EXTANT GARMENTS AND PATTERNS

While the influence of Spanish Fashion can be seen in many surviving garments from other countries, there are a few extant Spanish garments that shed better light on how the garments in paintings were constructed. Using these in conjunction with texts and the extant items showing strong Spanish influence we can better determine what the paintings show us.
In fact as more museums and other groups make information on their collections more widely available (most notably using the internet to tempt people to visit) more garments become known. Since creating this site several articles of clothing have been found by myself and others and so this page will hopefully continue to grow.

EXTANT SPANISH WOMEN'S GARMENTS

Isabel de Valois and Isabel Clara Eugenia's Gowns, Imperial Monasterio de San Clemente and Domschatzkammer Aachen

Gown of Isabel de Valois on a statue of Mary and Gown of Isabel Clara Eugenia, heavily textured gold fabric. Isabel de Valois's gown is made from a rich red fabric heavily encrusted with embroideries of gold and other materials. Isabella Clara's gown appears to be a gold fabric also heavily encrusted with gold embroideries and other precious materials. In the laid out view the shape of the sleeves can be seen. They appear though to have been cut down at the top, possibly to fit the statue better. In fact the small figure seems to be wearing a gown made from the same fabric. The pattern does not match in the front of the child's dress so it does seem likely it was made from the gown rather than specially made as a companion to the gown. There is great use of garments for church vestments, but it seems more common in Spain to use garments to dress figures as well. Another gown was gifted by Isabella Clara Eugenia to the Cathedral in Aachen to dress a life size figure of Mary. The decorative lines certainly are similar to what is seen in portraiture of early 17thC Spanish dress, though the shape and the colour are less so. The dress looks unfitted, perhaps it was meant to be worn under a Ropa as that combination is seen in the 16thC in both Spanish and Italian portraits. http://www.oronoz.com/ http://www.annatextiles.ch/

Young Girl's Gown, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

This child's gown of around 1600 also resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, however I have only seen reference to it in Blanch Payne's History of Costume and Karl Kohler's History of Costume. It is heavily embroidered and the gown is pretty typical of the style worn at this time. The overgown and the undergown combination as worn by Isabella Clara Eugenia is very similar. The cut of the bodice with the deep peplum is rather similar to some male garments in Alcega's pattern book; the ropillo. This is a jerkin or "cassock" with a rather deep skirt rather than tabs. This gown seems to be a "transitional" style before the wide dresses seen in paintings by Velasques. The peplum is a common feature in those gowns. There are a few examples similar to this in artwork of the early 17thC.  In the photo of it being worn by the young girl, please note the wrong support is being used. The dress on the form looks more like the fashions of the early 1600s. Perhaps when it was displayed on the girl the date was thought to be older, perhaps of the mid 17thC with the elliptical hoops skirts.

There is a pattern in Payne's History of Costume of this garment. It is only available in the first edition of the book, which may difficult to find as libraries will replace old books or lost books with the latest editions, rather than try and hunt out the original, which is understandable. The removal of nearly all the patterns in the first edition is a great loss to fashion historians, as of the garments are not described elsewhere and bolster the information still available in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion series.

Kohler's book describes it as the gown of Infanta Isabella of Spain, and pale lilac coloured brocade interwoven with gold thread, with the initial J woven into the material. Consul Lowy, Venice. However close examination of the fabric suggests it is embroidered not woven. The overgown may be woven of course, but as we can't see the fabric of that in much detail this is only a guess on my part.
The pattern of the dress shows that the underdress is laced at the back, which is then hidden by the overgown.
The bodice is made of four shaped panels, the back showing a particularly deep curve in the lower back, the front a rather shallow undulating curve. The skirts of the bodice are cut in four parts, the side seams being forward of the bodice side seams. The back of the body is made of linen.
The sleeves are shaped to the elbow and made of two parts. The upper section of each being plain linen, as they are hidden by the over gown.
The skirt is made of four panels. Each is cut straight on one edge, and curved on the other. The two centre fronts are straight and the sides are curved. The back however has the curved edge at the back, and the straight edge at the side. The side is longer than the side of the fronts so there is a tuck that narrows towards the back. The back panels are made of linen. It is perhaps a mistake of the maker because skirts of this time are usually sewn "bias to bias" at the sides rather than "bias to straight". It does seem strange that the excess was not cut away however so the possibility of another explanation is quite high. The overgown is made up of some complicated pieces. The sleeves being fairly typical half circle Spanish sleeves, and shows that the slit at the front is ever so slightly shaped for treating the cut edge to prevent fraying etc.
The very narrow front flares towards the hem with a tab shaped extension at the body. This fits into a curved notch at the body of the back piece which also widens towards the hem. The shoulders of the back piece are cut straight across and the shoulders of the front are more sloping than those of the bodice to make up for the straight cut of the back. There is a wide single piece for the wings at each armscye.
Note there is no tuck or seam at the front of the gown (there is a fold, possibly from storage?) but nothing indicated on the patterns, except the tuck in the side seam of the back skirt panels. This is also the case with the two gowns in the Monastery above.
This does however offer a clue about the gowns that do have a tuck in the skirt fronts, in that tucks were used on skirts.

Please compare with the Bohemian ensemble below.

Cut Velvet Jerkin.

This jerkin resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is now a faded brown, but was initially black cut velvet. The jerkin laces up the back, and with the very flat front and other shaping that is reminiscent of patterns in Alcega's tailor's book, it seems likely this was a woman's garment. There is a pattern of this garment in Blanche Payne's History of fashion, the first edition only. I used this pattern for my Elizabeth de Valois gown. http://www.metmuseum.org/

Silk brocade Jerkin.

"Jubón femenino de seda con bastas flotantes por urdimbre de color gris que dibujan una decoración en zig-zag y roleos." Woman's jerkin of silk with coarse floating warp of gray that creates decoration in zigzags and scrolls/circles(?) This jerkin (jubon) is of the early part of the 17thC and shows the more exaggerated form seen in portraits of this time. The tabs are more heavily decorated though usually the body is as well with multiple lines of braiding/tape as seen in the tabs here. The skirt is usually not so heavily trimmed but has matching guards at the hem and down the front of the skirt. http://museodeltraje.mcu.es/

Camisa

"The Play of Light exhibition at the Musee de la Mode et du Textile: 17th & 18th Century Clothing & Textiles" Paris 2001. There is a book of the Exhibition, Jouer la lumière : exposition, Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Paris, janvier 2001 à janvier 2002 (Broché) which may impart more information about this piece. http://www.costumes.org

EXTANT WOMEN'S GOWNS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

Saya y Ropa.

Complete example of the type of ensemble worn in Spain and countries under its particular influence in fashion. This set of garments is worn in the Italian states also. This gown was worn in Bohemia. This has fast become one of my favourite styles of dress and is very similar to the little girl's dress at the Metropolitan Museum of Art above. This has been particularly well preserved and even beyond that incredibly well presented. The ropa is displayed separately on an unobtrusive substitute for the undergown. http://www.upm.cz/

Young girl's gown of a Spanish style.

Information on this dress (though the image is broken) can be found here. From the excavation of the Sárospatak Castle church, late 16th century. http://www.hnm.hu/

Ropa.

Overgown of the very late 16thC or early 17thC made in Venice. If the links do not work, please try a search for soie (textile) on their search page. http://www.photo.rmn.fr/

Dress of Dorothea Sabine von Neuburg (+1598)

This gown is extensively discussed in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion which includes a scaled pattern taken from the gown itself. The gown is of a densely woven greenish brown velvet with a green silk petticoat. The dress currently resides in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, München (Munich). http://www.marquise.de

Green Watered Silk Dress, Late 16thC.

This dress appears in Karl Kohler's work History of Costume. Most English speakers who study costume are familiar only with the English translation, which apparently is also a condensed version. So it becomes hard to find specific references and thus to find more information about some artworks. This gown is one of those. This dress may be French actually as it compares well to a portrait that may be Isabel de Valois possibly from her time in France, however it is included here for completeness.

Bodice of several sections, three in the back, six at the front. 40cm long in front, 36cm long at CB. Waist, 71cm chest 102cm (possibly including shoulders as the measurement is given as "upper width.") The bodice may have been enlarged at a later date, possibly for fancy dress in the 19thC?
Neckband 5.5cm wide and covered in embroidery.
Green taffeta sleeves covered with 7 strips of gold braid 4.5cm wide 2-4 rows of gold braid sewn between each. The shoulders have a 14cm wide epaulette (padded).
Waist, neckband, wrists and epaulettes all have tabs edged with gold braid.

The skirt is made of 6 gores, the hem of which is 270cm, the waist 185cm. The embroidery of the skirt is 9cm around the hem, the corner of the skirt fronts is 19cm wide 28cm tall and narrows towards the waist. Two narrow gold cords run around the hem and up the fronts of the skirt.

Gold cord buttons (probably wooden cores covered with gold cord) go up the front of the skirt (16) the front of the bodice (5) and either side front (5 each side.) Looking at the gown, it would appear there are some buttons missing, perhaps three from the centre front bodice and one or two from the skirt.
Diringer, Munich.
There does not appear to be a pattern taken of this garment though the above descriptions and measurements in Kohler's book suggest it was studied.



EXTANT SPANISH MEN'S GARMENTS

Doublet and Breeches.

In the LACMA collections is this red velvet doublet and breeches ensemble. These differ from what the jerkins/doublets of women by having points tied at the waist to hold the breeches up. These can be see near the tabs at the waist as loops of ribbon. http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/

Jerkin.

Unfortunately I have no information on this jerkin, the image was sent to me. Again we can see that it is for a man because of the points at the waist.

Man's cassock and hose.

This suit, dated in 1655, has a peculiar history. In 1654 Swedish Count Nils Nilsson Brahe was named ambassador extraordinaire to notify to the kings of Spain and Portugal the abdication of queen Cristina of Sweden and the ascent to the throne of Karel Gustav X. The ambassador arrived at Madrid in January of 1655 and, following etiquette he demanded to appear in fashion before the king dressed in the mode the country, he ordered a Spanish suit that he took back with him when he returned to Sweden. This suit is composed of a jubón, ropilla and calzón in black velvet. A set of collar and cuffs complete the outfit. Partially translated with bablefish. http://museodeltraje.mcu.es

A mans embroidered cloak.

Patterns for men's cloaks in Alcega et al are invariably semi circular in cut and most are cut from straight panels of fabric joined along the salvages. However there is evidence of cloaks being cut in segments as they are pieced from pre-existing garments (eg a skirt.) The pattern embroidered here seems to mimic a cloak cut from pieces that radiate from the neck.

A man's purse.

Leather and metal, c 1580. Purses with a metal frame are quite common by this time at least in the German states. http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/

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