clothing, fashion, dress, and costume in venice 915
to carry essential items such as needle and thread and thimbles, ivory
combs, small boxes for perfume, and small clocks. gloves were made of
silk or leather or linen, even fish skin. they were decorated with intricate
embroidery, lined with fur, and, sometimes, were slashed on the knuckles
in order to let rings show through. Fur stole muzzles symbolized marital
chastity and faithfulness, and flea pelts with a muzzle covered by a gold
mask were studded with precious stones replacing the eyes. handker-
chiefs made of fine linen in big squares were decorated with embroidery
and small lace trims or fringes but only became a regular accessory in the
last decades of the 16th century.
Women’s Dress in the 1400sBy the first decades of the 15th century, Venetian women’s bodices were
long and ended above the hips, without coming to a point. Vecellio
describes a typical 15th-century silhouette for the Venetian young woman
(“another maiden in a Different style of Dress”) (Fig. 25.5), which included
an undergarment (camicia or carpetta) of thin linen or silk, sometimes
an undergown (sottana) over that, and an overgown (robba or rocheto)
or draped mantle, with a short bodice, tight fitting on the bust and with
a generous boat-shaped neckline. open at the sides, the overgown was
often cut low in the back.
this woman has a sottana in the style of a carpetta, woven and embroidered
with various colors... its opening [the bodice] has the shape of a perfect
triangle and is full of interwoven patterns, with a border ornamented with
pearls. on their shoulders they wore a thin, transparent gold veil, the neck
adorned... with a hanging jewel... the gown had sleeves of various colors,
open at the elbow and trimmed with various ornaments.82toward the end of the century, as Vecellio notes in relation to “Venetian
Clothing of Former times, From only a hundred Years ago or slightly
more,” women’s gowns were “multi-colored, with horizontal strips of vari-
ous hues and with a band of gold or pavonazzo velvet at the bottom.”
While some women preferred darker fabrics as signs of modesty and
restraint in the earlier part of the century, fabrics became progressively
more elaborate in the second half of the century with velvet overgowns
brocaded with gold threads. since the overgown had a high waistline and
82 rosenthal and Jones, ed. and trans., cesare Vecellio, Habiti Antichi et Moderni, p. 143.