Hello,
In this second chapter, we will begin with the fashion of the great and the nobles, the one that dictates the seams of the seamstresses, chronologically to the period that interests us. Note that the older the period, the more difficult it is to have various portraits to represent it. This is why the first fashion that I present to you is illustrated only by ladies of high nobility. I will come back to the fashion of peasants and inhabitants in the last chapter of this series.
The fashion which still prevails in 1663 began in the Renaissance. It is that of the enhancement of the torso and the face by the geometrization of clothes. Put simply, rigid support garments then called boned bodies or boned bodices, which today we call corset, are emerging for women.
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| ''Scène de bal à la cour des Valois'' Artist Anonymous Around 1580 Collection of Musée des Beaux-Arts de Renne |
Since my research is done in french, all the words are french or french translation. I did not research for a period equivalent in English.
In the early days of the ''corps de cotillon'' and ''corps de cotte'' , I think that the English equivalent was a pair of bodies, those feminine sartorial rigidity mirrored that of men. Women and men have clothes that give them an inverted triangle shape to their torso, men by their doublets and women by the first whalebone bodies. The purpose of shaping the torso in this way is to establish an upright, dignified and noble posture. Moreover, the expression “to have body” which means to have consistency is not far from the desire to add a boned body to the torso of a woman in order to give it rigidity and presence. In Antoine Furetière's dictionary of 1690, the word body gives rise to multiple definitions, including this one:
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| Définition de corps par rapport aux habits «...recouvrir cette partie du corps qui va du cou jusqu'à la ceinture...» ''cover that part of the body that goes from the neck to the waist'' Dictionnaire universel, contenant généralement tous les mots françois tant vieux que modernes, & les termes de toutes les sciences et arts Antoine Furetières 1690 |
This fashion of stiffening the torso of women therefore began at the end of the 16th century in France.
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| Elisabeth de France Artist Frans Pourbus le Jeune 1615 Collection of musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes |
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| Anne d'Autriche, reine de France et ses enfants Artist Anonymous 17th century Collection of Château de Versailles |
The children in this portrait are respectively Louis XIV in gold on the left (he was already prepared to become the Sun King) and his brother Philippe d'Orléans, in white on the right.
As presented in the last article, 1663 and the arrival of the Filles du Roy was chosen as the starting date of this series. We are finally coming to this period. In 1663, it has been two years since Mazarin, the former tutor of King Louis XIV, died, leaving the Sun King to reign alone for the first time. A decision he made during these first years of reign without a principal advisor was to take control of the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France in order to make it a royal province. It was with this in mind that Louis XIV implemented the Filles du Roy settlement policy.
In 1663, this fashion for a body dress, worn directly over the shirt and matched with a same fabric skirt, is still current. Here are some examples from the second half of the 17th century.
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| Anne Geneviève de Bourbon, duchesse d’Estouville et de Longueville. Atelier des frères Beaubrun (1630-1675) 17th century Collection of Château de Versailles |
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| Portrait of a lady attributed to Charles Beaubrun 17th century Private collection From Sotheby's auctions |
I would like to share an observation regarding the breasts and necklines of the ladies of this fashion period. Despite a very low bodice line on the chest, there is very little breast curve visible (unlike many period films). In my opinion, this is due to the use of the dress body which, instead of pulling the breast upwards to enhance the curve, it supports it in a slight horizontal compression, maybe even the breast is slightly pushed down, leaving a more discreet curve.
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| Françoise Athénaïse de Rochechouart, comtesse de Montespan Artist Anonymous 17th century Collection of Château de Versailles |
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| Unknown young lady Artist Louis le Père Elle Around 1658-1660 Collection of Château de Versailles |
In 1663, began the arrival of the Filles du Roy in New France, always with the aim of making it a province of France. These girls are most often orphans from the Paris or La Rochelle region. In exchange for a dowry provided by the King, they cross the Atlantic to marry a man in the St. Lawrence Valley and start a family there. Thus begins the final settlement of the colony. More than 700 women have taken part in this adventure in 10 years. From the establishment of the Filles du Roy there is an assertive and assiduous presence of women in New France.
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| Portrait of Elizabeth D'Orléans, duchesse de Guise et de Joÿeuse Artiste Anonymous 17th century Collection of Château de Versailles |
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| Françoise de Neufville, duchesse de Chaunes Artist Anonymous Second half of the 17th century Collection of Château de Versailles |
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| Madeleine-Charlotte d'Albert, duchesse de Foix Artist Anonymous around 1649-1665 Collection of Château de Versailles |
During this period, in Versailles, ''habit de cour'' (court dress) was defined, inherited from the fashions of the early 17th century described above. This garment consists of an underskirt, a boned bodice with sleeves worn directly over the shirt, and a formal skirt cut from the same fabric as the bodice. In other words, what today we call a corset is visible and is worn over the skirt. The hairstyle of this period is characterized by a clean parting that separates the hair in two large clumps on each side of the head formed by tight curls and cut short.
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| Henriette-Anne d'Angleterre, duchesse d'Orléans, dite Madame (1644-1670) Artist Anonymous from Pierre Mignard school, 3rd quarter of 17th century, Collection of Château de Versailles |
Still according to the book «Histoire des modes et du vêtement, du Moyen-Âge au XXIe siècle»(History of fashions and clothing, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century), a ''berthe'' is a lace ribbon attached to the neckline. Unfortunately, the most recent mention that I found in the old dictionaries thanks to the ARTFL Project is in the dictionary of Littré of 1873, that is to say 200 years after the period which interests us today. I am not sure if the lace trim of the neckline in the 17th century had a particular name in the Filles du Roy period. As we can however see a lace trim on this portrait of Henrietta of England, who was the sister-in-law of Louis XIV. We can also see a difference in crimp between the different portraits. Some curls are much thinner and tighter, like in this portrait. Others are wider and more flexible. However, the hair remains parted with a clean parting. This arrangement of clothing will give birth to the ''Habit de Cour'' (Court gown) or ''Grand Habit'', which will constitute the French court costume until the end of the monarchy.
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| Portrait of Marie-Thérèse d’Autriche, Queen of France, Artists Charles et Henri Beaubrun, 3rd quarter of 17th century, Collection Château de Versailles |
Here is the portrait of Queen Marie-Thérèse of Austria, wife of Louis XIV at the end of the 17th century in a ''Grand Habit''. Her belonging to royalty can be seen by the fabric adorned with the royal fleur-de-lis which makes up her dress body and her skirt. A lace ''berthe'' is attached to her neckline with a gemstone brooch. The bodice tip, sleeves and coat are lined with ermine, another symbol of royalty, that characteristic white fur with black spots.
I allow myself to digress in time to this article to show the Grand Habits of the queens who succeeded Marie-Thérèse of Austria.
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| Portrait of Marie Leszczynska, reine de France, Artiste: François Stimémart d'après Van Loo, Jean-Baptiste (peintre), 1726 (XVIIIe siècle), Collection du Château de Versailles |
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| Portrait of Marie-Antoinette, reine de France, Artist: Jean-Baptiste-André Gautier-Dagoty, 1775, Collection du Château de Versailles |
For these official portraits, the queens wear a velvet fabric covered with golden fleur-de-lis, a symbol of royalty. Marie Lesinska is the wife of Louis XV, the great-grandson of Louis XIV. Below, is the famous Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI who is him the grandson of Louis XV. Between Louis XIV and Louis XVI, six generations separate them despite being only three consecutive kings. As mentioned earlier, the ''Grand Habit'' became the gown of ceremonies at the Court of France. This does not mean, however, that the silhouette has not updated with time and with fashion. However, the characteristic elements of the grand habit have remained: the body of the dress is visible and worn over a skirt made of the same fabric. The sleeves of the body reveal the shirt of dazzling whiteness. In my opinion, what most differentiates the court dress portraits of these three queens are their hairstyle, small and close to the head for Marie Lezinska, wide curly and framing the face for Marie-Thérèse of Austria and reaching astronomical heights for Marie-Antoinette. The arrangement of sleeves of fine lace mimicking the shirt only appears on court dresses or Grands Habits, according to my research.
This is all well and good, but how can you really tell if the clothes depicted in the portraits were actually worn on a daily basis?
Without being foolproof, my advice for making sure the clothes were really worn is to first look in museum collections for pieces of clothing from the same period. There are some examples of dress bodies in the book "Patterns of Fashion 5, the content, cut, construction and context of bodies, stays hoops and rumps c. 1595-1795 ”.
Then, I like to look at period paintings where the clothing or the person is not the main attraction, as during the representation of events or places. Like for example this crowd illustrating the king's trip to Paris:
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| Marche du Roy accompagné de ses gardes passant sur le pont neuf et allant au Palais Graveur: Jan van Huchtenburgh, After Adam Frans van der Meulen before 1690 Source: Wikimedia Commons |
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| Detail without color of Marche du Roy accompagné de ses gardes passant sur le pont neuf et allant au Palais Engraving: Jan van Huchtenburgh, After Adam Frans van der Meulen before 1690 Source: Gallica |
Wearing the ''Grand Habit'' becomes an obligation in front of the Sun King during official ceremonies as illustrated by this engraving:
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| Louis XIV et les dames de la Cour et de sa famille Anonyme français, 1667, Collection du Château de Versailles |
In the case of older fashions, there are fewer of this type of crowd tables. I end my article with a table that presents both the fashion of the full dress of woman and the fashion which will be mentioned in the next chapter of this series: the mantua..
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| Louis XIV devant la grotte de Téthys Artiste Anonymous After 1670 Collection of Château de Versailles |
The lady in pink and white on the far right of the painting wears a court dress. As for the particular roll-up of the mantua, visible in the center in the lady's back in black and yellow, I will come back to it in detail in my next article.
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