On 4/18/2011 10:07 AM, Sunshine Buchler wrote:
One of the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries in the V&A shows a lower class woman in a gothic fitted dress with a partlet tied on top of it. Circa 1430.
I would advise against using that image as evidence for anything, as there are significant dating issues with both the tapestry as a whole and this image specifically. The tapestry itself was dated to the 1430s in part on the basis of costume elements. However, its origins are a mystery, and it may have been made later from a combination of cartoons from various periods. Further, it has been cut up, reworked, and repaired many times in its long life, with large portions of it replaced over the centuries.
The image of the woman appears at first to show a fitted dress, but it also shows distinct princess seams (which are otherwise undocumentable till around 1450, and even then not in common wear such as this). The woman's headdress and shoes are of styles closer to c. 1500. So this figure may have been woven from a partly-updated design, or may have been originally woven to show one style and then repaired/redone in parts at later dates, providing a mix of elements.
I sorted that much out when I was doing a paper on collars of the 15th century. Although there are tantalizing clues for what appears to be high collars (which might or might not have been separate partlet-like pieces) worn as a protective layer under high-collared houppelandes in the early 1400s, I have seen no other evidence for a partlet of this sort being worn with fitted dresses in this period, and certainly not during the second half of the 14th century, when the fitted dress was very popular. If anyone *does* have any evidence for a partlet-like garment from 1450 or earlier, I'd very much like to see it, as I am still collecting evidence to fill out that paper.
By contrast, there's ample evidence for both hoods and wimples to serve the purpose of the original poster.
--Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
