On Wednesday 31 December 2008 2:33:42 am otsisto wrote: [I said: how can you tell there was a shift below the camisia? You replied:] > > The white area has two shades of white. The upper section of white > indicates that the camicia is of a sheer material and that the lower white > section indicates that there is a lining, it is probably a shift and most > likely sleeveless or straps. Also the closing area seems to look like there > might be two layers. This shift/lining may have also been a means of > support but that is a theory.
I thought the thinner looking area was a trimming, but since such trimmings were usually embroidered or made of lace, it's more likely that you're right and the transparency difference indicates an underlying undergarment of some kind. I find that interesting. I know that people (such as Oonagh) have theorized that late period Italian gowns were worn with corsets, and that there had to be either a second shift underneath the corset, or, in the alternative, that the camisia lay under the corset and a false front imitating a camisia was pinned on top, to show underneath the lacing and hide the corset. However, I'd never thought that the gowns of the 1530s (such as the one under discussion seemed to be) particularly looked as though they were worn with a corset. Thanks for your explanation. -- Cathy Raymond <[email protected]> "If someone offers you a dead dog for lunch, you don't stick around for the pudding." --Ben "Yahtzee" Crenshaw _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
