Story of a Shirt: a cautionary Tale with an Unexpected Ending

The article, Story of a Shirt: a cautionary Tale with an Unexpected Ending by Santina M. Levy, discusses the process that a group of people went through in order to unveil the history behind a linen shirt.  The process began in 1994 and wasn’t complete until around 2008. The mystery behind the shirt’s origin intrigued a number of people throughout those years, all of whom helped to uncover its history. 

Janet Arnold dedicated her time to discovering the history behind linen shirts from all different places and time periods. She died on November 2^nd, 1988. Her death occurred before she was able to complete her book, Patterns of Fashion 4, which explored all forms of linen clothing worn by men and women.  It wasn’t until 2005 that Millie Jaffe and Santina Levy were allowed to begin work on completing Janet’s book.

In 2006, Jenny Tiramani, Director of Theater Design at the Globe, took Millie’s place.  Jenny and Santina reviewed all of Janet’s notes, slides, drawings, and photographs that had been accumulated over the span of 20 years. The book was finally published in 2008; however a shirt from Platt Hall which was left out of the book particularly caught Santina’s attention and she was determined to uncover its origin.

The Platt Hall shirt had intricate lace trimming on the collar indicating it was for fancy occasions. This caused Santina to think back to her previous studies of lace and embroidery associated with Queen Victoria and Princess Charlotte of Wales. They enjoyed fancy-dress balls. She found that the balls were used to boost British manufacturers by having costumes made from British products. In 1851, the remodeling of old lace was significant for establishing a new-style antiques market. Lace merchants went abroad to collect lace and linens in order to create shirts for the Restoration Ball. The shirts were worn with colored stockings and long coats embellished with ribbon. Santina concluded that the Platt Hall shirt was likely bought by a wealthy owner in 1851. The shirt was converted for the ball with its historical lace on the collar and cuffs. The decorative motifs that are typical of High Renaissance suggested that the shirt was from Italy.

The next step was to try to find matching Italian portraits of the shirt.  Santina looked through Janet’s slides for similar alterations in the neck and shoulder areas of the shirting. She compared the Platt shirt to portraits of a V&A boy’s shirt and an Italian man’s shirt, both of which had shoulder widths that were narrower than the fabric width below the gusset cut in the body of the shirt.  The sleeves on the Platt Hall shirt are joined to the body of the shirt without any gathers, just like the sleeves in the picture of the boy are. Along the shoulders, the front and back are joined by open insertion seams and they fit without any gathers. On the Italian man’s shirt from Janet’s slides, the slit for the neck is gathered and secured in a narrow neckband. Platt Hall shirt fits shows resemblance boy’s shirt and that of the Italian man.

When focusing on the construction and decoration of the Platt shirt, Santina noticed something. At the base of the front neck opening, the braid outlines a more complex heart-shaped motif. Folded and twisted loops were skillfully produced to form the true love’s knot. The motifs were loosely sewn down which indicates that they were most likely lifted and replaced in 1851 when lace was added to the shirt. Further studies of neckbands on shirts in other portraits that were dated from 1515-1525 revealed that the Platt shirt was actually form 1520.

After all the research Santina completed, she became confident that the shirt originated in Italy in 1520. She also concluded that it could be fitted into a series of fast changing styles. The quality of the shirt, as well as the true love’s knot, propose that the shirt was a betrothal or wedding gift. 

Post By: Erica Dixon

Paper #1- Pierre Cardin's Life

A Peek Into Pierre Cardin’s Life

In Paris, we had an industry appointment at Pierre Cardin, and were able to see first hand at his incredible fashion archive. His collections were all but ordinary, with unique shapes and cuts, and nothing expected. The garments along with the one-of-a-kind furniture were very futuristic, as he is known for his “bold, cosmic, futuristic designs.” All of his designs have much volume and are very dimensional, ignoring the female figure. It was evitable that his architecture degree had much influence in his designs.

French designer, Pierre Cardin was born on July 7, 1922 near Venice, Italy into a wealthy family. At the time, his father was a wine maker and was preparing for Cardin to take over the family trade. But to his parents’ disappointment, he was fascinated by costume design, theatre, and stage design. Starting at the age of 14, he worked, as a tailor’s assistant, learning the techniques construction of fashion design.  In 1939, at the age of 17, Cardin left home and began making suits for women in Vichy. It was in 1945, when he made the move to Paris and started working at the house of Madame Paquin after he had completed his architecture degree. Which is pretty evident in his designs that architecture was a big part of his life. Then he later started working for Marcelle Chaumont, who was Madame Vionnet’s assistant. In a two-year time span from since his move to Paris, he had also worked for Schiaparelli, Jean Cocteau and Christian Bernard. Then in 1947, is when doors really opened up for Cardin, and became head of Christian Dior’s atelier, although he was denied at Balenciaga.

After three years of hardwork and devotion to Dior, he founded his own house in 1950 and began with haute couture in 1953, building up the Maison de Couture. Then the following year, Cardin opened up a women’s boutique called “Eve”, where his bubble dress stole the attention worldwide. And this was when he really took off as a designer, as we still see the bubble dress on runways and magazines and the like. Then a few years after the opening of Eve, in 1957 he opened a men’s boutique, rightly so called “Adam.” Cardin made his first trip to Japan that year and became a professor at Bunka Fukusoi, the Japanese Design College where the birth of the Pierre Cardin award started; which was awarded only to the best student.

After being expelled then reinstated from Chambre Syndicale, for launching a RTW for the Printemps department store, he parted from Chambre Syndicale in 1966 to show his own collections at Espace Cardin in Paris, which was once the Theatre des Ambassadeurs. Not only were his clothing designs presented at Espace, but also all of his artistic talents were promoted, including theatre costumes, musicians, etc. That year of the opening of Espace, Cardin presented a children’s collection, which blew away the U.S., and did very successful there. By now, Pierre Cardin was known worldwide, and not just in Paris. Years following, museums around the world held a Retrospective exhibition of Pierre Cardin’s work. Museums included the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY, Museum in Tokyo, and etc.

However, Cardin wasn’t only a genius at fashion design, but he also designed jewelry and other items to be sold for the UNESCO benefit, an educational effort to try and prevent a repetition of the nuclear accident in the Ukrainian republic of the Soviet Union in 1986. In 1991, Cardin, along with Witta Pohl, a German actress, were noted as honorary ambassadors to the Chernobly Program. Pierre Cardin’s name started showing up everywhere. As owner of the castle previously occupied by Marquis de Sade in Lacoste, France, he continued to purchase properties in Lacoste, leaving him with 42 buildings in 2009. However he has caused much controversy, leaving people to assume and treat Cardin as if he were some representative of global capitalism.

Yet, Cardin refuses to retire, and says he will die “in harness, working at his fashion.” It’s clear that Pierre Cardin’s passion is in design, whether it be clothing or furniture, and it’s obvious in his works. He continues to live a creative life without the fear of being wrong. His designs are always innovative and one-of-a-kind.

{own photo}

Sources:

1. Passariello, Christina. Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition, 5/3/2011, Vol. 257 Issue 102, pB1-B8, 2p, 1 Color Photograph

2. Ballingall, Alex. Maclean's, 12/26/2011, Vol. 124 Issue 50, p31-31, 1/4p

By: Daisy O

Summary: History of Dressmaking and Tailoring:Instruments and Techniques, Written by Sara Piccolo Paci

            It is important, but complex to understand the creation and evolution of tools, patternmaking, and dressmaking, but that is what this writing explains. With the use of the first mediums- first animal skins, then fabrics, it is interesting to note that skins began as a rectangle. The first piece of the puzzle comes from the needle which allowed tailoring as well as the ability to join together. The needle and thread is the reason we can have more than just draped garments. A needle began as a bone, then evolved to steel, but hardly changes in shape or function. Scissors are also an important tool, and it says that some master tailors hold the act so highly that they bless themselves before cutting. Scissors began as knives held together by springs and measurements were taken with hand width and arm width and then kept for future purposes by marking that measurement on a string. Another item was the button. They could serve a functional or decorational purpose from the beginning. More of any material, skin, fur, or fabric the has always come with a higher price. Having “draped” generously fabric on your clothing always presents as more affluent because of this fact. And although this fact might not be true so much anymore, there are additions like layers and the fact of many more than the necessary amount of garments in one persons closet. The gusset, a square insertion of fabric, was in response to the tightness in the arm and shoulder. Two key people that evolved in this industry were tailors and garment producers. Tailors started as people who mended ripped materials, and the garment producers always had their specialties in certain areas, never just general for all types. They did find hardship, when their trade was hardly considered a profession, yet the designers were highly respected for their “art” but would never know how to actually sew a button. There were two different designers for men and women, and patterns were only to be distributed down inside of the family. In the 1800’s, patterns became rounded, which is still in use today. Capucci talks about the evolution of making a garment. He says that drawings are the most important, and then there are fabric swatches, a muslin sample, which turns into the actual fabric sample, and then there is retouching and finishing until the garment is perfect. It is also key to remember that a tailor needs to know the human anatomy, and the client, and know how to enhance the good and down play the bad. They must use a 2D medium in order to cover a 3D body, and know how to use any given fabric, and that is the simple job of the tailor, although not simple at all.  

 Summary by Gabriella Bonatesta

Women’s Work, The First 20,000 Years, “A Tradition With a Reason.”

 

The reading is about the introduction to the history of the relationship between women and textiles. Judith Brown found that whether or not a community relies on a woman for a certain task such as weaving, depends on the care of her child. Usually a woman’s job includes something that doesn’t require a lot of concentration and it dull and repetitive. In addition, it involves tasks where the child wouldn’t be in any kind of danger and it relatively close to home. Common jobs include crafts like spinning, weaving, and sewing. It used to be that a common job for women in societies worldwide involved food and clothing. However, today it doesn’t exist as much because we buy our clothes already made.

In Denmark fifty years ago, women bought their yarns already spun and then would weave their own basic cloth to make household items. They would make dishtowels, bath mats, scarves, blankets and tablecloths. In Greece thirty years ago, people bought factory made clothing, but were still making household woolens from scratch. Women would spend as much spinning as they would in food production. During this time, most of the families time was spent on textile related activities.

Then came the Industrial Revolution, where the power loom, the spinning jenny, and the cotton gin brought women out of their homes and into the dangerous factories. Today, society has evolved so women can work on the computer or telephone and still watch their children. Now that factories have taken over the jobs of weaving, Americans have engaged in weaving only though childhood games.

Then the article gives a description on the process it takes to spin and weave. It says the first thing to do is to take small fibers and twist a number of them together to make a strong thread. Then it describes the different lengths fibers come in; such as hemp is twelve feet long. But for short fibers, such as cotton, the thread will need to be extended. Therefore, the ends of the fibers need to be twisted together to lock it in place. The best way to do this is to use a spindle. The tool can be used in different ways to twist the fibers and to hold the finished thread. In the Neolithic era, people discovered that in order to reduce the wobble as the spindle turns and to prolong the spin, they invented the spindle whorl. This was a little flywheel made of clay, with a hole in the middle that would be added to the spindle. Then in the middle ages came the spinning wheel, which would work four times faster then a spindle. In the eighteenth century came the invention of the mechanical spinning machine, known as the spinning jenny. Once the thread is made, the weaving of the cloth can begin. This consists of interlacing the set of threads, and then pulling it tight. The simplest weave is the plain weave, which is found in most household items.


By: Hilary Maheu

Carnivale 2012: "la vita è un teatro tutti in maschera"

In November, when we went to Venice, I was fascinated by the stories of the masks and clothes of the Venetians in their prime. The mystery, seduction, and risk was all represented by costume! Luckily, I was able to return to Venice yesterday and experience first hand the opening ceremony of Carnivale. Right in front of the Doge's palace, there was a small ceremony including a wine fountain, opera singers, songs of Venice, and original Venetian costume. I felt brought back to a masquerade ball! Carnivale began as a way to "say goodbye to meat" a celebration to fill yourself with life before lent when many things must be done only in small quantities. Although we were not able to see Carnivale in full swing, we did get to see the various masks and costumes worn in traditional ways:

(Photo Credit : Daisy O)

The Bauta mask, one of the most famous Venetian masks, was most classically worn white. This whole costume was worn, with the lace veil underneath, so that no matter what age, sex, or social level you were, you would be completely anonymous. The "beak" structure is like this for the ability to eat and drink while wearing it.


I think that what draws most people to the Venetian masks and costume is the pure extravagance. It is fun to forget your true identity and simply indulge a little too much. This is truly how the Venetians lived at a certain point in time. Now, there are every type of mask from $5-$1,000. There is no limit, and the idea is loved by all. It is a fascinating tradition that is defined by costume, and I hope that it continues to live on.

 (Photo Credit : Jacklyn Londono)

People in original costume during Carnivale 2012.






by Gabriella Bonatesta

"The Perfect Body" by Martha Barnette

          "The Perfect Body"

          This article by Martha Barnette discusses how the perfect body has a different meaning to every individual. The perfect body can also differ depending on the time and place. The ideal look is relative. Barnette uses the examples of how athletes when competing in their sport seems to have the perfect body yet outside of their profession their physical features become imperfections.

For a dancer it is important that she is thin for fluid movements yet her body can be seen as lanky. The ultimate body desired for a dancer also differs depending on location. In New York the dancer should be slender without looking anorexic, in Europe a much more muscular look is desired. For a speed skater her defined leg muscles are required for smooth strides although they can be viewed dense. For a swimmer her shoulders are necessary for powerful strokes yet can be seen as broad and masculine. The body type for a figure skater or gymnast is very specific, as she needs to have strength yet keep a slim figure. For example figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi was 93 pounds and gymnast Shannon Miller was 4’6”. There are very precise aesthetics required for these sports.  However for tennis this is not the case as there are a wider range of body types due to the variety of ways to win, yet sculpted calves and thighs are a necessity in order to be fast.  Powerful thighs are even more important for sprinters. Yet for a marathon runner it is more ideal to be lean. For body building it is all about the muscles and a lot of it has to do with natural genetics. Within body building the perfect physique is debated. Even models whose job it is to have the most flawless look, have varying expectations. Depending on the time period the desired look has altered dramatically.

Clearly the inspirational look varies depending on the objective. This article concludes with the idea that there is probably no such thing as the absolute perfect body as beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


By: Marisa Silber

Reading 1- "Antiquarian Attitudes- Some Early Studies in the History of Costume"

"Antiquarian Attitudes- Some Early Studies in the History of Costume"
by: Daisy O

This article argues the importance of art history in approach to the study of dress history. A background in art history provides a source of images where we can access and visualize clothing from every time period. It is through art that we are able to differentiate the changes in dress and appearance that define the current fashion. And this is not easily done by just looking at existing garments and written documents. The interest in costume gradually developed in the late 18^th century from the first surviving collections of costumes, including one in the British Museum. The rise of interest in illustrated histories of England are linked to the growth of interest in new genres and historical paintings, where the accurate depiction of historic costume were of importance. As art and dress are both forms of non-verbal languages, they are both social and visual experiences to the public and private. Joseph Strutt and Charles Alfred Stothard started their careers as historical painters then later gained popularity through their accurate costumes in plays with historical themes, which then led to the rage of masquerades throughout the century. Strutt illustrated and sourced the first detailed history of dress in England. The amount of sources Strutt used in his published work proves the extent of his research, not just dealing with fashionable dress but with every aspect of costume, including occupational, clerical, ceremonial, official, theatrical, and so on. Strutt’s artisitic abilities sometimes hinder his academic ethics as he admits to adding “ornamental embellishments” on figures of his original sources stating that it is not the work of his own imagination but “accurate specimens of English art.” And today as well as from the very beginning, both art and dress are used to interpret life at the time being, including culture, manners and visions.