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Ambition, where art thou?
May. 6th, 2008 04:48 pmAt least I managed a little nap in the office on my lunch hour, 'cuz I was beat Now I should at least be safe to drive home.
Which means the neurons are coming back on-line, albeit slowly.
I now have it in my little head to do a bodies-and-petticoat set-up at some point. (Don't worry, the urge will fade - likely as soon as I stand up). I'm just trying to decide if I want to put it under an open-laced gown and see if that gives the correct silhouette for the Cheese Ladies. Or do a less-speculative version based on the Pfalzgrafin bodice to put under the van Hemessen portrait dress with the polka-dot cuffs. THERE it's certainly a rational way to go. The other, I'm not so sure.
Part of it is that I'm feeling like I'm just missing too many data points yet. I can make arguments for all sorts of things. And granted, I still believe that there is no "one, true way" - and that sometimes multiple methods might have been used by different ladies. However, I think there are likely some variants that I can't as yet split, since I don't know if they're class or geographically based.
Fer instance - the Cheese Ladies are wearing gowns decidedly more full and fancy than the average "Flemish" or Amsterdam/Antwerp lady in the market paintings. I still believe these ladies were wives of local burghers, and so of a higher social strata. They're also in their best gowns. So things like keeping the fullness of the skirt to the back, short lengths, and unimpeded movement were probably less of an issue. Does that mean the whole ensemble might be constructed differently - bodies and petticoat rather than kirtle?
Is it a time-period thing? The little figures from the maps by Braun and Hogenberg are pretty uniformly dressed in a skirt/doublet combination. Is this evolution of style? Are these ladies higher in social status yet? Or is the "fancy Flemish" gown unique to the province of Noord-Holland? Or is it an expectation that cities with more prominent trade with England tend to follow English fashion more closely?
I need more data - ladies from different social levels, at different time periods, with clearly demarcated cities of origin. *sigh* I can wish, can't I? *eep*
Anybody care to run a theory up the ol' flagpole?
Which means the neurons are coming back on-line, albeit slowly.
I now have it in my little head to do a bodies-and-petticoat set-up at some point. (Don't worry, the urge will fade - likely as soon as I stand up). I'm just trying to decide if I want to put it under an open-laced gown and see if that gives the correct silhouette for the Cheese Ladies. Or do a less-speculative version based on the Pfalzgrafin bodice to put under the van Hemessen portrait dress with the polka-dot cuffs. THERE it's certainly a rational way to go. The other, I'm not so sure.
Part of it is that I'm feeling like I'm just missing too many data points yet. I can make arguments for all sorts of things. And granted, I still believe that there is no "one, true way" - and that sometimes multiple methods might have been used by different ladies. However, I think there are likely some variants that I can't as yet split, since I don't know if they're class or geographically based.
Fer instance - the Cheese Ladies are wearing gowns decidedly more full and fancy than the average "Flemish" or Amsterdam/Antwerp lady in the market paintings. I still believe these ladies were wives of local burghers, and so of a higher social strata. They're also in their best gowns. So things like keeping the fullness of the skirt to the back, short lengths, and unimpeded movement were probably less of an issue. Does that mean the whole ensemble might be constructed differently - bodies and petticoat rather than kirtle?
Is it a time-period thing? The little figures from the maps by Braun and Hogenberg are pretty uniformly dressed in a skirt/doublet combination. Is this evolution of style? Are these ladies higher in social status yet? Or is the "fancy Flemish" gown unique to the province of Noord-Holland? Or is it an expectation that cities with more prominent trade with England tend to follow English fashion more closely?
I need more data - ladies from different social levels, at different time periods, with clearly demarcated cities of origin. *sigh* I can wish, can't I? *eep*
Anybody care to run a theory up the ol' flagpole?
