Monday, February 13, 2012

Reformation Gown

So my (Lutheran) university's address is 1530, which they did on purpose because of the Augustana/Confession of Augsburg happening in that year.

So, being the ultimate nerd that I am, I decided to make a 1530 Reformation Gown (or thereabouts).

I went home and did a little research, and decided to wrangle something up that was right around the Edict of Worms in 1521 until the completion of the Luther Bible in 1534. The Augsburg Confession (1530), mainly. So, 1520s/30s.

As far as I can tell (I know a more about the eras before and after haha), the most support a gown of the early 16th c. would have would be a boned bodice, not stays, to still allow the fashionable gothic slouch. Of course we're talking about Germany, and Germany always seems to like to do its own thing with fashion, so I had to limit my searches mostly to German contemporary portraits by Cranach and Holbein (not the English portraits), etc.

Inspiration:

I have ALWAYS wanted that gown on the very left (c. 1537).


(1530s).


("Woman of Basel" [1520], Holbein) This will probably be the gown I really base it off.


I want to do a velvet overgown and linen underskirt, but I'm debating between blackworked trim (below with detail) and fabric trim.

("The Wife of Mayor Meyer" [1526], Holbein)


This is Luther's wife, Katharina "Katie" von Bora. She was a pretty cool gal. The lace-up front look seems to be a very popular one at the time, and as far as I can tell from other paintings, it's actually a separate over jacket (the gown, you can see, is underneath) a lot of the time, with some being just a false undergown tacked on kind of like a stomacher. I was initially thinking that I'd just do the Holbein gown, but I think I'd also like to do this purely because it's what most of the people at my (Lutheran) university will be familiar with.


The most popular tones seem to be browns and oranges, but I don't know. I kind of like the idea of a green. I'll decide later. :)

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