On Wed, 12 Apr 2006, Sharon at Collierfam.com wrote: > Any possibility that the line of trim is what we would call a > waistband, attached to the vertical pleated skirt, the whole worn over > the horizontally pleated underdress?
One of the more believable theories I've heard for this is that the line of trim (which is indeed distinct from the double-looped belt, and is visible on several statues that I know of) is the waistband of a decorative apron, and everything visible below that line is the apron itself, forming a layer that goes over the full dress layer. That at least would give us another alternative to the options of "waistband seam" and "corselet." Me, I frankly think the "bliaut problem" (meaning specifically how to interpret the lines in the statuary in terms of specific garments and construction) is fundamentally unsolvable given the present body of data. People can argue about this till the cows come home, and there is still no theory I've heard yet that's anything better than speculation and is consistent with what we know of garments at this time from other media and documents. It's also important to recognize that the Chartres-style statues are not a good set of sources to base any construction theories on. They're all from a very small time/place slice, in a single medium. The mysterious lines do not seem to occur in any other medium or locale at this time (at least that I know of -- I'd be glad to see examples.) Plus, as far as I know, every one of them is of an allegorical or historical figure. This raises the very real possibility that what we are looking at is not an attempt to reproduce real garments as worn by real women, but might be simply a style for artistic representation unique to sculptors from a single artistic school in this small part of France. When we see the same details popping up in other media or over a broader area, then I'll be more willing to speculate. But as it stands, I'm staying out of it; the chances are far too good that this is all a blind alley for costume evidence. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
