A headband for my 14th century Italian Cocharelli outfit

 Like any normal person I had started on/prepared for two hand sewing projects for my New Years Eve celebration.

The first was this headband made from a piece of vintage metallic trim, faux peaels and glass beads, and thrifted vintage grosgrain ribbon on the inside.

This is how it is supposed to look:

I realised when I was going to take the photo that the braids should have been made in a way that covers the ears. But by hten I wasn't interested in re-doing my braids just for a photo. For the next event, well, that is different.

As a very 1980s barbarian princess look.

And yes, I started on the sleeves too, after all: we had the whole "Chicago" and "Gentlemen prefer blondes" to watch through before the clock struck twelve.

Happy New Year everone! May it be better than the last one.

A striped wool cotte

 As mentioned in my previous post I am making a wool outfit based on the obnoxiously striped ensembles in the Cocharelli treatise on vices.

I was initially planning to make both the cotte; the undertunic, with vertical stripes. But I changed my mind because horisontal stripes are much more common in the 13th and 14th centuries, which would make it much more versatile, since I could wear it on its own. And looking at the image source I noticed that the only thing you can see of the undergown (at least when not moving, since it's split at the sides, front and back) is the sleeves. I might regret this later, but I don't think so. 

And now I've got a new, pretty dress for the Medieval week on Gotland, which starts this Saturday. This is my first visit since 2016, where I went for three days and stayed with my friend Renike, who lives there. This year I am going for a whole week, and staying in a hostel with my friend Sara,

I will make a proper page for the outfit when the whole is finished later this autumn. I will even have fixed my hair for photos then ;) Though it isn't that uncommon to see women with loose hair udner veils in the 1330s.

Another Cocharelli inspired insanity

 This a leaf from the Cocharelli treaties of Vices, an illumination from  1330-1340 Genoa, which has brought me inspiration at least since 2018. It is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art.

In fact, I have written more than a couple of blog posts about it, you find them through the tag cocharelli project. I have also made two outfits inspired by the image, and I want to make them all.

Striped brocade outfit

Post about the blue outfit.

In that post, from 2022,  I stated that the white outfit was next on my list. Unless I found the perfect brocades.

Well, I haven't found it, and I haven't solved the problem of the bleeding gold trim (and I might have used up the cotton muslin that I had in mind when I wrote that). So I am going a little sideways, by making a dress more inspired, than a reproduction. It is also from a thin wool, whch suits the Swedish climate well.

But the stripes are obnoxious enough.

I will, of course, start with the cotte, which won't have the seam over the bust.

The Cocharelli project

 Since a couple of years I have realized that I am not satisfied with making one dress inspired by this wonderful 1330s illumination from Genoa, now at Cleveland Museum of Art - I want to make them all!

Finding striped brocade is very, very hard, so for a first attempt at the red and gold outfit in the bottom centre, I had to settle for much less bold colours. 

More about that outfit here.

But I have now also made the blue, more normal, blue outfit. It is made from blue silk, unlined cotte, and the surcoat lined with silver grey silk. of course, after buying all that silk to line the dress, and lining it, I realized that the blue gown actually isn't lined. Typical North European mistake. Because it looks like dress north of the Alps, I assumed that it would be lined. Well, it will be warmer, which can be nice.

Next on my list is the white outfit. I will probably use fine cotton, which was a known luxury fabric imported from the Muslim East (unlike half cottons or coarser Italian cottons). I also have lot of gold trim to use. However,  this trim bleeds when wet, and a white gown will need to be frequently laundered. I will have to think about that.

A page for my insane Italian 1330s outfit

Yes indeed: Documentation and info on construction, plus many images - over here!

This is how happy you look...

...when you have finished your ca. 1330 Italian outfit.

Now to the task of writing a page about it, but that will have to wait, I have real life work to do, and I still have a bad cold.

I've made the first item in my 1330s outfit from Genoa

So, in March I wrote about this illustration from the Cocharelli Treatise on the Vices.

If you follow the link above you will find some reasoning about the clothes depicted, and further links to other posts that I have written about the weird high waisted gowns of late 13th-early 14th century Italy.

Surprising no-one I decided for an insane striped version, though I plan to make the white version too later, from white cotton muslin I think.

I had to look around for a while to find striped brocade, because I didn't feel much like piecing together two brocades to make stripes. To my great joy I found it at Vedah Designs on Etsy, and promptly bought all of it :) I also got lining tehre, because you don't want to wear unlined brocade with those floating metal threads on the back of the fabric.

The lining is a shot silk mix in bright pink and saffron yellow.

And this is the tunic. 

There is gold trim around the neck, wrists and armscyes, and along the seam on the back of the sleeve.

I have cut out the pieces for the overgown, but haven't started on the sewing yet.

My next (?) project

This may not be my next project, since there's always the possibility that I'll make something quickly for Double Wars for instance. But it is the project that inspires me and fuels my clothing research right now.

This is a leaf from a treatise on vices, owned/comissioned by the Cocharelli family in Genoa c. 1330-1340. This particular leaf is at the Cleveland Museum of Art (link to the manuscript leaf and a high resolution view of the illustration above). A few other pages have been preserved and most of them are at the British Library (link).

The motif is queen Accidia, personifying Melancholy, who can't even be enthusiastic over board games :)
The text at the Cleveleand museum of Art stresses Islamic influences in the textiles, and in the jeweled headdresses of all women except Accidia. They do not mention the dress of the women as specifically ifluenced by Islamic culture, which is wise, since both the type of garments worn together and the way thatthey are decorated are found in many images from late 13th to mid- 14th century Italy.

I have already written about Italian gowns with high waists, belted and with seams (as well as making one of silk and one of cotton).
Blog post 1.
Blog post 2.
Silk gown
Cotton gown

So high waist seams are definitely something seen in Italy at this time.

The placement on the trim of the two non-striped highwaisted gowns is also rather common, here are just a few examples:

The Tolentino basilica

The white gown is also split down in front, as the gowns in the Cocharelli treatise.

While the woman to the right below has a gown that is split at the sides.

I have (of course) also written a blog post about split overgowns in the late 13th- early 14th century, it's here.

The fresco San Zeno in Verona which was the inspiration for my teal silk gown, also has decorations which are similar to the ones in the illustration at the top of this post. And, of course, the high waist seam.

Ambrogio Lorenzettis painting of the bad and good judgement shows a woman in a dress with the same trim placement as on the Cocharelli treatise, almost like a yoke.

St.Ursula, from Chiesa di St. Orsola in i Vigo de Cadore in the Veneto.

As for overgowns split both at the sides and in front (and possibly in the back), as the woman in the mi-parti outfit has, there are examples of this too, like this: Giovanni Baronzio 1325-1350, The Life of St. Columba

As for the headdresses being Islamic inspired I don't know enough about Islamic dress to say anything about it, but one can note that wearing your coronet/crown tilted back is not that uncommon in 14th century Italian art.The added jeweled band seems a little odd though.

This of course needs to be examined further.

But if anything it is queen Accidia that looks... - almost French, rather than Italian.

I haven't yet made up my mind which of the versions that I want to make. The mi-parti one is cool, the white unusual, but the striped ones are more insane, and I tend to go for that.