Not my period at all. However, could it simply be that the overdress at the hem is slightly narrower than the underdress at the hem? That would happen every once in a while and could look like a flounce.
Just thinking out loud... LynnD On 12/25/06, Robin Netherton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Mon, 25 Dec 2006, MaggiRos wrote: > I've been meaning to ask about something like this for a little while. > In The Medieval Tailor's Assistant page 85, they give two line > drawings showing a "hem flounce". They do not show the original > picture this is taken from. Although they look familiar, I can't find > them in anything I have. (I just picked it up recently, and missed any > discussion there may have been earlier) > > I can't recall ever seeing such a flounce on anything, but then it's > not really my period. The authors seem to suggest all > undergowns/kirtles in the mid-15th century had this ruffle. NOw it's a > narrow band, not a wide one, but still... What's the story? All? By no means. I just looked through several *hundred* 15th c. images of secular women, various class levels, and found four, maybe five that had a small band at the bottom that might have been a flounce (maybe -- in some cases could have been a fur band). Most of the examples I found were in "Medieval Woman" products (calendars, book of days, address book, etc.). Those products draw a lot on manuscripts like Boccacio's "Cleres et Nobles Femmes" and Pisan's "Cite des Dames" as well as Franco-Flemish romances and Franco-Italian herbals. If you have any, leaf through and you'll probably eventually find a hem band. What it is, well, anyone's guess. It does look like a little ruffle, but that doesn't mean it was constructed as a ruffle in the modern sense, as several people have now pointed out. So they're out there, but not universal by any means. They also seem to be limited to underdresses (worn alone or under a formal overgown), from what I can tell. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
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