[lace] Richard II, hankies and pockets

[Bridget Marrow]

On Mon, 8 Sep 2003, Jean Barrett wrote: <I am not a very learned lace 
historian, but any who has been making lace for a few(!) years gathers a 
little of the history along the way. I settled down to watch a production of 
Shakespeare's 'Richard II' yesterday evening. It was from the Globe theatre, 
Bankside, London and was being done in more or less Elizabethan costume. I 
wanted to see it as this was the play we had to study for our exams at 
school and I wanted to see how much I remembered (not all that much 
actually) but I found I was being constantly distracted by the costume. They 
were very good and very decorative, but within the first 2 minutes there was 
Richard flourishing a lace edged hanky about 8 inches square and the lace 
had worked corners. Surely it should have been bigger? Then what about that 
lovely linen collar, edged with Bedfordshire lace? Most of the laces I could 
not begin to put a name to and I hadn't thought to tape it. Finally was a 
scene where Richard is shown with his hand in the pockets of his breeches. I 
had a feeling that pockets were not fitted into clothing until a later 
date.>

Dear Jean and other spiders,
I didn't see the televised version of Richard II from the Globe, but I was 
lucky enough to see it live in the magnificent Middle Temple Hall earlier in 
the year.  Of course from the audience one didn't get 'close-ups' of the 
lace, so it wasn't so distracting.

Richard II and his first Queen, Ann of Bohemia, are credited with 
introducing the handkerchief as a fashionable item to the English court, 
which is why, I think, so much was made of it.  But yes, it should have been 
larger and the corner was all wrong.

Pockets for women were a separate item until the late 18th century - worn 
under  the skirt and reached through a gap in the seam.  For men 'built-in' 
pockets came much earlier.  Janet Arnold in "Patterns of Fashion" shows 
several early 17th century breeches with pockets.  The word certainly occurs 
in Shakespeare.

The Globe wardrobe prides itself on making clothes as authentic as possible, 
both in fabrics and construction.  All the stitching is done by hand, and 
they have begun to commission hand-made braids and narrow laces.  But 
inevitably there are still compromises.  They can't afford fine needlelace, 
reticella and punto-in-aria for their collars and ruffs.  At least they're 
not using chemical lace or nylon!

In case anyone is historically confused, the aim of the production was not 
to replicate the fashions of Richard II's time (14th century), but those of 
the time when the play was written in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (late 
16th century).

Bridget, in Watford, England.

_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail messages direct to your mobile phone http://www.msn.co.uk/msnmobile
-
To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line:
unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]