Dress in Köln: 1560-1570

[hsifeng]

The following two images are both from various “Kostüme der Männer und Frauen” books located on the BSB (original links here and here). They both appear to be images of women from Köln from around 1560-1570. As my character is from Köln (silver miners daughter ya’ll!) and I was considering making a ‘later period’ set of clothes for the Elizabethan events that I attend, I went looking for correct regional images.

 

Nice to see that they had a lot of variety of style in Köln….(*insert sarcasm here*)

Before someone jumps in, I know artists copied each other...*grin*

EDIT - more goodies!


 

Comments

[waywardbound.livejournal.com]

Oh, so that's what it was like in the days before <lj-cut> :-)

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Sorry Ray, in most of the LJ groups I am in two images are no biggie (ten images, there's some grounds for a cut reminder!). *grin*

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

That white looks-like-an-overskirt. What is that, please?

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

It appears to be a 'full skirt apron' (they are found in many images from the period from Germany - all over - and documented in the Textiler Hausrat for Nurnberg for this period).

This one does not have the honeycombed smocked waistline that is commonly seen on these.

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

Ah. I was wondering if it weren't supposed to be an apron-type garment. I couldn't imagine it were the hemd or an "overpetticoat" in white linen, and almost nothing else was making sense.
But I've fried a few synapses today. Must have been some of those few I actually use. *sigh* Already I'm missing them...

Thanks muchly. %^S

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

*chortle* I can see how someone might think it was the hemd (since the sleeves of the shirt that are visible seem of similar weight and color). Then again, with the amount of fabric involved I think there is little chance of that - there is just too much fabric gathered in a way that won't happen with historical shirt construction.

However, it is likely that the apron *is* made from linen and is of a similar weight to the shirts fabric. Not unusual since it is apparent this is a decorative (rather than functional) apron.

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

But since it is an apron, albeit a decorative one, it's not *underwear,* body linen. ;->

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Clearly not! Although I don't know what the specific differences in linen type would be between these two garments in this case (or most cases of upper-middle class folks. The extant shirts that I have seen for common wear aren't all the delicate gauze you find on the Saxon Princesses, so it is possible that a decorative apron could be made of fabric from the same bolt as the undergarments came from...

Couldn't it...?

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

It could, of course.
As always the question is and remains, "Was it?"

You've mentioned bolts.
Now I'm curious. Was linen being produced in "bolts" or merely in "lengths," such as what in later centuries was called "a dress length?" Was wool?
Can you recommend a source (I'm thinking book) concerning the textile industry in the 16thC German states/western Europe? Preferably something still in print and possibly available somewhere through ILL?

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

"Bolt" was pretty off-the-cuff as a term. No titles which would clarify this are coming immediately to mind. I have read plenty of inventory and ledger entries that talk about buying cloth in various lengths for specific items to be made from. This lead me to the (incorrect?) conclusion that one could find ready made cloth in lengths that were not 'pre-finished' to a specific size. ie. You could buy a number of different cut sizes from the same loomed lenght of cloth.

Having seen what it takes to warp a loom, I would be a little surprised if a weaver didn't get the most thread on there possible - considering the amount that could be strung before you had to worry about the warp fibers breaking I guess? Perhaps the Tudor Tailor or Kings Servant might clarify this some in a technical sense?

[gea-gilwen.livejournal.com]

If you read German, I can recommend "Die Nürnberger Tuchmacher, Weber, Färber und Bereiter vom 14. bis 17. Jahrhundert" by Hironobu Sakuma.

I just looked into the book regarding the lengths of linen cloths. When it says linen "pieces" there, the author means pieces of "60 ells" length (1 ell is around 65 cm, so 1 "piece" would have roughly 40 metres). In other parts of the book, linen pieces often are 100 ells long. Several qualities of linen seem to have had different standard lengths (at least in 1535, lengths ranged from 18 ells to 72 ells, depending on quality).
(Interesting side info: since cloth often had to be controlled by sworn officials before it could be sold, linen cloth that did not pass control because it was too low quality would be cut up into lengths of 5 to 10 ells each, so it could not be sold as easily.)

I did not find any info about who would sell the readymade lengths of fabric, but I think that it would not be cut into smaller pieces unless necessary. So if it was sold to consumers who bought the length they could afford (only the wealthier consumers could afford to buy a complete piece for their household storage), the desired length would certainly be cut from the remaining piece.
(One should however not forget that probably a lot of people would not just buy linen cloth, but supplied the homespun linen yarn to the weavers in order to have it woven for them - so a sale in a shop-like setting would not have happened.)

Greetings, Gea

[virginiadear.livejournal.com]

Greetings, Gea! And thank you! :-)

Alas, I don't read German. At least, not much, although I recognize names of dishes and some of the ingredients, and I do recognize a few words---mostly nouns. Modern ones only, I imagine.

I am very appreciative of this information. I've really got to get back to reading the German Ren Costuming list again. Probably it would be a good idea to learn some German, while I'm at it.

That matter of [named commodity] being controlled by sworn officials, whether said commodity were raw materials (in this case flax), prepared materials (spun flax, e.g., thread), or finished product (linen cloth), was an idea I've very recently been trying to get across to someone in a different historical vein.

Somewhere along the line there must have been a market for smaller merchants/purchasers. There's at least one illustration of what is assumed to be a merchant measuring and cutting a length of cloth--not necessarily linen, more likely wool---for a customer, in his shop.
I wouldn't think it would be cut into smaller lengths, either, unless necessary, but I can see the necessity of sending shorter lengths to smaller merchants.
And now that you've got me thinking about it, I realize I've rather imagined (and I do admit this is imagination, not sure from what I've put this together but I'm reasonably sure it's not Hollywood films!) that the wealthy could and would not only purchase "pieces" of sixty ells or one-hundred ells, but that they would be dealing either directly with the manufacturer (through their own agent, of course) or with no more than one middle man/clearing house---which latter term I'm using as a convenience. I don't *imagine* the wealthy sending their majordomos to the marketplace to haggle at a cloth vendor's stall, but perhaps they did.

H'mmm.....*gears whirring, thinking to self, talking to self*....obviously I need to get some concerted research going....

Again, many thanks!

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

I wish that I could read German better than I can (I think German 2nd graders probably read more than I do...*chuckle*); I am currently working on my Deutche but it will probably be awhile before I can read it well enough to understand the more complex texts of this sort.

Another title to add to the list 'when I get more German under my belt'. *chuckle*

In the meantime, thank you for the added information!

[sstormwatch.livejournal.com]

Interesting styles.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I am thinking there may be a lower sleeve there in white or light grey. Strange...

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

Sweet! Like it lots. It would be new and different around here!

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

I am interested in the way the Gollar (small purple jacket) and the lower sleeves are constructed. I am unclear which image came first. The trio of images comes from a title with "1560-1570" in it. The single image sheet has a description of the book as coming from the 4th quarter of the 16th C. This would make it *appear* that the smaller trio image came first, and was repeated (with Gods only know how much interpretation and modification) in the larger image.

It is interesting to also note that the smaller trio image has a ruff and cuffs that seem later period than the cuffs of the '4th quarter' image.

Marion & Katherine, if you happen to see anything in these source books that indicates which came first it would be great (also, any suggestions for other sources on Kölnish wear...*grin*).

[alysten.livejournal.com]

Wow! That's pretty darned cool!

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

Thankees!

Head wear...

[alysten.livejournal.com]

Do you know what thishead wear (http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/0001/bsb00011752/images/index.html?id=00011752&fip=68.83.105.59&no=12&seite=105) is?

The rest of the pics from the links in original post are pretty darn cool too!

Re: Head wear...

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

It is not one of the pieces I have a *lot* of familiarity with, but I believe the whole thing (duck bill included) is part of a cloak. If I remember correctly, that particular style is very regional and is worn for Church.