After a
century of rigidity and repression, the clothing of the early Baroque,
mirroring the new philosophical and artistic outlook, used relaxed fabrics
that flowed and expanded outward from the body. Compare, for example, the
qualities of dress in the Evening Ball for the Wedding of the Duc de
joyeuse, dated about 1581, with those in the famous The Garden of Love by
Rubens, dated about 1632. It is as if the ruffs had suddenly melted into
soft lace collars and the boning, padding, and forcing of the body had
relaxed into an easy expansion of the clothing away from the contours of
the body. The tortured, excessively decorated fabric surfaces have been
replaced by an interest in the natural character of the fabric itself.
Like architecture, sculpture, and painting in the Baroque era, the
costumes moved, expanded, and spread out into space to create a sense of
size and grandeur. The men's hats, in particular, had bigger brims than
ever before and were worn casually on one side of the head. Women's skirts
blossomed out from the body without the inhibiting control of braid and
jewelry, and the natural fabric surfaces shimmered and moved with a new
sense of freedom.
Rubens' The Garden of Love, an imaginative painting rather than an exact
rendering of fashion, gives us the mood and feeling of the new style, but
not the facts and details. However, a look at Abraham Bosse's print The
Costume Ball gives an excellent example of the overall fashion silhouettes
of this early Baroque dress as well as information on individual
variations.
...
Summary
This was a period of loosening tension and a return to an admiration of
the natural human form expanding outward through clothing into surrounding
space. It was a period of theatricality, richness, and grandeur without
the inhibitions and restraints applied during the Mannerist Renaissance.
The ideal for women during the height of this period was a fullness and
ripeness in form and clothing that underlined the ideal of expansion into
space. For men the ideal was a swaggering, cavalier manner in clothes that
were relatively full and loose, worn with a casual asymmetry in boot tops,
hat angles, and cloak drapings.
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