On Wed, 5 Apr 2006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > I have a GFD but want to put another layer on over top. > > Would it be appropriate to have something like a semi-fitted T-tunic > dress over it? I am looking for something knee-length or longer with > 'flowy' mid forearm length sleeves. > > Is there anything appropriate that I can make? I want to stay more in > the same time period to the form-fitted GFD.
The Gothic fitted dress existed in some from from roughly 1350 to 1450, and there are a variety of overdresses to choose from in that period. To my knowledge they are all full-length, so I wouldn't suggest going shorter. The body could be fitted (like the underdress), seen throughout this period (though details of the fitted silhouette change). It might be rather looser, as a basic gown -- rather like you describe above; this is not often seen in art, but it does show up in the 1380s or so, in English brasses. By the end of the 1300s that loose gown had morphed into the houppelande, which is very very full in the body (flaring from a closer fit at the shoulder). Sleeves range as well, usually tight with the tight bodies, and wide or bagged with the houppelandes, but sometimes done otherwise. The rare instances when you see the loose mid-width gown, it often has semi-wide sleeves that look rather like a modern blazer's in width and length, with the cuffs of the long underdress sleeves showing at the wrists. So yes, if you hunt, you can find some examples of a semi-fitted tunic-style gown with sleeves that come just a bit short of the wrist. But it's rare. One example I'm looking at is the brass of Marion Grevel, c. 1386, in Margaret Scott's _Visual History of Costume: The 14th and 15th centuries_. This one already has the high collar of the houppelande, and really looks like an early houppelande. I suspect you can find more examples of these mid-sized bodies and looser sleeves on middle-class rather than upper-class women. I don't have time to go hunting for you right now, but I would suggest you look at the health handbooks (Tacuinum Sanitatus); these are Lombardic with French influence. You might have a shot of finding "flowy" sleeves there too. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
