You can also use Hollar's engravings as a source. While most are from the 1640's, fashionable styles took decades to trickle down from nobility to the servant class. Servants in London and other cities had more exposure and opportunity to the newest fashions than servants in the country. And even the wealthier people in the country were more apt to keep to older fashions and newer fashions more adapted to everyday wear.
As far as Anne Bonny and Mary Read, most fairly comprehensive books on the history of pirates picture them as artists imagined them, not from life. If they were mistaken as men, they probably dressed as men of the times and wore their hair the same. Very long hair would have been most impractical for a life at sea, so those surviving artist renditions picturing both with long hair and breasts half exposed was probably not the actuality. In Anne and Mary's time, the mantua, which was less contricting in shape than previous fashionable gowns, was being replaced by a sacque or even looser gowns with various names, all which could be worn with no, or more comfortable fitting stays for less than formal wear. Few mantuas or sacques survive in their original form today as the fabric could be easily picked apart and remade into newer styles, curtains, or cushion covers. Also the terms pirate and privateer depended on what side you were on. Francis Drake was a brave, heroic privateer in the English view, while Spain, naturally, branded him a brutal pirate. Hope this helps Cindy Abel -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 11:29 AM To: Historical Costume Subject: Re: [h-cost] Mid/Lower Class Womens Clothing - 1650 Look for Marcellus Laroon's Street Cries prints. There is a book by Sean Shesgreen that has them, _The Criers and Hawkers of London: Engravings and Drawings_. They are more 1690 - 1710. Good clothing, as well as baskets, etc. -Carol > I was wondering if anyone here could point me towards paintings or > drawings of middle or lower class women from any time between 1650 > and 1750. > > A friends daughter is wanting 'real' pirate clothing. :0) I can find upper > class garments reasonably easy, but I thought this might be the better > place to start. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
