it works softening and one brings history closer to the visitor, especially when the object may be touched.

    In Museum Martena Saepck’s costume may now be admired and touched where it stands near her portrait. I am quite proud of the final result!

12. Tirza Westland
    Daring and highly fashionable
    A study of two ‘risqué’ gowns in the Kunstmuseum

    Within the collection of the Kunstmuseum Den Haag, two gowns stand out. One gown

    (c. 1917-1919) has an almost transparent bodice of yellow voile, the other one (c. 1911), made of grey-blue satin and voile, has remarkable shoulder straps and sleeves that leave the shoulders bare. Compared to other gowns from this era in the collection, these gowns seem quite risqué.

    Although the gowns are strikingly ‘provocative’, they do fit well within the rapidly changing fashion of the early 20th century, when under the influence of new fashion icons more daring fashion was popularised. However, these fashions were not for everyone, and examples are mainly found in the most fashion-forward of the French magazines.

    The grey-blue gown especially must have been quite progressive. The unusually long boned inner bodice, made of a sturdy fabric, suggests that the gown originally was intended to be worn without a corset. An elastic band between the legs serves the purpose of keeping the gown securely in place. At the same time, because of this band, it seems impossible to wear a regular underskirt under the gown.

    As corset and underskirt were for a long time such an important part of women's undergarments, it is remarkable that this dress was likely meant to be worn without them. In the early 20th century however, undergarments were changing just as fast as the garments worn on top. Changing silhouettes also meant that there was less need for shaping undergarments.

    What kind of impression the wearer made in these fashion-forward gowns sadly remains a mystery. It is important to know, however, that these kinds of gowns not only graced the covers of fashionable magazines but were actually worn, even by Dutch ladies.