Wow, Thank you all for the great responses! > That's her hair sticking out like a tassle. The "hair style" is very clear now - and a little odd. (but I might add, the recent trend of hairstyles that are in a similar vein - i.e. a twist in a large clip with the ends fanned up instead of tucked under - aren't so new after all are they?) >The "maid" in the final tapestry "A Mon Seul Desire" shows the hair >very clearly being wrapped around the head and twisted up into a >tuft. You can see this by going to the Tracey Chevalier site as >recommended by Michaela and clicking on the close up feature. Thank you for all the links, and I agree that the images on the Tracey Chevalier site are the clearest. The reproduction site was one of the first ones I came across that actually gave bigger images. >Yes, they're more fantasy than anything else, but for a wedding dress who >cares? They would all be lovely. I am not familiar with the belgian versions >seen on this site, but there are fine books available of the French >tapestries. I am sort of feeling the same way, but I am torn between wanting something I can use later for SCA events, and having something as a keepsake. However - the practical side of me is saying why spend all that time, energy and money on something I am only going to wear once? Why not wear it again? Annette M
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 16:59:20 -0400 From: Gail & Scott Finke Subject: [h-cost] Re: unicorn tapestries Yes, they're more fantasy than anything else, but for a wedding dress who cares? They would all be lovely. I am not familiar with the belgian versions seen on this site, but there are fine books available of the French tapestries. That's her hair sticking out like a tassle. If I were making this (and there's one version on the French tapestries that I think is charming, bizarre though it is), I would use false hair the same color as my own. To me, it looks like false hair wrapped with ribbons and sort of draped around the had or headcovering or whatever you call it. There doesn't seem to be any attempt to make it look like her real hair -- there's no where for it to have come from! I made a sort of hat inspired by a different fantasy medieval artwork. I don't remember the original (gasp!) but it looked just like a long, long hank of fake hair wrapped with ribbons and tied around the head like a ribbon, with the two long ends making a big tail. So that's what I did. It looked just like the original, but I used really cheap hair and it drove me nuts. Little pieces kept getting out, they were like spun plastic and stuck everywhere. So if you do use hair, spend a few bucks on it! Gail Finke ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 17:01:33 -0500 (CDT) From: Robin Netherton Subject: Re: [h-cost] Re: unicorn tapestries In particular, the Cluny Museum sells a catalog about them, with large fold-out color images and lots of close-ups. It comes in an English version, too. My copy is La Dame a la Licorne, by Alain Erlande-Brandenburg (Paris: Editions de la Reunion des Musees Nationaux, 1979), ISBN 2711801187. I have used mine so much that the binding is in pieces. > That's her hair sticking out like a tassle..... I've made it work both on me (with my own hair) and on a friend (with a long blonde wig). Separate the hair into two halves down the back. Cross the two tails, and wrap each with ribbon while pulling it around and up the opposite sides of the head. Where they meet, use the ribbon to tie them together and then wrap them into a single tassel. If you do this over a draped velvet headdress such as is shown, you can make it sit so that it sticks up and the loose ends of hair at the top spout like a fountain -- really bizarre but just like the picture. This was part of the show-and-tell for a dress and textiles session that covered pavilions and the Unicorn Tapestry costumes, at the Medieval Congress in 1990....... --Robin ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 00:31:46 +1200 From: "michaela" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [h-cost] Late 15th Century ornamentation and other questions. > 1. What on earth is on her head? She's got lappets worn without a hood/hennin etc. I've done the hairstyle myself: http://costumes.glittersweet.com/sca/yellowflemish.htm I found ythe style in a few other examples of allegory (one a supposedly English illumination, one German woodcut and another set of tapestries.).... I chose to plait my hair as it is very long and would have hung down over my face like a pony tail if I had've done a simple wrapping on my hair;) My hair was crimped (plaits over night to give the hair body once brushed) loosely plaited (to make the plaits appear as large as possible) then crossed at the back (again to take up as much length as possible) tied at the end and then pinned to the top of my head. > 3. Can these be considered a reliable source or are they more the fanciful creations of the tapestries' designer? I would tend to say the designers used what they saw around them in fanciful ways. Take the buttons on the sides of the skirt of the maid in "smell." I haven't seen buttons at the sides anywhere else and when I saw buttons in a few other tapestries I began to think they were placed there purely by imagination. But i have since seen a portrait of a donor with a gown that buttons up the front from the 1490s. So while I wouldn't dismiss all elements as pure fancy, I would hunt to see if I had seen them used in depicting real people, and how they were used in that setting. I did find a few images of the real tapesties but I can't find them easily again. http://gallery.tc.dk/paris2002_sourthoftheseine?page=4 The problem with reproductions is they often leave out or put in detail that wasn't in the original. http://www.tchevalier.com/unicorn/tapestries/index.html Funnily enough Tracey Chevalier's site has the best images I was able to find in a reasonable amount of time. The detail in the items being looked at is seen at a nice size in the enlargements. I now have a real appreciation of the lady in the tapestry depicting Taste. I now feel the need to make her entire ensemble for a masquerade..... michaela de bruce http://glittersweet.com --------------------------------- Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
