#gamurra

I found an extant gamurra for a pious working class woman in Mantova circa 1496!

Apparel of: Osanna Andreasi

Date Created: 1496

Here is the information on Osanna and her dress from Google Art & Culture:

This garment, that the tradition associates to the person of the Blessed Osanna, was a long dress, tight in the upper part and wide at the bottom. It is a white dress made of wool, in part lined…

Historical Fashion: The Gamurra

So this basically turned into a dress-in-an-day (and night, and next morning) project because I waited until the day before this needed to be done to start really getting into the sewing.  There are a lot of things I would change, namely the sleeves (you can see how the pattern doesn’t match up??) and raising the waistline.  I also want to change the front from lacing rings (which are actually just jump rings I bought from Joann’s because I was desperate to save time in all ways possible) to actual hand-sewn eyelets.

The photo on the left is right before leaving for the renaissance faire, and (in my mother’s usual way) I was given little warning that a picture was about to be taken...which is why the dress is a bit wrinkly and not adjusted to look smooth at all. Oh well...

The picture on the right is afterwards, and sans underskirt or sleeves. I went most of the day without sleeves because it was in the 90s here in Colorado.  I think this shows off the torso of the dress in a more flattering way.

This dress wins for Least Sweaty Costume that I own.  It’s amazing what a difference a natural fiber can make.

Also shoutout to the tiny vintage store in Niwot, CO that I went to last year and bought the pinkish-red suede belt I’m wearing.  It was nearly a perfect match and I’ve never been able to figure out what to wear it with before this.

see the undergarments (camicia, stockings, and underskirt) here

xx

Hello to the maybe one person out there who might still follow this blog!

I am not dead! I just got a full time job and started applying to grad schools which apparently takes a lot of time out of your life. Who knew?

Despite these developments, I have still found a small amount of time to devote to sewing and also Laurel’s recent posts on here have made me feel guilty about semi-abandoning this blog... Thus, I figured I would share my current project with you.  Like I have done for the past 3 summers, I am making a new dress for this year’s Colorado Renaissance festival.  Though this festival is largely an Elizabethan event, I have decided to embrace all time periods of the Renaissance and go a bit earlier.  The pattern I’m using is the 1470s-1500 Florentine Lady’s Outfit from Reconstructing History.  This is the most historically accurate pattern I have ever used, but I am taking some liberties and sewing a lot of things by machine rather than by hand (see: working full time, above).

The pattern has offers a lot of good suggestions for making your outfit HA, which has been extremely useful as few extant garments from the 15th century are still hanging around. I’ve therefore relied on a lot of art to guide me, as well as the experience of other costumers (namely Anea Costumes and the ladies at the Realm of Venus Facebook page).

All this to say that I’ve now finished about half the dress and wanted to share some pictures on here. First up, and not in the least historically accurate, are the shoes and stockings.  I found the shoes at a vintage store here in Denver, and the “stocking” are actually just a pair of nylon tights that I cut off and tied with ribbons.

Nothing about this is accurate, but I’m not really bothered by it. For now. (someday I’ll have the money to buy the stockings and shoes I want from American Duchess)

At the top of the last picture you can see the hem of the camicia, or shift, for this dress. This was made from instructions in the pattern, and with a combination of machine sewing for the interior seams, and hand sewing for the pleating and collar binding show in the picture below. The fabric is a cotton gauze; ideally, this would be made out of linen, but I’m a girl on a budget.

I have a sports bra on in this picture for modesty but it won’t be worn with the final outfit. In reality, the neckline is wider than it looks here, but my arms are raised up for the picture, making it hard to tell.

The next piece I finished is the underskirt.  I used a cotton/linen blend that I found at Joann’s on sale. I stiffened the hem (as was common) with a strip of upholstery velvet (as was decidedly not common) that I purchased at Joann’s in the red tag section eons ago and never used because it was so dang stiff (i.e. perfect for this task).  I trimmed the hem with a red ribbon that was left over from my Elizabethan gown (which I realized just now I never posted the finished product of...) from last year’s ren faire. 

Here you can see the material that I used to stiffen the hem:

And here is an example of how the hem can stand up on it’s own with this sort of material backing it:

This sort of stiffened hem can be seen in existing artwork like this Carpacci painting.  The underskirt itself was not suggested in the pattern, but other costumers, such as Anea, have used them in their thoroughly researched dresses, so I figured I would follow suit.  I don’t think black is quite accurate, but I liked it with the maroon color that the gamurra, or main gown, will be.

So, worn together, this is what I have so far:

(excuse the lame backdrop and the air dried hair and the sports bra)

I am pleased with it!  Next up is a saccocia, or pocket to be worn under the main dress, and then I will start on the gamurra, partlet, and maybe a coif.

That’s all for now!

xx

My post on early renaissance fashion covers the technical terms for the dresses of the 14th and 15th centuries here. Now, I want to talk more about my first foray into making an outfit entirely on my own. I have never had formal sewing instruction. I walked the path to my Laurel based on my research on the sociocultural anthropology of the Italian Peninsula. I have collaborated with costuming artisans in the past to provide them my research so they can use their expertise in garment construction to make a finished project. However, all my former clothing “dealers” have moved to Kingdoms far and wide (An Tir, East Kingdom, etc). For my elevation I helped Mistress Martha Effingham of Stewart Kepe and THL Esperanze de Navarra work on this exquisite front-laced brocade gamurra and silk-lined brocade giornea based on Ghirlandaio portraiture:

I think we did a fabulous job!

Ghirlandaio

I watched each step trying to learn from Martha Effing Stewart… as we like to call Mistress Martha Effingham of Stewart’s Kepe :)

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Brocade and Linen

Wool batting

Tracing

Layers

Replica Lacing Rings

  Gamurra, Giornea, and Cioppa Research

To start, here is some information from Daria Monteferrante’s research:

The gamurra was an Italian dress worn throughout the 15th century. It was a very basic, functional garment worn by women of all classes and ages. Kind of like the jeans and T-shirts of the Quattrocento. Regionally, its name varied and it was also called cotta, camurra, camora, zupa, zipa or socha . In its day, it was considered a long lasting, practical dress. Many inventories include older, worn gamurre that were still considered useful for wear at home only. In A History of Private Life: Revelations of the Medieval World, Duby interprets two contemporaries of the time and their recommendations on dress. Leon Batista Alberti, who says (quoting Duby) “new clothes are for holidays; slightly used clothing is for everyday business; and really worn clothing is for the home”. Palmieri says (again quoting Duby) “for everyday home use, wear only the same clothing that everyone else wears. Two types of clothing were thus declared fit (and probably worn) for private use: simple clothes and fancy but worn or outdated costumes inherited from an ancestor or purchased from the ragpicker.” Later Duby states “A woman at home, no matter what her station, was likely to wear a gonnella (fourteenth century) or gamurra (fifteenth century, also known in Lomabardy as a zupa)… So dressed, she could go about her household chores and even run errands or make informal visits in the neighborhood.”

The materials from which the gamurre were made varied according to class and purpose. Most likely, the predominant fabric used was wool, although Brown describes Ginevra de Benci as wearing a fine brown wool reflecting her modesty. In warmer climates and seasons it could also be made of silk damask, brocade or satin and embellished so that it was more appropriate for wearing alone even in more formal, public settings. There are references to several gamurre owned by Beatrice d’Este, which were made of wonderfully sumptuous fabrics, woven with metal threads and heavily embroidered, one with the Sforza device. According to Herald, in these cases, the gamurra was called a cotta, –although interestingly enough, Birbari uses the word gamurra in the translations of letters written by Beatrice to her sister, Isabella and her mother Leonora, in which these dresses are described. In Figure below, Beatrice d’Este wears a gamurra made of silk satin that is appliqued with liste or strips of contrasting color fabric. The sleeves were tied on, a style popular later in the century. It is decorated with aghetti, a term stemming from the word for the metal aglets sometimes adorning the ribbons, but eventually came to refer to the entire lace and not just the tip.

The gamurra was THE veste (dress) worn by all classes of the quattrocento (15th century) in many different  colors, fabrics, and sleeve styles. Gamurra can be found in  paintings by Ghirlandaio, Crivelli, Piero della Francesca, in the portraits of Ginevra Benci and Simonetta Vespucci, and iconography of the 15th century. The gamurra for the middle class was simple unlined wool in a dark color (brown, black, purple, red). They are open in front and closed by rows of buttoni (buttons) or cordicelle con aghetti (silk cords with metal tips). The cords would be strung through ochielle (eyelets), or lacing rings, or on maiette (hooks?). In many of the Carpaccio paintings that I have seen the gamurra has smooth laceless front under the v-neck cioppa. There are also Ghirlandaio paintings showing a smooth front gamurra.

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Ghirlandaio circa 1495

Montagna circa 1490

Cotignola circa 1500

Lorenzo Costa circa 1490

Da Vinci 1490

Carpaccio 1495

The giornea and the cioppa were the sopravvesti (overdress) of the late quattrocento and are found in varying styles in Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, the Veneto, and Lombardy. The giornea is a sleeveless, sideless surcoat found in Ghirlandio paintings. It is worn over the gamurra  in a contrasting color. The cioppa has sides and attached sleeves, is worn over the gamurra as well, and can be found in Carpaccio paintings. Colors from portraits are green, gold, pink, red, brown, black, rust, orange, and blue.

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Bissell 1500

Landi 1490

So, my aim is to make several of this style gamurra in varying materials (linen, silk, silk brocade, cotton/linen blend) to see what works for me in deep south heat and humidity but retains the historical components as best I can. From March to November where I live the temperatures are in the high 80s to high 90s (Fahrenheit) with 50% or higher humidity. It is stifling. So, historical accuracy is important but dehydration from sweating must be avoided. I appreciate that even the Renaissance Italian Este sisters dealt with the heat by adjusting their formal clothing:

“In warmer climates and seasons it could also be made of silk damask, brocade or satin and embellished so that it was more appropriate for wearing alone even in more formal, public settings… in these cases it was called a cotta” (Herald).

I’m starting with the basic shape I’ll need to match the paintings. Using dress diary information from the talented historical costumers from Realm of Venus as well as dresses constructed by historical tailors (subject matter experts on 15th century dress) in the US and Italy I have started with a two panel version using mock up fabric to adjust as needed. This fabric will eventually serve as the pattern.

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Cotignola circa 1500

Front based on Cotignola

Beatrice d’Este by Lombard School

Side based on Lombard painting

Accessories

Again, from Daria Monteferrante:

“Another accessory worn with the gamurra was the poste or the sottoposte. These were lightweight silk veils produced in Venice and exported all over Europe. They were worn around the waist like a belt… Birbari speaks of a “veil, kerchief or scarf” which was an important accessory in a woman’s wardrobe, being worn on the head, or over the shoulders. Traditionally regulated to be two quarte wide (about 12 inches), there was a growing movement to produce a narrower version. This new sottoposte which eventually gained government recognition in the early 16th century, were only one and one half quarte wide (about 8 inches). The popularity of these sottoposte is undeniable with more than 24,000 bolts being exported annually into the early 16th century. I have yet to find any documentation about the length of the poste, although based on some of the examples in this document, they seem to be two or three yards long. There seem to be different lengths depending on the style of wear. Earlier in the century, they seem to be longer for that drapey, flowing effect, while later they seem to be shorter, just long enough to wrap twice around the waist…  I have found many examples of white poste, and I have also found examples of black poste, however, most of these have been from later 16th century paintings. However, there is one example of an orange poste in The Adoration of the Magi, by Botticelli (Figure 8). Anderson talks about Infanta Isabel, in 1483, having a faja or sash made from green, crimson and black silk. Anderson also discusses sashes made from velvet, and additional colors of mulberry, blue and yellow.”

Women’s basic scarpe (shoes), pianelle, were flat and made of cloth or soft leather. Inside the home they wore these slippers alone. To be lawful, if pianelle (to be worn outside) were not flat they could only be high enough to keep the top of the shoe out of the mud, but some reached heights of 50 centimeters.For those familiar with chopine, they are simply an especially tall type of pianelle. Zoccoli were used by both men and women to protect shoes from the mud and dirt of the streets. The resemble pattens, but only have one strap across the front in most depictions.

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Pinturicchio circa 1509

Saint Benedict Appearing to the Monks 1510

Gentile da Gavriano 1435

Pianella of Beatrice d’Este

SOURCES:

Fabbri, Paola. La Moda Italiana Nel XV Secolo: Abbilgiamento e Accessori.

Facelle, Amanda. Sumptuary Law and Conspicuous Consumption in Renaissance Italy.

Frick, Carole Collier. Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families, Fortunes, and Fine Clothing.

Herald, Jacqueline. Renaissance Dress In Italy 1400-1500.

Muzzarelli, M. Guardaroba Medievale

Pisetzky, Rosita Levi. Enciclopedia della moda: Storia del costume in Italia, vol. II.

LINKS:

Sugar & Gamurre (Daria Monteferrante) http://www.geocities.ws/kamillavh/01.html

Dawn’s Dress Diary https://dawnsdressdiary.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/1480s-florence-gamurra-gownundergown/

Festive Attire Florentine Dress 1475 – 1500 http://www.festiveattyre.com/p/florentine-dress-1475-1500_1.html

Sophie’s Stitches Italian Gamurra & Giornea http://sophie-stitches.weebly.com/italy-gamurra–giornea-1470-90s.html AND http://sophie-stitches.weebly.com/italy-florentine-gown-1500-25.html