Costume Bibliography for the Renaissance and Reformation, 1450-1700

copyright 1997 by Historical Novelists Center

 

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Birbari, Elizabeth

Dress in Italian Painting
J. Murray, London, 1975; 114 pgs, 36 pages of plates, bibliographic reference, index

Boucher, Francois

Twenty Thousand Years of Fashion; the History of Costume and Personal Adornment ****
Harry N. Abrams, 1966; 440 pg, index, glossary
Very strong in this period, covering the fringes of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, not just England, France, Italy and Spain. Very good for the development of the farthingale, showing early Spanish examples of what was to become the dominating "Spanish fashion." T1

Herald, Jacqueline

Renaissance Dress in Italy 1400-1500
Bell & Hyman, London; Humanities Press, Atlantic Highlands, NJ, 1981; 256 pgs, bibliography, index

Lecroix, Paul

Manners, Customs and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period *****!
D. Appleton, NY; 1874; "illustrated with 15 chromolithographic prints by F. Kellerhoven and upwards of 400 engravings on wood."
While we wait for Dover to come out with a reprint, this is worth the trouble to order in on ILL. Classic Victorian concepts of the period, which of course need adjustment, but details you won't find elsewhere. T2

Vecellio, Cesare

Pattern Book of Renaissance Lace ****
No-one absolutely needs to go into the details of lace patterns, unless your protagonist is a lace-maker. If so, here's an excellent period book. T3

Vecellio's Renaissance Costume Book: All 500 Woodcut Illustrations from the Famous Sixteenth-Century Compendium of World Costume *****!orig. Habiti antichi et moderni de tutto il mondo
1598; now from Dover Publications, NY, 1977 for new English captions; 156 pg
For the costume of all classes in Europe and around the Mediterranean, you cannot ask for better. Once the plates move into the newly contacted continents of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, things get pretty imaginative; but it does tell you what Europeans thought was out there. T2

Wiedlitz, Christoph

Authentic Everyday Dress of the Renaissance: All 154 Plates from the "Trachtenbuch" *****!orig. Trachtenbuch des Christoph Weidlitz von seinen Reisen nach Spanien (1529) und den Neiderlanden (1531)
Dover Publications, NY, 1994; bibliographic reference
A great period record of northern Europe, with the English text from the trilingual edition by De Gruyte (Berlin, 1927).

the Countess of Wilton

The Book of Costume or Annals of Fashion, by a Lady of Rank ****
1812; 500 pg
While this details the costume of England and France from as far back as research was then available, it is invaluable in this period for her study of the Field of Cloth of Gold. Gives folk and peasant costume as known to travellers for all European countries, the Near East, and Asia. T3

Winter & Schulz

Elizabethan Costuming ***
A how-to book for simpler forms of garments in England, from 1550 to 1580. However, it includes all classes. T2


Websites

Elizabethan Color Names ****

http://www.geocities.com/FashionAvenue/1899/

Penny E. Dunlap Ladnier is working on a paper or book called *Color Names Through the Centuries,* which eventually will let costumers know what hue of cloth or ribbon to use for Old Medley or Sad New Colour. Some, like Bristol red, incarnation, goose-turd green, or puke, are known. But as a writer rather than a costumer, you can sling the others around for pure panache and atmosphere. T3


To Renaissance Fabric Colors

To Central Renaissance & Reformation Bibliography

To British Isles Renaissance & Reformation Bibliography

To Seafaring and Warfare Bibliography for this period

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