#elizabethan style

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

The Men of September

Blackadder II / Rowan Atkinson as Edmund, Lord Blackadder

Even though this is "just" a very funny comedy show, costume designer Annie Hardinge really gave it her all. The costumes are better and more authentic-looking than some seen in serious costume dramas. Lord Blackadder dresses all in black with touches of silver and red, which not only fits his personality but was very fashionable at the time. The snake-and-dagger design on his sleeves is really beautiful and intricate, as is the ornamentation on the cape. And he's got a proper ruff!

Note: The picture with Baldrick is actually from Blackadder's Christmas Carol, but it seems to be either the same costume or an identical one.

[laliz9]

ELIZABETHAN STYLE

[vintagehomecollection]

Reminiscent of an Elizabethan knot garden, this plan is meant to be viewed from a height. Box-edged beds are filled with an informal mixed planting of shrubs and herbaceous plants.

Terence Conran’s New House Book, 1985

[burningvelvet]

Miniature wedding portraits of Frances and John Croker of Barton by Nicolas Hilliard, circa 1581.

[fluentisonus]

photos of eddie redmayne as viola/cesario in the 2002 globe production of twelfth night

[cto10121]

Clowns: Shakespeare was so tawdry and dirty and profane!1!1!1!

Shakespeare’s Actual Contemporaries: He writes the most beautiful lines, I can’t 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭Wish he’d write about other things than love, though. What’s that? He actually wrote some killer tragedies and fun stage comedies? Oh. Yeah, I guess he does that. Still, his style is super sweet. So sweet. Sweet as honey. 8/10, ngl kinda basic

[vaparkercreative]

Braved the mosquito bites to wander in the fields and forests. 

I got a corset and chemise from French Meadows and will never emotionally recover. 

[blueplumbbob]

Good Queene Maud, fairest Lady of Iverny Gentle Matilda of the Kingdom by the Sea How high doth her Banner fly o'er the heads Of her subjects, protecting all, frail and mighty

QUEEN MATILDA THE GREAT — r. 1547 - 1613

THE LAST MONARCH OF THE HOUSE OF SULLIVAN

IVERNY'S GREATEST QUEEN

[mysterioushimachal]

Rashtrapati Niwas Shimla - Legacy of Colonial Grandeur

Nestled atop the Observatory Hills in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh lies the resplendent Rashtrapati Niwas, formerly known as the Viceregal Lodge—a living testament to an era steeped in history and grandeur. This majestic structure, once the prestigious residence of the British Viceroy of India, stands as an embodiment of architectural brilliance and historical significance. The Rashtrapati Niwas…

[barmeciderat]

The progression of my pride and joy, Walston, one of the two main characters to my biggest project. I love him dearly and seeing his aesthetic and character progression is really fun, the drawing on the left was actually the first ever drawing I created of him and the one on the right in a panel from an animatic I’m working on - I should post about that some point this week since it will be pretty quick to finish :P

[dresshistorynerd]

I've seen a post you've reblogged and added to, among many things about women showing nipples. Can you recommend any ref material (articles, videos, etc.) are share your knowledge about this? Cause I'm curious about that, as nowadays going out in a shirt without a bra makes you indecent, while in like 90s it was okayish? I wonder how it was in previous centuries.

There is a really cool academic paper about bare breast dresses in 17th century England specifically. I think anyone can read it by creating a free account.

Abby Cox also has a good video about the cleavage during the past 500 years in which she goes through also the nip slip phenomena.

I don't have other sources that specifically focus on this subject, though many sources about specific decades touch on it, but I do have my primary source image collection, so I can sum up the history of the bare nipple.

So my findings from primary source images (I could be wrong and maybe I just haven't found earlier examples) is that the Venetians were the first ones to show the nipple for courtly fashion. At the same time in other places in Europe they sported the early Elizabethan no-boob style that completely covered and flattened the chest. In the other corners of Italy the necklines were also low but less extreme. Venetian kirtle necklines dropped extremely low as early as 1560s and they combined extremely sheer, basically see-through partlets with their kirtle. First example below is a 1565-70 portrait of a Venetian lady with the nipples just barely covered waiting slip into view with a movement of arm. There was an even more extreme version of this with the kirtle being literally underboob style, still with a sheer doublet. Though I believe this was not quite for the respectable ladies, since I have only seen it depicted on high class courtesans. They were not exactly respectable ladies, but they did have quite good social position. The second example is a 1570s depiction of a courtesan, which is revealed by the horned hairstyle. By the end of the century this underbust style with only see through fabric covering breasts, had become respectable. In the last example it's shown on the wife of the Venetian doge in 1597.

Around the same time, at the very end of 1500s, the extremely low cut bodice fashion enters rest of Europe. The low cut style was present in the bodices of all classes, but the nipple was really only an aristocrat thing. The lower classes would cover their breasts with a partlet, that was not sheer. Bare breast was ironically from our perspective a show of innocence, youthful beauty and virtue, and to pull off the style with respect, you also had to embody those ideals. Lower class women were considered inherently vulgar and lacking virtue, so a nipple in their case was seen as indecent. Bare boobs were also a sort of status symbol, since the upper class would hire wet nurses to breastfeed their children so they could show of their youthful boobs.

Covering partlets and bodices were still also used in the first decade of 1600s by nobles and the nip slip was mostly reserved for the courtly events. The first image below is an early example of English extremely low neckline that certainly couldn't contain boobs even with a bit of movement from 1597. The 1610s started around 5 decades of fashion that showed the whole boob. The first three were the most extreme. Here's some highlights: The second image is from 1619.

Here the first, very much showing nipples, from c. 1630. The second from 1632.

The neckline would slowly and slightly rise during the next decades, but nip slips were still expected. Here's an example from 1649 and then from 1650-55. In 1660s the neckline would get still slightly higher and by 1870s it was in a not very slippable hight. The necklines would stay low for the next century, though mostly not in boob showing territory, but we'll get there. But I will say that covering the neckline in casual context was expected. Boobs were mostly for fancy occasions. It was considered vain to show off your boobs when the occasion didn't call for it and covering up during the day was necessary for a respectable lady. You wouldn't want to have tan in your milk-white skin like a poor, and also they didn't have sun screen so burning was a reasonable concern.

1720s to 1740s saw necklines that went to the nip slip territory, though they didn't go quite as low as 100 years earlier. The nipple was present in the French courtly fashion especially and rouging your nipples to enhance them was popular. Émilie Du Châtelet (1706-1749), who was an accomplished physicist and made contributions to Newtonian mechanics, was known in the French court to show off her boobies. An icon. Here she is in 1748. Here's another example from this era from 1728.

The Rococo neckline never got high, but in the middle of the century it was less low till 1770s when it plunged into new lows. In 1770s the fashion reached a saturation point, when everything was the most. This included boobs. The most boob visible. There was a change in the attitudes though. The visible boob was not a scandal, but it was risque, instead of sing of innocent and did cause offense in certain circles. I think it's because of the French revolution values gaining momentum. I talked about this in length in another post, mostly in context of masculinity, but till that point femininity and masculinity had been mostly reserved for the aristocracy. Gender performance was mostly performance of wealth. The revolutionaries constructed new masculinity and femininity, which laid the groundwork for the modern gender, in opposition to the aristocracy and their decadence. The new femininity was decent, moral and motherly, an early version of the Victorian angel of the house. The boob was present in the revolutionary imagery, but in an abstract presentation. I can't say for sure, but I think bare breasts became indecent because it was specifically fashion of the indecent French aristocracy.

Here's example somewhere from the decade and another from 1778. The neckline stayed quite low for the 1780s, but rose to cover the boobs for the 1790s.

The nipple didn't stay hidden for long but made a quick comeback in the Regency evening fashion. It was somewhat scandalous by this point, and the nipple and sheer fabrics of the Regency fashion gained much scorn and satire. The styles that were in the high danger nip slip territory and those that allowed the nipple to show through fabric, were still quite popular. The sleeves had been mid length for two centuries, but in 1790s they had made a split between evening and day wear. The evening sleeves were tiny, just covering the shoulder. Showing that would have been a little too much. Like a bare boob? A risque choice but fine. A shoulder? Straight to the horny jail. (I'm joking they did have sheer sleeves and sometimes portraits with exposed shoulder.) But long sleeves became the standard part of the day wear. Getting sun was still not acceptable for the same reasonable and unreasonable reasons. Day dresses did also usually have higher necklines or were at least worn with a chemisette to cover the neckline. Fine Indian muslin was a huge trend. It was extremely sheer and used in multiple layers to build up some cover. There were claims that a gust of wind would render the ladies practically naked, though because they were wearing their underclothing including a shift, which certainly wasn't made from the very expensive muslin, I'm guessing this was an exaggeration. Especially though in the first decade, short underboob stays were fairly popular, so combined with a muslin, nipples were seen. Here's an early 1798 example of exactly that. The short stays did disappear eventually, but in 1810s the extremely small bodices did provide nip slip opportunities, as seen in this 1811 fashion plate.

Victorian moralizing did fully kill the nip slip, though at least they were gender neutral about it. The male nipple was just as offensive to them. In 1890s, when bodybuilding became a big thing, bodybuilder men were arrested for public indecency for not wearing a shirt.

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

April: Yellow Redux

Elizabeth: The Golden Age / Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I

The shape of the dress is broadly right for the period, they included a ruff, and the fabric looks pretty sumptuous to modern eyes. An actual court dress of the period would likely have had much, much more ornamentation on it, however. The color is nice, if a little on the nose for a movie titled "the golden age."

But seriously, is she wearing a Blooming Onion on her head?

[laliz9]

STYLISH IN BLACK

[hometoursandotherstuff]

This home looks like a combination Tudor/Castle, but it's an Equestrian Estate and an Elizabethan style manor house with 2 caretaker homes, a carriage house with groom's quarters, a yoga studio, a 12, 000 sq. ft. stable, greenhouse and more. Built in 1860 in Pawling, New York, it has 17bds, 9.5ba., and a total of 43 rooms. $6.5M.

The grand entrance. Does the Samurai warrior convey?

Wow, look at the stone walls and wood carvings.

It's very classic- a sitting room with rich wood paneled walls, beamed ceilings and leaded glass windows.

Wow, this is some dining room with an interesting fireplace, wainscoting, and ceiling. That's a table for 14. Geez.

Beautiful huge sun porch with views of the grounds.

Don't know what this little sitting area is, but it sure is fancy.

Gets more modern in here.

This is cute, a little sunroom.

Like the kitchen- look at the old water heater in the corner and the vintage stove. This is such a classic vintage French country kitchen, I wonder if they'll leave the map of France.

The primary bedroom has a full size sitting room.

This bedroom has a full-size living room and a dining alcove.

Looks like all the bedrooms have sitting areas.

Like the ceilings in the upper floor bedrooms. So cozy.

Nice family room. Love the castle look.

Look at this, it has a chapel.

Nice billiard room with built-in seating, book shelves and a fireplace.

This is the children's wing with creepy circus murals on the hallway walls.

Love the vintage baths.

They have antique cars in carriage house.

Must be the stables.

The barn and horse buildings look like they need some work.

The property is 25.5 acres. Actually $6.5M isn't that bad for all of this.

[burningvelvet]

Portrait miniature of an unknown young man (c. 1588) by Nicolas Hilliard from the Victoria & Albert Museum

[basiatlu]

Congrats on 1000! Submitting an art ask, which is probably going to sound random but I’d love to see Draco or Harry (I guess one or the other to keep it simpler?) in some Elizabethan-era garb—Shakespeare vibes, basically. Could even be a modern sort of deconstructed take on the style? If this gets randomly picked and is too complicated please disregard (I have no idea how complicated/how much effort stuff takes—I am sure a lot no matter what)!

Oh you are tickling a fancy that is sleeping inside me! I love period clothing - the (‘Shakespearean time’) Tudor era with their puffy sleeves and ribbings!! Ahhhh. Waistcoats, waistcoats, waitcoats mmm

Here’s a swanky Harold of Potter’s Field for you:

And that’s the last of them! Thanks so much to all of you that sent in your requests for the giveaway. This has been so much fun and I cherish all of the kind words and the silly tags left behind.

My ask is always open to you guys, so let it be known I get to them eventually! (I like to draw the responses so they just take a little time heehee)