Before I toddle off to bed...

[femkes_follies]

I did put up another compilation of stuff I've run across:

http://www.insaneaboutgarb.com/friesianfrockgirl/textiles/german-costume/saxon-women-beyond-the-court

Have fun.

Oh, and among the Goodie Basket we got for our 2nd place finish at Golden Seamstress was a little notebook. I'm inclined to possible keep a little "tailor's notebook" not unlike the period ones - with just basic sketches of pattern shapes. Debating about using THAT notebook... or handbinding one in period fashion. Would it be an interesting curiosity to others?

Comments

[pearl]

Ooooh, can you explain the "Cranach shoes" thing? I've never heard of them before!

[femkes_follies]

Sure, though I don't have a lot of images to hand at the moment...

In a lot of Cranach's allegorical scenes (wherein we see entire women - head to foot) the ladies are wearing what seems to be the 16th century equivalent of a saddle shoe. It's striking, fashionable, and all the cool ladies wear them.

They're black and white, or in rare cases red and white, with little black lines across the top that I presume are laces. So, the lady in the yellow dress in "The Fountain of Youth" is wearing them.

Let me see what else I can grab for you:

Krodel painting with shoes on the ground (search for Krodel if it doesn't come up correctly - there is only one painting by him in this database)

One of Durer's melancholia's:
http://www.artfinder.com/work/melancholia-lucas-cranach-the-elder/

Another:

http://eachdayaflower.tumblr.com/post/326456053/the-melancholy-by-lucas-cranach-the-elder-1553

And a third:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/cranach+melancholy+/sarafaithful/Allegories/CranachAnAllegoryofMelancholy.jpg

These are in the servant's hand:

http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/thumbnail/142283/1/David-And-Bathsheba,-C.1537.jpg

Shoes are in the hand of one of the ladies, again - this time they are red:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28380857@N02/4666757884/in/photostream/

This is an interesting sketch, which may or may not have anything to do with the "espadrille" style shoes we see on the high class ladies:
http://www.lib-art.com/artgallery/9559-amorous-peasants-albrecht-d-rer.html

Does that clarify at all?

[pearl]

Ah, it does! Though it also makes me want to ask more probably-very-obvious questions... like what makes you think they are laces, instead of some sort of decorative slashing? :)

[femkes_follies]

Two things suggest it:

First, the black lines are black, even on the red shoes.

Second, IIRC, there is one image of the shoes off the wearer where the laces appear loosened, which I naturally can't locate at the moment.

There was a discussion on the German Ren costuming list, I'll have to go back through it and see if I can find it.

Are you coming over to the dark side? Or just have a shoe fetish?

[pearl]

Even weirder than that, I just *love* Cranach's "Fountain of Youth" painting. And I'd never noticed the shoes! (If I was going to do something later-period and German, it probably would be one of the non-'Cranach' dresses from that piece.

[reasdream]

I would very interested to see your tailor's notebook, esp. since I've never seen period ones. That would be awesome.

[femkes_follies]

In which case, I give you the Tailor's Book of Enn.

http://www.elizabethancostume.net/schnittbuch/