Rococo clothing fashion
The clothing fashions of the Rococo , similar to the architecture of this time, is regarded as continuation of the Baroque and is dated generally from about 1720 to 1770, even before the outbreak of the partly French Revolution 1789. main starting point of fashion development was until 1760 the French royal court in Versailles, on which fashion throughout Europe was based.
Historical background
With the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the French court became orphaned, since the future King Louis XV. was not yet of legal age. The benevolent or derogatory statements of Louis XIV had had a great influence on the fashion of his time; the heavily regulated court ceremonies had largely prescribed court clothing for the high nobility . In the régence that followed, the courtly dress code was dropped, as was the role of the highest fashion judge in the person of the king.
Many aristocrats left Versailles and moved into the countless palaces , palaces and apartments of the city of Paris . As a result, a new social life developed, which took place decentrally in the salons of the fine ladies. What was fashionable and what was not was now determined primarily in these salons, and that did not change when the new king came of age and officially acceded to the throne. It became possible to get rid of a stiffness in clothing and behavior that had meanwhile been perceived as unfashionable. The current of sensitivity led to a cult of feeling that was directed against the development of representative power. Since Jean-Jacques Rousseau's return to nature! the naive and the rural were also given high priority.
From early to high Rococo (approx. 1720–1750)
In the time between the death of Louis XIV and the accession of Louis XV to the throne, there was no official court ceremony, so that non-court fashion trends could prevail.
The women's fashion
This is how the Volante robe came into fashion, also known as the Battante robe : a dress with deep folds in the front and back that jumped up from shoulder height. Originally a comfortable housecoat, these robes were increasingly worn by commoners and maids on the street. In terms of construction, the Robe Volante leaning on to the court dress of the late 17th century: A rock and over worn, coat-like (a Manteau ) -dress, the front remains more or less wide open, so that the bodice is visible. The sleeves are elbow-length and have attached cuffs, which are reminiscent of today's water wings. In the course of the 1720s, this dress, later called robe à la française , was increasingly worn outside the home by noble ladies. These robes only loosely played around the upper body and were spread open from around 1715 onwards by increasingly larger hoop skirts. As the construction of hoop skirts was similar to that of chicken baskets of the time, they were called panier ( French: basket).
While the earliest hoop skirts were conical around 1710, they became dome-shaped during the 1720s and flattened oval at the front and back around 1730. The robes on top became more and more tailored at the same time. From the 1740s, splendid robes (courtly and / or wedding robes) have been preserved that are very flat oval in cross-section, rectangular or trapezoidal in the cut (i.e. more or less exhibited at the bottom, e.g. Victoria & Albert Museum, inventory number T.260 & A-1969) or semicircular (e.g. coronation dress of Luise Ulrike von Schweden , Livrustkammaren, Stockholm).
In England and the Netherlands beyond the 1720s, a form of dress that was called Mantua in England and which is directly derived from the manteau of the late 17th century persisted. While in the robe à la française the back folds fall loosely, in the Mantua they are firmly ironed in and partly sewn on.
In the early 18th century, display of splendor consisted mainly in processing large-bodied silk brocades or damasks from Spitalfields or Lyon , for special occasions also silk interwoven with gold or silver threads or gold or silver embroidery, combined with bobbin lace at the neckline and elbow ( Engageantes ). Decorations in the form of ruffles, bows or the like were not yet common until around 1750. Since the robe gaped between the décolleté and the belly, the lace chest was usually covered by a plug , unless it was itself magnificently decorated.
The hair was generally worn pinned up; the hairstyles were simple. Wigs and hair pieces were not yet common for women's hairstyles because the natural hair was sufficient for the fashionable hairstyles. At least outside the home, but mostly inside too, women and children wore a hood .
The men's fashion
Just as the robe à la française goes back to forms of the late 17th century, the men's skirt of the early 18th century cannot deny its origin from the skirts of the late 17th century. A complete men's suit consists of breeches ( culottes ), vest and skirt ( justaucorps ). At the beginning of the 18th century, the collarless skirt fits tightly, can be buttoned from the neck to the knees (but is usually left open, as was the case throughout the century); the sleeves do not reach the wrist, but the wide cuffs reach the Elbows or even beyond. Relatively far below, at about hip height, there are pockets that are covered by large, slightly curved flaps with buttons.
The vest is almost as long as the skirt and has smaller pockets. In the beginning, vests were made so that they could be worn over them without a skirt, i. that is, they had sleeves and the front and back were of the same fabric (e.g. V&A No. T.200-1984). From around 1720, the vest was adapted to the fact that a skirt was always worn over it: the sleeves disappear, and since the back of the vest remains invisible, only the front is covered with decorative, valuable fabric, while the back is usually made of natural-colored linen. The back is slit in the center back from the shoulder blades to the hem, so that the width can be regulated here with a lacing. Sleeve vests are now almost exclusively worn by the working population.
The knee trousers are cut with legs slightly apart and a voluminous bottom. This is necessary in order to be able to sit and ride in spite of trousers that are tightly fitting on the lower thigh and fastened to the knee. In order to be able to put the foot through the narrow spot on the knee when getting dressed, a slit with a button fastening is worked into the outer leg seam. The knee band is closed with a buckle.
While at the beginning of the century the stockings were often pulled over the lower end of the breeches, from around 1730 they are worn more and more under them. Garters worn just below the knee prevent them from sliding down.
In the course of the early 18th century, the skirt tails gradually widened; like the women's hoop skirts, they reached their greatest width in the 1740s. At that time, the lap was often reinforced over the whole area with horsehair. The sleeves become longer (almost to the wrist), the vest a little shorter. Around 1750 the waistcoat was barely knee-length.
Unlike the women, the men often wore wigs. Until around 1750, the prevailing style was the Bourse (German: Börse), d. H. a ponytail tucked into a black taffeta pouch. The own hair or the wig hair was coated with pomade so that the hair powder stuck to it. The powder consisted of fine flour that was either left white or colored with soot, ocher or cinnabar. Just as a woman wore a hood outside the house, a man wore a three-cornered hat.
High Rococo (1750-1770)
The women's fashion
The fashion of the high rococo continues the dress forms of the early rococo, that is, the robe à la française (French: dress in the French style) is still the most common garment of the upper class on the European continent. It is now made with a two-part front part (i.e. the skirt part is sewn to the top instead of being cut in one piece as before), which enables a stronger waist . Fabric samples are becoming smaller. Applied decorations in the form of ruffled or pleated flounces , bows , knotted silk strands or chenille take on the function of displaying splendor, but embroidery no longer plays a role. The simple, stiff cuffs are replaced by two- or three-layer sleeve flounces with curved edges.
Around 1750 the Compère appeared, which made dressing more comfortable because the robe only had to be buttoned at the front. The variant with a plug attached by pins was still worn.
At the same time, in England, under the influence of the rather rural nobility there, the manteau is developing into a garment that does not need a hoop skirt and the top of which is closed at the front with hooks and eyes ( open robe ), so no plug is required. Under the name Robe à l'anglaise (French: dress in English style) it was adopted into continental European fashion from around 1770.
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Hoop skirts became smaller in width and increasingly replaced by more comfortable posies . As before, large paniers are only used for festive occasions (e.g. wedding dresses) and court clothing.
The hair was still worn in simple updos, covered by a hood . One of the most popular hairstyles is a braid that starts at the nape of the neck, is pulled up at the back of the head and pinned on top of the head. The well-known portrait of Madame de Pompadour in a green dress also shows this hairstyle in the mirror behind her. It wasn't until the late 1760s that hairstyles began to pile up.
The men's fashion
Even for men, the basic items of clothing remain the same: waistcoat, breeches, skirt. The skirt tails gradually become smaller and less stiff, the sleeves longer (up to the wrist), and the cuffs smaller. While in 1720 the cuffs still reached from the lower forearm to the elbow (although they were significantly wider than the sleeve), in the 1760s they were only about a hand's width and barely wider than the sleeve. The front edge of the skirt is cut further and further outwards at the bottom. While the skirt could still be buttoned over the stomach around 1750, around 1770 it was just enough to be buttoned over the chest. More and more often, the skirt is provided with a turn-down collar or a low stand-up collar.
The waistcoat became even shorter and from around 1760 only reached just above the hips. The front edges of the vest had previously been straight or slightly curved; from around 1760 onwards, however, the front edges bend outwards from around hip height. Double-row buttoned vests are emerging.
The shortening of the vest makes the fly in the front center visible. Probably for this reason it is gradually being replaced by a front flap, which is called "bavaroise" in French literature and which actually bears a resemblance to the closure of Bavarian lederhosen.
Late Rococo (1770–1794)
Around 1770, English fashion became increasingly important on the continent. The local nobility had developed a preference for life on their country estates, for horse riding, trips into the countryside, walks and hunting trips. Accordingly, everything was avoided in clothing that was too cumbersome, such as B. large skirt substructures or large cuffs.
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The women's fashion
The manteau , which had developed independently in England, is now to a certain extent re-imported under the name Robe à l'anglaise (French: dress in the English style). The Anglaise does not need a plug because it is closed in the middle with hooks and eyes and is not worn over a hoop skirt, but only over a cushion that rests on the bottom. Around 1772, the robe à la polonaise developed from this , which differs from the Anglaise in that the skirt was gathered up on both sides of the center back.
The robe à la française with its - compared to the Pokissen - comparatively uncomfortable substructure is largely pushed out of everyday life and almost only worn on festive occasions and at court. For a short time in the 1780s, the variant of the robe à la piemontaise developed , in which the back pleats are no longer an integral part of the back of the dress, but are added later.
The women's hairstyles, which had already shown tendencies to increase in height at the end of the 1760s, reached their maximum around 1775/76. Most women now have to wear hairpieces or even wigs for the first time because their own hair is not enough for the high hairstyles. In the courtly environment, these hairstyles are lavishly decorated with feathers, pearls, painted miniatures, but also with ship models ( à la Belle Poule ); In the middle-class milieu, suitably shaped hoods sit on top.
As early as the end of the 1770s, the high hairstyles were again lower and finally, around 1780, replaced by curly hairstyles, with either wide-brimmed hats or a kind of mini-cylinder. The “English” fashion continues with the clothes. The only exception to this is the chemise à la Reine , a very wide-cut dress made of white muslin that is only brought into shape by horizontal drawstrings: It is said to have been invented by Marie Antoinette of France as a maternity dress . Towards the end of the 80s, the "pigeon breast" developed: a fluffy breast cloth that pretends more than is there.
The late rococo fashion outlived the French Revolution by several years. It was not until 1794/1795 that the gracizing fashion of high waists developed, which is typical for the Directoire and Empire .
The men's fashion
The hairstyles of men also grew in the first half of the 1770s, only to become flatter and simpler again a little later. The Justaucorps are cut away more at the lower front edge so that they can only be closed over the upper chest, and sometimes only with hooks and eyes. Buttons and buttonholes are now only decorative elements, with the buttons sometimes being quite large and lavishly decorated, for example with silk embroidery, gold embroidery and sequins , or enamel miniature painting.
The stand-up collars of the skirts gradually become higher. You can often see wide lapels now. The vests are becoming even shorter and more and more often buttoned in two rows (instead of previously single-row). Typical decorations of this time are floral embroidery in satin stitch ( needle painting ) made of unspun silk filament , which run along the front edges of the skirt and vest and frame the pocket flaps.
Clothing of the lower and middle class
In the 18th century, the rulers still issued dress codes with which the choice of clothing should be restricted so that the social status of the wearer was recognizable. However, they were violated frequently and in some cases across the board, so that they were largely ineffective. In theory, certain materials were reserved for the higher classes, e.g. B. Brocade and precious furs such as ermine and sable. The middle and lower classes, however, increasingly participated in the phenomenon of fashion. In the folk costumes that arose in this context, contemporary fashion phenomena were taken up, fixed and in some cases handed down to the present day, such as the "rococo bodice", which was preserved in some folk costumes while the fashion of the higher classes changed.
Women
The descriptions above relate to v. a. to persons of the nobility and the upper, wealthy middle class. The wife of a master craftsman, civil servant or trader dressed according to the fashion described above on special occasions, but in everyday life, like most common women, she wore a combination of skirt and jacket instead of floor-length robes. In the case of middle-class women who do not work physically, the cut and trim mostly followed the prevailing fashion.
Working women typically wore T-shaped, loose-fitting jackets ( manteau de lit ) that overlapped at the front and were held in place by an apron, an ankle-length skirt, a shawl ( fichu ) and a hood. The lace chest was less stiff than that of the fine women to allow more freedom of movement. It could have sleeves attached so that it was unnecessary to wear a jacket over it. The cut and decoration hardly changed over the course of the century.
Men
Physically working men mostly wore sleeve vests instead of the usual waistcoat and skirt combination. H. a combination of vest and skirt that would be classified as a jacket today. Unlike the skirt, the sleeve vest had no cuffs that could get in the way while working, and no wide skirt tails, so that it was more economical in terms of fabric and therefore cheaper than a skirt. The length of the sleeve vest changed with the prevailing fashion; That is, at the beginning of the century it was almost knee-length, later only about hip-length. The breeches were, depending on the profession, sometimes cut a little wider than usual in the upper class to allow greater freedom of movement.
Underwear
Undergarments are roughly the same throughout the century and for all social classes. The only exception to this is the hoop skirt , the changes of which are described in the previous chapters.
For men and women, the underwear consists of a shirt and stockings . Men's and women's shirts differ slightly in cut, but are both composed of rectangles and triangles so that as little material as possible is wasted. Men's shirts reach about mid-thigh and sleeves to wrists; they have a collar and cuffs. Women's shirts reach at least well below the knees, but the sleeves only reach the elbows; the neckline is large enough to reveal the cleavage. The preferred material is linen, which will last a long time, even with hot laundry and heavy rubbing.
At the beginning of the century, stockings could be made of leather, woven fabric or knitted fabric. Knitted stumps were either quite coarse or, because of the high workload for fine knitted fabrics, very expensive. Around the middle of the century, the knitted frame was invented, which made it possible to produce relatively fine stockings, so that the upper middle class could also afford fine stockings. Stockings reached below the knees and were held - for women and men - by garters that were tied around the narrow area between the knee and calf.
A purely female piece of underwear is the lace-up chest worn by women of all walks of life . See under corset .
materials
The main fibers used were linen, wool, cotton and silk.
Linen was mainly used for underwear because of its durability and resistance to high temperatures. H. for men's and women's shirts, men's underpants, shawls, hoods, aprons and handkerchiefs, because of its stiffness and smooth surface also as lining material, e.g. B. for Justaucorps , or as a back part of men's vests. Unbleached and / or coarse linen was cheap, so poor people also used it for outerwear. The finer the spun and the lighter the bleach, the more expensive the fabric was. The finest, almost transparent qualities were used by the wealthy for sleeve flounces, jabots , hoods, shawls and handkerchiefs.
Wool of the simpler qualities was just as cheap as linen and therefore popular with the lower class. Finer qualities were used for everyday clothing of the middle class, especially in winter, for hunting and riding clothing and coats. Unspun wool was used as padding in men's suits and quilted women's skirts.
Cotton was not imported from India and North America on a significant scale until the second half of the 17th century. Some countries such as England, France and Prussia saw this as a threat to the local textile industry and issued cotton bans. Where it was not forbidden, white cotton was used similar to linen, while brightly printed ( teat ) calico was used for outerwear. Because of the long transport route, cotton was more expensive than linen.
Silk was by far the most expensive fiber and therefore reserved for the upper class. Taffeta , atlas , faille , damask, and brocade were the most common weaves. The most notable centers of silk weaving were Venice, Lyon and Spitalfields. Silk fabrics were used almost exclusively for outerwear; an exception to this are the outer fabrics of lace-ups .
The fur no longer plays the role for men, as it was at the beginning of the 17th century. In contrast to women's clothing, there is seldom a fur trim . Towards the end of the century, the muff plays a noticeable role, sometimes reaching a considerable size for women and men. It can be made from elegant ermine fur , but also from opulent bear fur . Fur linings are popular where the fur can peek out at the edges as a trimming on a comfortable house skirt or floor-length dressing gown.
Shoes
In the 18th century, shoes were welted and had a heel. The shoes were single-sided , i.e. That is, the right and left shoe could not be distinguished from one another if they were not already registered. Women's and men's shoes had tabs that crossed over the instep. The shorter thorns of the shoe buckle were stabbed into one of these tabs from above / outside, the other was pulled through the buckle and the longer thorns were stabbed into it from inside / below.
The heels of men's shoes were large and low, similar to today's men's shoes, and made of several layers of thick leather. In women's shoes, the heels were higher and therefore consisted of a wooden core covered with leather. They were drawn in to the side and to the front (this heel shape is still called " Louis XV " today ). They were usually 3–5 cm high, in extreme cases up to 10 cm.
gallery
Early Rococo fashion (1720–1750)
Eleanor James, ca.1700
Charles III of Habsburg, 1707
Jean-Baptiste de Roll-Montpellier, 1713
American painter, 1730
Declaration of love, Jean Francois de Troy, 1730
Letter sealer, Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, 1732
Family breakfast, François Boucher, 1739
Presentation, Pietro Longhi, 1741
The Morning After, William Hogarth, 1743–45
Mary Ducane, 1747
Maria Josepha of Saxony, Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1749
Robe à la française, Amsterdam, 1740–1760
High Rococo fashion (1750–1770)
Eleanor Frances Dixie, 1753
Unknown lady, 1753
Princess Elisabeth of Saxony, 1755
Gerard Cornelis van Riebeeck, 1755
Wolstan Dixie's family, 1755
Comte de Vaudreuil, 1758
Baron Thure Leonard Klinckowström, 1758
Queen Charlotte, 1764
Marie Christine of Austria, 1765
John Hancock, 1765
Woodbury Langdon, 1767
John Hamilton Mortimer, 1768
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Late Rococo fashion (1770–1794)
Duke and Duchess of Chartres with son, 1776
M. Naeff, 1780
English gentlemen, 1782
Comtesse de Provence in Chemise à la Reine, 1782
Mrs. Hibbert, 1780s
Gabriel Christie, 1784
Frances d'Arblay, 1785
Family portrait, 1790
Marie Karoline of Austria, 1791
Barn de Besenval, 1792
Rosailie Duthé, 1792
Sebastián Martínez y Pérez, 1792
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Courtly clothes
The family of Louis XIV, France, around 1710
Friedrich Ludwig von Württemberg and wife, ca.1716
Emperor Karl VI., Austria, 1735
Empress Elisabeth Christine, Austria, 1735
Tsarina Elizaveta Petrovna, Russia, 1743
Princess Adélaïde, France, 1749
Marquis of Marigny, France, 1750
Maria Josepha of Saxony, France, 1751
Tsar Peter III, Russia, 1761
Catherine II, Russia, 1762
Louis XV, France, 1763
Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, France, 1770
Joseph II, Austria, 1776
Maria Feodorovna, Russia, 1777
Marie Antoinette, France, 1778
The French royal family, 1782
George III, England, 1787
Maria Luisa of Parma, Spain, ca.1790
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Middle and lower class clothing
Drinking bout, around 1702
Mother with Children, 1728
Various trades, early 18th century
Poor poet, around 1730
Greengrocer, 1731
Laundress, 1735
Kitchen maid, around 1736
Governess, 1739
Cook, 1739
Chocolate Drinker, 1744
Chambermaid, 1744
Pharmacist, 1752
Savoy woman, 1757
Village scene, 1761
Tavern scene, 1762
Worker, 1780
Haymaking, 1785
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Individual evidence
- ↑ Victoria & Albert Museum No. T.435-1967
- ↑ Johann Trommsdorff: Kallopistria, or the art of the toilet for the elegant world . Erfurt 1805.
- ↑ Garsault: L'Art du Tailleur . Neuchâtel 1780, p. 82 / no. 158.
- ↑ Erika Thiel: History of the costume: The European fashion from the beginnings to the present. Henschel, Berlin 1982.
- ↑ Marita Bombeck: Clothes of Reason. The prehistory of bourgeois presentation and representation in clothing. Lit, Münster 2005, ISBN 3-8258-2676-7 .
- ↑ Ernestine Hutter: Nicely laced. Lace and quilted bodices from Rococo to the present day. Catalog for the special exhibition in the folklore museum of the Carolino Augusteum. Carolino Augusteum, Salzburg 1999.
- ↑ Almut Junker, Eva Stille: Dessous: On the history of underwear 1700-1960. Historical Museum, Frankfurt 1991.
- ^ François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault: L'art de la lingère . Neuchâtel 1780.
- ↑ Amaranthes: Useful, gallant and curious woman's lexicon . Leipzig 1715.
- ↑ Eva Nienholdt: fur in the fashion of the 18th century. In: The fur trade. Volume VII / New Series No. 6, 1956, pp. 235–245.
literature
- Janet Arnold: Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomen's dresses and their construction c. 1660-1860. Macmillan, London 1972.
- Linda Baumgarten, John Watson, Florine Carr: Costume Close Up: Clothing Construction and Pattern, 1750-1790 . Costume and Fashion Press, 2000.
- Linda Baumgarten: What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection . Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2003.
- FJ Bertuch, GM Kraus: Journal of luxury and fashions . Leipzig 1786–1795.
- Max von Boehn: The fashion: people and fashions in the XVIII. Century. Bruckmann, Munich 1909.
- Nancy Bradfield: Costume in Detail 1730-1930. Costume and Fashion Press, New York 1997.
- Madeleine Delpierre: Dress in France in the 18th century. Yale University Press, New Haven / London 1997.
- Denis Diderot, Jean d'Alembert and others: Recueil des Planches sur les Sciences, les Arts Liberaux, et les Arts Mechaniques . Paris 17 ?? - 1771.
- François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault: L'art de la lingere . Neuchâtel 1780.
- François Alexandre Pierre de Garsault: L'art du tailleur . Neuchâtel 1780.
- Avril Hart, Susan North: Historical Fashion in Detail: The 17th and 18th Centuries. V&A Publications, London 1998.
- Aileen Ribeiro: Dress in Eighteenth Century Europe, 1715–1789. Yale University Press, New Haven 2002.
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art: An Elegant Art. Fashion & Fantasy in the Eighteenth Century. LACMA, Los Angeles 1983.
- Sharon Sadako Takeda, Kaye Duirkand Spilker: Fashioning Fashion. European Dress in Detail 1700–1915 . Delmonico / Prestel, Munich a. a. 2010.
- The Kyoto Costume Institute : Revolution in Fashion: European Clothing, 1715-1815. Abbeville, New York 1990.
- Norah Waugh: The Cut of Men's Clothes: 1600-1900. Faber & Faber, London 1994.
- Norah Waugh: The Cut of Women's Clothes: 1600-1930. Faber & Faber, London 1968.
- P. Zimmermann: The young housekeeper, a book for mothers and daughters. Basel 1792 to 1807.
Web links
- Guided tour of women's fashion , accessed March 8, 2012.
- Guided tour through men's fashion , accessed on March 8, 2012.
- Rococo Hair and Hairstyle , Retrieved March 8, 2012.