On Sun, 15 Apr 2007, MaggiRos wrote:

> I'm finally making this dress: 
> 
> http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/work/jdb06b.jpg
> 
> Obviously it laces up, so here's the question: How?

It's not evident even in a very good reproduction, but I'd assume, at this
time and place, that it's lacing holes in the fabric.

> Oh and while I'm at it (this is so not my period) what would you say
> is the shape of the veil? Oval, rectangle, or some combination? All
> observations welcome.

Rectangle. There's one corner hanging just behind the top of her right
shoulder. (The little triangle between veil and neck is the same green as
the grass, so that's air there, not more veil.) There's another corner
hanging behind her right upper arm, just next to the hem of the blue
sleeve. Maybe not visible on-screen but clear enough in a good repro. So,
I'd say a linen rectangle draped over the head with the short side on the
right. This is exactly what you'd get if you had a headwrap that you
pulled loose and let hang; in fact the woman's companion (not shown in
your web image) has a headwrap of the sort that would be made of the same
type of linen rectangle.

It is important to note that it's quite unlikely this style of dress would
have been routinely worn by fieldworkers. The Limbourgs tended to
romanticize their peasants, and I do not see the fitted style worn in
other images of fieldworkers. Working middle-class women, yes, but not
peasants. So that may be a bit of a stretch specific to the circumstances
of this particular manuscript. But that said, you can build a case of
sorts on this image, and that would be sufficient for purposes of, say,
competition documentation.

--Robin


_______________________________________________
h-costume mailing list
[email protected]
http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume

Reply via email to