16th century gown based on a portrait of Eleanor

of Toledo

By THL Charles Pierre de Bourbon

The dress worn by Eleanor of Toledo with her son in the portrait by Bronzino (A in Portrait of Eleanor of Toledo Appendix) (1) is the inspiration for this dress for Mistress Alysia. This dress is actually and amalgam of two different dresses: The Bronzino portrait of Eleanor with her son and her actual burial gown (2), which is an extant piece of 16th century clothing. ( See Burial gown appendix for photos and diagrams of the burial gown) Both gowns are very typical Florentine fashion for the Nobility during the mid 15th century.

The portrait by Bronzino is dated around 1545 and though she died in 1562 the burial dress is not much differing in design from the dress in the Portrait of Eleanor and her son. The reason for using the burial gown as a reference is that I was able to see things on it that are not visible in the painting, things like closure method, closure location, seam placement, etc.

By using two nearly identical gowns as a reference for creating this dress, I was able to put together a true to period gown. Bronzino also painted another picture of Eleanor in the same gown on the occasion of her death ( See B in Portraits of Eleanor of Toledo Appendix). The angle is slightly different in the second portrait, which makes it useful as a reference as well.

About This Dress:

The Fabric

The fabric in the portrait is a black and white brocade with gold worked pomegranates. Finding this exact fabric was going to be next to impossible, so an alternative had to be found. Maitresse Alysia found a cinnamon colored brocade that sported the same style of period pomegranate design, but it is tone on tone rather than black and white. This tone on tone is acceptable as can be seen in the portrait of an Unknown Lady by Hans Holbein circa 1540 ( see figure 1A in Other reference portraits appendix

Since the fortunes of Florence were mainly their silk textile trade (4), the fabric in the portrait is more than likely a silk brocade; however, the brocade used in this dress is a poly silk blend.

Materials and Substitutions

All substitutions listed below were made due to either the availability or prohibitive cost of to obtain the period equivalent of the material

Materials used in making this dress

What they used What I used

Silk, linen, cotton or wool brocade ( 1) (2) (3)

Silk/poly mix brocade

linen for lining ( 2) linen for lining

linen thread ( 2) linen and poly thread

metal rings ( 2) brass eyelet rings

silk/linen/ metal cording ( 2) poly/cotton cording

silk velvet ( 1) ( 2) cotton velvet

metal buttons (5) brass buttons

Making the Dress

1. I started by determining how I wanted the dress to function as an organic piece of clothing and function within the appropriate silhouettes of the time period I am recreating. I studied many portraits in several books to get the “feel” of this type of dress. (1)(2)(3) (4)

2. I decided to base the bodice design off of her burial gown, as there can be no question to the periodness of the design as opposed to artistic interpretation in a portrait.

3. I then cut out and fitted Alysia’s toile.4. Once I made my decision as to how the bodice was going to be structured, I cut it out and

lined it with an interlining of heavy linen canvas which was done in period to give bodices structure (1)(2)

5. I then cut the lining of linen to match and sewed them together along the outer edges6. Next I moved onto laying out the skirt. I examined how the burial skirt was laid out and

structured my skirt design identical in shape to the burial gown’s skirt layout (2) The only difference is that I was not forced to piece fabric together, so I have fewer seams in the skirt.

7. I then decided how I wanted the skirt to close. There are examples of skirts closing in the font, in the back, and the sides. (3) In this particular case I decided to use a front closure as the bodice point would conceal all evidence of a gap in the skirt.

8. I cut matching linen lining for the skirt and then cartridge pleated them into the waist band. There are several methods of pleating skirts in this period, including box, knife, rolled, and cartridge pleating (3)(4)

9. Next I fit the rough bodice and skirt on Alysia and made adjustments to the garment. It was at this point I marked it for hemming.

10. I then created the sleeve pattern which can be found in the appendix. I used a straight sleeve pattern instead of a curved sleeve, because when I examined the portrait of Eleanor with her son, the sleeve panels were puckering and bunching at the bend of her elbow as would have been done with a straight sleeve that was divided into four panels

11. After creating the four panels per sleeves, I cut matching panels of the lining and sewed them together

12. Next I cut 8 6x10 rectangles and faced them with the lining. I then doubled them over and gathered the base. This was then sewn to the top of each sleeve panel. This creates the “puffed roll” at the top of the sleeve. I am convinced after looking at other Florentine dresses, discussing it at Pennsic with late period costuming laurels, ad experimenting with it myself that these puffed rolls were cut separately.

13. I moved back to the bodice and began using an awl to create holes in the bodice where it is going to lace up. Once I created a hole, I used a one piece brass eyelet (not a grommet) in the hole and then worked the eyelet with linen thread. In period, eyelet holes could be reinforced with metal rings to keep the holes from tearing. The rings would then be worked over with thread exactly like I did these (3)

Making the Dress – cont.

14. I then found some metal buttons that were similar to those used in period (5) and began connecting the sleave panels using the buttons as ornamentation at the points where the panels were stitched together.

15. I then sewed in button loops to the armsceye the bodice and sewed buttons into the armsceye of the sleeve so that the sleeve will attach to the bodice via buttons and loops as seen in the portrait of Maria de Medici by Bronzino circa 1551 (see portrait appendix)

16. I then began hand applying a multicolored twisted cord trim to the neck of the bodice and to the panels in the sleeves. In the portrait of Eleanor of Toledo upon her death, it is easy to see that her trim is actually a large twisted cord trim made out of gold cords. Due to the odd color of the fabric that I used, I needed to find a twisted cord trim that would compliment the fabric. I found a multicolored cording that was in the same color palate as the fabric. The cord resembles in design the multicolored cording used to trim a dress in the portrait of Lady Helena Snakeborg, Marchioness of Northampton by an artist of the British School, 1569. (see other reference portrait appendix)

17. Finally I added a bias cut velvet guard to the hem of the skirt to protect the fabric which was hand sewn exactly like it is on Eleanor of Toledo’s burial gown (2)

Things to note:

In the guidelines for late period costuming, all visible stitching should be hand sewn so as not to display any blatant machine work. In the case of this dress I went further than required. The guard was hand applied and hand pieced together. I hand sewed several of the interior seams of the bodice, the cording, the entire guard, the shoulder seams, buttons, button loops etc. The only real machine sewing was done in the long seams, facing the bodice and the panels of the sleeves. Even portions of the sleeves are hand sewn.. The eyelet holes are also finished by hand. Much of the hand sewing was done with a linen thread…

In judging late period costuming it is important to pay attention to things like fit, couture, silhouette, authenticity of design, complexity of techniques employed, fabric treatments, sleeve and bodice treatments, ornamentation.

Maitresse Alysia Gabrielle de Fougeres created belt, caul, smock, ladies unmentionables. Mistress Marseli created the partlet, and Master Jose custom made the corset for Maitresse Alysia. The shoes are from historic enterprises and the hosen are store bought.

Glossary

Armsceye - the part of the bodice or sleeve that circles the arm at the shoulder

Toile – period term for a mock up of a pattern used for fitting prior to cutting expensive fabric

What I learned

There was not a great deal of new knowledge gained from making this dress from the perspective of technique. But in pouring over documentation of extant pieces, I did learn some things about construction of specific Florentine under garments.

When you have two people who are true artists and love the art that they do, the exchange of ideas in the creative process allows for a greater creative realization…that in itself is one of the greatest gifts a person can receive and it is my greatest take away from this experience.

Bibliography

1. Landini, Roberta Orsi - Moda Di Firenze2. Arnold, Janet – Patterns of Fashion3. Arnold, Janet – Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d4. Frick, Carol Collier – Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families, Fortunes, and

Fine Clothing5. Luscomb, Sally – The collectors encyclopedia of buttons

Consulted but not referenced sources

A. Norris, Herbert - Tudor Costume and FashionB. Alcega, Juan - The Tailors handbook ( period text) C. Winter, Janet – Elizabethan costumingD. Hunniset, Jean - Costume for stage and Screen

Note:

While it seems from my bibliography that I have few sources, that is not quite so. The Landini book and the two Arnold books are compendiums of information that house hundreds of portraits and references both primary, secondary and tertiary. Also the need for extensive citations of sources was not immediately necessary as I was working from an extant garment which serves as a primary source for much of what I did with this dress. For the items that either differed from the dress or were not visible, I cited portraits and other secondary and tertiary sources that exist in the books mentioned in the bibliography

Appendix – Burial Dress

These sketches by Janet Aronold are of what the gown would have looked like originally before deteriorating in the coffin. They give us a much better idea of how the gown looked in period.

Appendix – Burial Dress cont.

These are the pictures of the actual gown after exhuming the body of Eleanor of Toledo

Appendix – Eleanor of Toledo portraits

Eleanor of Toledo and son by Angolo Bronzino circa 1545

Eleanor of Toledo on the occasion of her death by Angolo Bronzino circa 1562

A

B

In this portrait it is easier to see the twisted gold cording that is used to trim the sleeves ad bodice of the gown

Other reference portraits appendix

Florentine noblewoman by Bronzino, 1540

The fabric in this portrait of a Florentine Noblewoman by Bronzino is an example of a tone on tone brocade of floral scroll work being used for a dress. This fabric is very similar in concept to the fabric I used in this dress.

Portrait of a Lady as Lucretia, Lorenzo Lotti 1533

The fabric in the dress in the portrait by Lotti is a plain weave fabric, but I included it in here as a reference to color… the color in the lighter fabric of this dress is a pumpkin/cinnamon color much like the dress I created

Appendix – other reference portraits cont.

I used this portrait to illustrate how twisted cording of multi-colored strands was used in period as trim to border bodices and sleeves. Here we can see a black and gold twisted cording used as decoration to outline the neckline and opening of the bodice much like the cording I used to outline the neckline and the sleeve panels of the dress I created

portrait of Lady Helena Snakeborg, Marchioness of Northampton by an artist of the British School, 1569

Appendix – other reference portraits cont.

portrait of Maria de Medici by Bronzino circa 1551

It is important to note in the close up of the shoulder of Maria de Medici in this portrait by Bronzino how they used a button and a button loop to fasten the sleeves to the bodice in exactly the same fashion as I did with the dress I created