Report on Dressing the little dears – WECS study day 15th March 2014

Had an excellent study day in Bristol, provided by the West of England Costume Society, entitled Dressing the little dears, and covering children’s wear from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries.

Ninya with the Tudor Tailor display

Our first speakers were Jane Malcolm-Davies and Ninya Mikhaila from the Tudor Tailor, ably assisted by their live model, Ninya’s daughter Minnie Perry. Their presentation Counting cuffs and analysing aprons, was subtitled a statistical approach to children’s dress in the sixteenth century. Much of the information was drawn from their recently published book The Tudor Child. They had, in order to get their information, trawled through nearly 16,000 wills with over 30,000 bequests of clothing, only 357 of which were for children, and vast numbers of images, limited to north west Europe. They spoke about swaddling, and once the babes were a little older, half swaddling, where their arms were free. Lacking a real baby, they are notorious uncooperative, they had a baby sized baby doll you could use to practice swaddling. There was much talk of “slavering clouts” that is bibs. They then moved on to small children, and the problems of guessing the gender of the child, with coats for boys and gowns for girls. Minnie was dressed in an outfit copied in part from a child on the Oglander family monument, with a kirtle on top of her smock, and a russet gown over her kirtle. The book is recommended. (Huggett and Mikhaila, 2013)

Huggett, J. and Mikhaila. N., 2013. The Tudor Child. Lightwater: Fat Goose. £25

 

Second speaker was Noreen Marshall, who was previously a curator at the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood. Her talk, What will baby wear, covered the history of baby clothes and started with the sixteenth century. She too spoke about swaddling, noting that the bands were quite deep 2-4 inches, and she had a photograph of a 1575-1600 band from the collection. Noreen talked about chrisoms, the cloth that was used when the child was christened, and how these do not survive. Chrisom children were those who died within the first month. Noreen stated that the ppins used for swaddling were normal open ended pins, and layette pincushions with the pinheads spelling out mottos such as “welcome sweet babe” were common presents for new mothers. Noreen showed a christening set dating to 1650-1700 which consisted of a cap, forehead cloth, bib and mittens, heavily decorated with lace, and a bearing cloth of about the same date, which she described as small tablecloth size. We moved on through 18^th and 19^th century christening robes to the revolutions of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Terry for nappies appeared at the end of the 19^th century, and we were shown a pilcher (nappy cover) of circa 1909 in oiled silk, creating an early waterproof.  Liberty bodices were introduced in 1908, with a wrapover style by the 1920s. Barracoats made their appearance as open garments in the 19^th century but a closed style by the 20^th century. Romper suits appear for older children from around 1900, but were being used for babies by 1925.

Examples from Alasdair Peebles collection

After lunch collector Alasdair Peebles talked about Suitable dress for boys, examining the boy’s suit not only with illustrations, but with examples from his collection and covering from 1770 to the 1940s. He started with photographs of a 1770s suit he had purchased when Brooklyn Museum deaccessioned some of their collection. He then looked at the nankeen skeleton suit of unbleached cotton (far left in the photograph). This style was worn from the 1780s to the 1820s. The breeches button to the jacket. Next a tunic suit (second from left in the photo), these were popular in the 1830s. Next came a suit based on the pattern of the French Zouave uniforms, an original survives in the Chicago History Museum. The outfit Alasdair owns (second from right in the photo), is not as flamboyant as the Chicago example, but is of similar cut. The boy’s sailor suit needs no introduction. The young Prince Albert Edward was famously painted wearing this style in 1848, the original is in the National Maritime Museum.  Alasdair explained how those that have survived are mainly from the 1920s and are of cotton jean, wool versions having succumbed to moth. Alasdair then produced a little kilt suit, which unfortunately I did not photograph. These were popular in the 1880s and 1890s. He wondered why it had little black rosettes on the kilt, but no one was able to offer an explanation. He then moved on to the Norfolk suit, which by 1900 was ubiquitous, but survivals of children’s versions are now incredibly rare. Finally Alasdair looked at the Eton suit, worn in private schools until the 1930s or later, and comprising black coat and waistcoat, striped trousers, stiffened collar and top hat. 

A Ladybird dressing, which someone gave to our speaker.

Our final speaker was social anthropologist Dr. Kaori O’Connor, who some people may have seen recently on the Great British Sewing Bee talking about how Lycra changed fashion. Her talk was entitled The Ladybird, the dressing gown and a golden age of British childhood. Kaori spoke about how the comfortable, safe, secure image of the child’s dressing gown was formed in the inter war years by things like images of listening to radio stories with Uncle Mac, and the Ovaltineys. In 1932 Eric Pasold, whose family had a long running textile manufacturing business on the continent, established the British base in Langley. The firm specialised in machine knit garments and at the beginning was mostly producing underwear. During the war the factory went over to producing parachutes. Kaori pointed out that during the Second World War dressing gowns were an item of clothing that was not produced. After the war Eric decided on a new label for children, Ladybird, and he started with the underwear and with the dressing gown. Eric also produced a book about his family’s story The Legend of the Scarlet Ladybird, and a strip for the comic Swift entitled  The Sign of the Scarlet Ladybird. In the stories Ladybird clothes, such as tee shirts, help to get the children out of trouble or scrapes. When fashions for children stared to change in the 1960s Pasold sold out to Coats Patons, who continued to market the Ladybird range.

MEDATS (Medieval Dress and Textile Society ) Study Day 23rd Nov 2013

An excellent study day on Saturday with MEDATS, held in the bowels of the British Museum. What follows is my impression of the papers given; any mistakes or misunderstandings are my own.

From the Trachtenbuch, the left
hand outfit has been reproduced

 The first speaker was Jenny Tiramani with the 1530 outfit from Matthaus Schwarz that she produced for the University of Cambridge. For those who haven’t seen this there is an excellent video online at http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/the-first-book-of-fashion. There was some discussion about the compromises that had had to be made, partly because of budget constraints. Also the model was a slightly different size and shape from the person it was made for, resulting in comments to the effect that it would never meet in the middle – it did. The comment was also made that, when dressing someone, a lot of time was spent arranging the person so they looked perfect. There were questions about the weight of the aiguillettes, and how this affected how they sat and how they needed to be attached, and how things laced together. The entire Trachtenbuch des Matthaus Schwarz aus Augsburg,1520 – 1560 is available in full online.

 The next speaker was Kathleen O’Neill on Nicolette: Action Transvestite. The second part of the title comes from Eddie Izzard, “I'm an action transvestite! ‘Cause it's running, jumping, climbing trees, you know.” These are the things Nicolette does while dressed as a man. The chantefable of Aucassin and Nicolette was not one I knew, and it was interesting to look at a heroine who not only cross dresses to get her man, but also dyes her skin darker. Kathleen is planning to put this on her blog at http://victorianlibrarian.wordpress.com/ but I don’t think it is there yet.

 The third of the morning speakers was Sarah Thursfield on lacing in fact and fiction. Sarah started with some modern images that come up if you put medieval lacing in Google images, but she spared us the renaissance wench. Modern depictions show lacing that is entirely without function, and it is possible to trace ideas back to early (19^th century) costume historians like Planche and Fairholt. Sarah argued that in the medieval period lacing was as ubiquitous and functional as zips used to be, before they became a fashion statement. The use of lacing was traced through the rise of more fitted clothes for both men and women, and the placing of it on the side, front or back of the garment. The Third Temptation of Christ in the Winchester Psalter of c.1150, was examined, where the devil wears lacing. Sarah said that Margaret Scott had commented that the devil's clothes are half male, half female. The side slit and the lacing are from men's wear, and the very long sleeve and skirt are from women's wear.



Book available from the BBC

 After lunch and the AGM Chris Carnie explored the work she had done researching and making Ruth Goodman’s c.1500 outfit for the television series “The Tudor Monastery Farm” Chris based her work on some of the very few depictions of lower class women that exist, especially for England. She showed a woodcut from the Sarum Book of Hours of 1507, an illustration of February from the Grimani Breviary of 1515-20, and material from the Hours of Henry VIII of c1500. Chris created a smock, kirtle, gown, kerchief, filet, rail, apron and cloth stockings that Ruth can be seen wearing in the programme. A book to accompany the series is available. The wear that the outfit received during the filming was discussed.

The final speaker of the day was Johannes Pietsch looking at the Fashionable Silhouette in the Middle Ages. He began his examination of the silhouette with Superbia (pride) on horseback in the Hortus Deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg, Alsace. The Hortus was started in c.1167 and Johannes worked his way through to the fascinating Erasmus Grasser statues c.1480, of Moriskentänzer (morris dancers)  in the Munich City Museum. On the way he took in the garments, which he described as jaque not pourpoint, of Charles de Blois and Charles VI, this lead to a questioning as to whether fashion follows armour, or armour follows fashion.

Exhibition and Book Review - In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion

In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion, Exhibition at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Friday, 10 May 2013 to Sunday, 06 October 2013. The book of the same title is by Anna Reynolds. London: The Royal Collection Trust, 2013. ISBN 978 1 905686445. 300 pages

 I went to this exhibition last weekend having purchased the book almost as soon as it was published, and the first thing to say to anyone interested in clothes is that the exhibition is almost entirely about the paintings, as the  Telegraph review stated,   “there are just enough (but not too many) actual garments on display.” Sadly for me I thought that there were not enough actual garments, however that reveals my predilections. It is a large exhibition covering several rooms, with stunning paintings and some sumptuous clothing.

The rooms are divided into themes, but start with a chronology of fashion. This section includes some iconic paintings that most people know; Henry VIII looking just like Robert Shaw in Man for All Seasons, Elizabeth as a princess hanging next to her sister Mary Tudor, and later on the triple portrait of Charles I by Van Dyck. To aid those who have little understanding of period costume there are interpretation boards by Michael Parry each representing a decade and with a drawing of a man and a woman with the names given to items of clothing labelled, so for the 1540s they indicate what is an aiget, gable hood, forepart, codpiece, etc.

The portraits are not all of royalty, and they are not all English. The Dutch provide several genre paintings such as Schalcken’s The Game of “Lady Come into the Garden”, a 17^th century equivalent of strip poker! They also provide some absolute classics such as Rembrandt’s Agatha Bas, and Bronzino’s Lady in Green.

But what about real clothes. There is a section on children, which includes the famous Van Dyck portrait of Charles I’s first three children, next to it you will find a lovely child’s cap and forehead cloth, originally associated with Charles I but the lace is later, c. 1700. The Gallery has borrowed a lot a lace from the Bowes Museum’s Blackborne Collection, there is one particularly stunning 1630s collar of needlelace. One room has three items down the centre. There is a 1650s bodice borrowed from the Museum of London and displayed close to the painting of Charles II dancing at a ball which shows several women wearing similar bodices. An embroidered ladies waistcoat, borrowed from the Fashion Museum Bath, is echoed by portraits of two women wearing embroidered bodices. One portrait of an unknown woman from an Unknown British painter of the 1620s, does not conform to the usual scrolling designs of the actual garment, the other which also of an unknown woman does have a scrolling design. The third garment in this room is a man’s doublet from the 1620s associated with Charles I. Later in a war themed section they have two sets of armour (not actually garments I suppose) and a buff coat, again associated with Charles I though it looks very plain, that has recently been accepted in lieu of inheritance tax.There are also a pair of gloves associated with James I, and pair of green silk stockings belonging to William III, and Henrietta Maria's slippers.

Worth going to, but somehow it did not come up to my expectations. In part this may be due to the fact that I had the book before I went to the exhibition, and the book contains photographs of many original garments that are not in the exhibition, the Verney family garments from Claydon House, the late 17th century manuta from the Met, the white silk bodice from the V&A, among many others. The book is beautifully illustrated and has lots of close ups. Well worth the price.