clothing, fashion, dress, and costume in venice 917
was floor length, long narrow trains were attached to the waists. Detach-
able sleeves, which were large and very expensive, were composed of two
different parts—the lower with vertical slashes to let the camicia show
through in small puffs, as Vecellio notes when speaking about 15th- and
early 16th-century Venetian maidens’ sleeves: “open behind, embroidered,
and fastened with gold buttons, and in these openings the camicia could
also be seen.”83 the upper part of the sleeves were often laced at the
shoulder and were long and narrow and hung to the ground. at times they
stopped at the elbow, and the rest of the arm was covered by the camicia.
Brides and other women of high rank often left their shoulders uncovered.
only a pettorale [plackard or pectoral, which was a piece of cloth that
covered the breast] on top of the bodice covered the neck and décolleté.
it was made of cloth of gold and needle-worked all over with pearls and
jewels that matched the sleeves. some women’s sleeves were “very deeply
slashed, allowing their camicie to show through, and they wore their brac-
ciali [arm or shoulder rolls] and puffed sleeves slashed, as well.”84 slashing
was not confined only to sleeves. the silks, satins, damasks, and velvets
that made the gowns were also slashed with decorative patterns such as
zigzags, crosses, flowers, and other motifs made visible with warps and
wefts that were dyed in different colors.85
1500shistorians of Venetian dress locate the most significant shifts in the
women’s silhouette as taking place approximately every 20 years.86 these
transformations mainly affected the décolleté, the length of the bodice, the
shape of the sleeves, and the coiffure. in the early decades of the 16th cen-
tury, the bodice had a low neckline and was very rigid. it opened almost
immediately below the breast, stopping at the waist, and often descend-
ing below it into a V. the neckline was wide and square and the gown’s
skirt gathered into soft folds. Detachable sleeves were streamlined and
83 rosenthal and Jones, ed. and trans., cesare Vecellio, Habiti Antichi et Moderni, pp. 142,
145.
84 rosenthal and Jones, ed. and trans., cesare Vecellio, Habiti Antichi et Moderni,
p. 148.
85 Fabretti, “the italian renaissance,” pp. 15–16.
86 Doretta Davanzo Poli, “abbigliamento Veneto: attraverso un’iconografia datata:
1517–1571,” in giorgio Fossaluza, ed., Paris Bordone e il suo tempo: Atti del convegno Inter-
nazionale di Studi, treviso, 28–30 ottobre 1985 (treviso, 1987), pp. 243–53; Davanzo Poli,
Abiti antiche e moderni dei Veneziani (Venice, 2002).