Pull Those Pants UP!

[hsifeng]

 

OK,

 

For years I have been coached to believe that German wore their pants with high waists (or at least “above the natural waistline, and certainly higher than most modern men are comfortable with”) during the 16^th century. This assertion appeared to be borne out in the art from the period. For example, from the “German Single Leaf Woodcuts 1500-1550”, Max Geisberg & Walter Strauss:

 

 

And from the back:


 

So today I was trolling through the new-and-improved-but-stinky-for-downloading-images bildindex,  when I was struck by what appeared to be low waist in several extant pairs of pants. This got me curious, so I did some more digging into my own image archives and on several other sites. What I found didn’t jibe with what I have always thought was an accurate statement regarding the height of men’s pants in this period.

 

 

 
Same pair in yellow above, from the back:


 

Look at where the codpiece lands in relation to the waistline in the woodcuts. Now look at where it lands in the extant pants.

 

What gives?

Comments

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Yes, but it seems to also be the case that the pants in the Sture grave finds are lower waisted than they "should be". These are later period, so maybe the same rules don't really apply; but I do seem to recall that the art of the later period was still depicting high waists...

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

No. The art of the 1560s shows lower waistlines. The Sture garments are pretty much in line with that.

But I just noticed something as I look at these extant garments -- none of them are contemporary with the Landsknecht woodcuts. The woodcuts are from the 1520s and 30s. The only extant garment dated says 1540s-50s, but I would argue that the later date is more correct. These fashionably slashed or paned garments are the later style, contemporary with the Sture garments, when the waistline had dropped to natural waist or hips.

[anjabeth.livejournal.com]

Damnit, Kass! That's just what I was about to say, but you beat me to it! ;) I think we are looking at lowered waistlines as the century wears on. (pardon the pun). Hmm, now I want to look at later woodcuts, adn see if the artwork bears this out.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

If you get the chance to do so, please pass your info on! I do have the second set of SLW books at home, but no chance of getting to them in the next few days....gotta love school work!

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Good info!

But what about the knitted pants? They are styled more like the early period and their waist is very low. I have to imagine (because I don't know!) that knitting would be hard to modify the height of?