920 margaret f. rosenthal
tangle.”89 lace patterns also became increasingly ornate in this period,
using vegetable scrolls with acanthus, oak, and vine leaves that were for
women symbols of virginity, strength, and the force of life. animals, too,
were the subjects of lace design and included rabbits, peacocks, and dol-
phins as well as mermaids and grotesques.90
The colors and Fashions of Male Dressunlike the frequently changing fashions of the noble Venetian women,
the fashions and dress of patrician and citizen men remained largely the
same—flowing floor-length robes—throughout the 15th and 16th cen-
turies. Formal and official dress—togas as they were called—were the
official dress of those officials who defended the city and the mainland
state.91 Venice was a gerontocracy, ruled by very old men whose age was
the qualification for governing their city. office holders, however, were
identified by a complex chromatic code, often brightly colored depending
on the wearer’s social status and political rank. every man who became
a procurator had his portrait painted in which he swore allegiance to
st. mark, and these portraits were hung in the Procuratie Vecchie.
Black dominated the higher social echelons. at the very top of the hier-
archy, officials wore white and gold, including the doge; crimson and scar-
let (cremesino and scarlatto), both shades of red, were worn by senators
and procurators. Pavonazzo, a color that covered a wide range of purplish
hues, was worn in the 14th century by noble knights, Venetian senators,
citizens, or merchants when traveling abroad, as documented in the
pages of Vecellio’s costume book.92 By the 16th century, though, the color
spectrum had changed, whereby black was the color worn daily by most
elder patricians and citizens (also in times of mourning) but was not used
for senatorial apparel. Black was the principal visible sign of an aristo-
cratic station, and it became the synonym of elegance, refinement, piety,
89 rosenthal and Jones, ed. and trans., cesare Vecellio, Habiti Antichi et Moderni,
p. 193.
90 Fabretti, “the italian renaissance,” p. 17.
91 Brown, Private Lives, pp. 10–12. on the toga in relation to political worries regarding
the defense of the mainland state, see linda l. Carroll, “money, age and marriage in Venice:
a Brief Biocultural history,” Politics and culture 1 (29 april 2010), http://www.politicsand
culture.org.
92 molà, The Silk Industry, p. 113.