It is my gut instinct that the front fastening was probably lacing and just was not depicted.
Men can have quite a tapered waist, but what it's tapering from isn't as 'squishy' as a women. This is common on depictions of women's tightly fitting garments, that the lacing was not shown when it was closed. The lacing was merely a functional element and not a decorative one. (This is based on Robin Netherton's work largely, but also on what I've seen in ms. illuminations.) I have never seen any depiction before, maybe 1480s ?? (purely memory here for dates) of any back lacing garment, and that was in Italy. Side fastenings may have had a brief vogue in the thirteenth century (the 'bliaut') and are sometimes shown as a letting-out device on a pregnant woman (the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth). Where you might see any fastenings shown at all is on allegorical depictions of The Fountain of Youth or a mass baptism, occasionally a swimming scene, where someone is stripping on shore. Naturally, these allegorical scenes have to be used cautiously. I believe a very flexible man or one who does not taper sharply along his trapezius muscles may achieve a similar look, but generally, either tight or pull-over. Ann in CT --- Zuzana Kraemerova <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm just up to make this doublet (or whatever it's > called): > > http://www.kazi.webz.cz/wagner/images/wag01-28.jpg > > It's the second one from the left. originally > it comes from the Wenceslas bible and it's dated to > the 1432, Bohemia. I would like the doublet to > follow the shape of the body, not very tight, just a > little, but not too loose. My question is - how can > I achieve this WITHOUT a fastening? > > It might not be possible to do it without fastening, > so my second question is, where would a fastening > for such a garment be? (I don't want the front > fastening). On the back? Or was there any at the > sides? What would be used? Lacing? Buttons? Hooks > and eyes? Anything else? > > Zuzana ____________________________________________________________________________________Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
