#fontage

Late 17th-century fashions

Late 17th and early 18th century fashion (part 1)

As requested here is the post about late 17th and early 18th century fashion. I had planned to make different posts per decade, but the thing about this period is that it’s the transition between the ultimate baroque fashion and the clearly rococo stuff (it’s kind of the 1840s in the 19th century, the switch between romantic and victorian fashion). When you look at this in books the whole period is shown as a whole therefore, sometimes it’s not so easy to date this period in fashion, for example take a look at this nice portrait  from the National Portrait Gallery in London:

Yes my darlings, you all read right up there: this is from sometime between 1695 and 1720. Almost 30 years and we are not even sure when. Let’s cry while we laugh at it a little bit. And while we cry let’s think about the fact that in this period menswear was a lot crazier than womenswear that, in comparison looks pretty dull.

Now, let’s wipe our tears away and let’s see that there are a couple of key changes, silhouettes and details that help us to understand that turn of the century fashion. But first, let’s remember that we came from neck ruffs and doublets, stiff decorative lace and long pointy bodice fronts. Let’s see these examples from the Rijksmuseum:

These above outfits are the base for the next changes from the 17th century:

WOMAN: in the 1680s the mantua (or manteau) appeared in fashion, and this gown will be worn until the early 18th century (so that’s the key item for this period). The mantua was what we would call nowadays a dress (remember this example from the 1730s?), a single piece of clothing to be worn and was originally "undress” wear (casual comfortable stuff to wear at home); later the mantua became more elaborated and refined and became a gown with pleats, worn with contrasting petticoat and stomacher, looped at the back to show the petticoat underneath. Since the mantua was made from a single piece of fabric (lengthwise) it became a perfect way to show the decorated and patterned silks that were available at the time. The full sleeves changed into tighter ones and the decorations became ribbons, bows and laces, also a stomacher could or could not be worn. The hairstyle starts to change to upward volume instead of volume at the sides of the head; the head accessory was the fontange (remember this tutorial?), worn à la sultane or with lace rows.

MAN: With the end of the Thirty Years War the military influence became looser: the high boots were changed for shoes and the lots of ribbons became a decorative essential. In the 1660s the outfit for men consisting of coat, waistcoat and breeches became the norm (remember the sleeved waistcoat post?). Before the 1680s the coat sleeves could be shorter (look at the 1668 example above from the Rijksmuseum), with volume, slashed or buttoned, but in the 80s the big turned-up cuffs and fitted sleeves became fashionable in a fitted coat with side-front pockets (that could be vertical, not only horizontal) and with a length down to the knee. That was the birth of the justaucorps. The shirt is still voluminous but it’s less visible since a waistcoat is worn, but the cuffs are very (like VERY) decorative with lace ruffles. The long falling collar for the shirts disappears and the cravat remains becoming longer and sometime in the 60s a ribbon bow was added, this bow became bigger and more complicated while the century advanced. The large wide breeches from the mid-century changed in the 1670s for a more fitted ones with the stockings worn over and a garter below the knee (maybe to give the impression of longer legs). The wig or perwig was the final addition to the look (of course men could grow their hair long enough to be in fashion) curly and usually parted at the middle the wig reached amazing volume at the very end of the 17th century and a crazy tight curl appeared at the beginning of the 18th century, the wigs could be of all natural hair colours. Accessories such as large brim hats were worn and in the 1680s appeared the tricorn and the sword belt.

And now some details and accessories:

And extant garments:

THE HAIR. DEFINITELY THE HAIR.

^María Luisa de Toledo, daughter of Marqués de Mancera, Viceroy of New Spain

<----------First it went HORIZONTAL------------>

^María Teresa (1638–1683), Infanta of Spain by Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez 

^The Infanta Doña Margarita de Austria by Velasquez

^Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain by Velázquez

^also Infanta Maria Teresa by Velasquez

A Lady of the Spanish Court, ca. 1652 (attributed to Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo)

^Luisa Maria Francisca de Guzmán y Sandoval (1613-1666), Queen Consort of Portugal, 1632

 ^ | | | and THEN it went VERTICAL! | | | ˅

^woman in a fontange, 1680-90

^Contessa Rosa Arconati

^a fontange in the style of 1680

^fontange

fontange

^a woman in a fontange who looks weirdly like Rowan Atkinson in drag

though I agree with you, Spanish court hoops come in a close second...