clothing, fashion, dress, and costume in venice 893
secondhand markets where clothes could be bought or rented.16 this did
not mean that once clothing became more of a fashion system than a pre-
server of tradition it was no longer subject to ongoing political, economic,
religious, and social changes and regulations. it did mean, though, that
an increased visual familiarity with other cultures’ fashions prompted the
combining of textiles from different locations, imitating cuts and designs
across european countries, and embellishing fabrics with ornamental
flourishes that richly joined threads, trims, and jewels from many places
around the world. imported products were enjoyed both by the wealthy
and the poor in ways not previously seen within northern italy.
costume and costume Booksearly modern changes in fashionable dress were largely communicated
through printed costume books and illustrated alba amicorum.17 only
Venice and nuremberg from the late 16th century onwards were the
16 allerston, “l’abito usato,” pp. 561–81; “reconstructing the second-hand Clothes
trade,” pp. 46–56; “l’abito come articolo di scambio,” pp. 111–24; and laurence Fontaine,
ed., Alternative Exchanges: Second-hand circulations from the Sixteenth century to the
Present (oxford/new York, 2008).
17 on the genre of the illustrated album amicorum, see J. l. nevinson, “illustrations
of Costume in the Album Amicorum,” Archaeologia, 2nd ser., 106 (January 1979), 167–76;
margaret F. rosenthal, “Fashion, Custom and Culture in two early-modern illustrated
albums,” in maurizo rippa Bonati and Valeria Finucci, eds., Mores Italiae: costume and Life
in the Renaissance (Cittadella, 2007), pp. 79–107; rosenthal, “Fashions of Friendship in an
early modern illustrated Album Amicorum: British library, ms egerton 1191,” JMEMS 39.3
(Fall 2009), pp. 619–41; idem, pp. 52–74; rippa Bonati and Finucci, eds., Mores Italiae; and
Bronwen Wilson, The World in Venice: Print, the city, and Early Modern History (toronto,
2005), pp. 105–20. on both the costume book and the illustrated album amicorum, see
Wilson, The World in Venice, pp. 70–132. on the costume book, see rublack, Dressing Up,
pp. 146–63; margaret F. rosenthal and ann rosalind Jones, ed. and trans., cesare Vecellio,
Habiti Antichi et Moderni: The clothing of the Renaissance World (london/new York, 2008);
Jane Bridgeman, “the origins of Dress history and Cesare Vecellio’s ‘pourtraits of attire,’ ”
costume, 44 (2010), pp. 37–49; Jeannine guérin dalle mese, Il vestito e la sua imagine: Atti
del convegno in omaggio a cesare Vecellio nel quarto centenario della morte (Belluno, 2002);
guérin dalle mese, L’Occhio di cesare Vecellio: Abiti e costumi esotici nel ’500 (turin, 1998);
guérin dalle mese, “abiti di Cesare Vecellio: Venezia e ‘il Veneto,’ ” in Cesare Vecellio
and tiziana Conte, cesare Vecellio 1521c.–1601 (Belluno, 2001), pp. 125–54; liz hodorowich,
“armchair travelers and the Venetian Discovery of the new World,” Sixteenth century
Studies 36.4 (2005), 1039–62; ulrike ilg, “the Cultural significance of Costume Books in
sixteenth-Century europe,” in Catherine richardson, ed., clothing culture, 1350–1650
(aldershot, 2004), pp. 29–47; and ann r. Jones, “ ‘Worn in Venice and throughout italy’:
the impossible Present in Cesare Vecellio’s Costume Books,” JMEMS 39.3 (Fall 2009),
pp. 483–509.