An Italien Courtesean Gown

The design sketch.

Veronese's Bella Nani - one of my fav venetian gowns!

Another veronese - Unknown Lady, somewhere in the 1555-1565 range.

A fragment of a fresco by Veronese, around 1561.

The fabric, showing both the right side and the reverse.

A closeup of the right side of the fabric. Ain't that grand?

I'm stressed about the blue and grey middle class dress. I'm so stressed I can't finish it. I can't even look at it. I folded it up and put it on top of a shelf I can't reach without a chair. I don't even know why it's bothering me that much. And I have two court costumes to do. Um, start. That's a fair amount of sewing anxiety. So what am I going to do about that? Start a completely unrelated project. Duh. (What, you thought I was going to work on the stuff I am stressed about finishing in time? Don't be silly.)

The plan is to make a courtesean dress. I'm hoping for something reasonably accurate for a wealthy italien woman. What's the difference in dress between a courtesean and an, erm, unemployed wealthy italien woman? Hell if I know. Frankly, there doesn't seem to be much of a consensus. I've done some reading (a book called "The Art of the Courtesean" or something like that; I think it's still in my living room) that tells me that courtesean's dressed to look better than every other woman in the room, set styles, follow the prevailing styles, outshine each other, and make the other girls look overdone and gaudy. A room full of them must be just like watching the Oscars. I've read people on line who said that they always dressed *exactly* like the more respectable wealthy women of their area. I've read other people who said that they wore slightly less than the more respectable women, and wore it, erm, *lower*. Now, I have very little personal experience as an ingenue (or however that's spelled), but I do know that, generally, it's not about what you wear. It's about how you wear it. Jeans and a white T-shirt on one woman look completely innocent and prim, on another look practical, and on a third they look like an advertisement ("two for one special", generally).

That said, I'm just making a dress. I'm making the dress I want to make, and I'll let the jury decide if it's "courtesean appropriate" or not. (And if the jury decides incorrectly, I'll ignore them. ;) ) I have the distinct advantage of being able to pick the time and place, more or less, and I'm going with Venetian, 1560s or 70s. Why? Cause there's just something particularly courtesean like (or, at least, suggestive) about that "open to the navel" bodice look. I mean, you can't go wrong with that, really. I haven't the first clue how they are supposed to be made. There's all sorts of controversy and brouhaha about the underthings for period italien garb. At the rist of displaying an awful attitude, this is my stress relief project, and I will sew it as I see fit. To whit, I'll be making a side opening petticoat bodies/petticoat with a fully corded lining to the bodies, a false chemise front to fill the opening in the front of the over-bodice, and an over-bodice/skirts. I decided to use a velvet in a coffee color (which should match my skin when I have a bit more of a tan) for the petticoat bodies. Behind the false chemise front, that should give a satisfactory "not there" look. The over gown will be yellow, not as a reference to period laws that required prostitutes to wear yellow (that was veils, anyway), but because I found a truly period yellow and silver brocade that happens to involve a yellow I can actually wear. (That's fairly unusual.)