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The Realm of Venus
Presents...
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 Showcasing: Sebastiano
da Siena Costumer and SCA Member A Sienese
outfit in the Style of the 1460s - 1480s |
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he
talian 
howcase
 Piero dell Francesca: Battle between Heraclius and Choesroes 1452-66 - this one clearly shows how the back of the farsetto is constructed.  Piero dell Francesca: Torture of the Jew 1447-1451 - showing both the farsetto and cioppa. |
Sahrye Says... Several years ago Sebastiano and I had the opportunity to go to Siena for the Palio and this inspired the creation of some Sienese garb for the SCA. The basics of Sienese clothing and Florentine clothing of this time period would have been very similar. From Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families Fortunes and Fine Clothing by Carole Collier Frick it seems as though the Sienese were actually considered somewhat foppish, at least in comparison to the more somberly dressed male Florentine. Most Florentine men of wealth seem to dress for their portraits in red and black (very expensive colors), although in frescos we see many other colors in daily life, including blues, yellows and greens. Wools and silks are the fabrics of choice as outer/fashion fabrics in Central Italy during the Renaissance, with white linen being used for undergarments. This gentleman's garb is of the mid-late 15th century from around Florence and Siena. Components are a shirt, brais, full hose with codpiece (calze), doublet (farsetto), overgown (cioppa) and a hat. The major sources I used to make the calze, farsetto and cioppa are The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant by Sarah Thursfield, this website by Liz Jones, Medieval Military Costume, by Gerry Embleton and The Medieval Soldier by Gerry Embleton and John Howe |
| Construction
The farsetto and cioppa are made of wool with a linen/cotton lining. The farsetto is interlined in canvas and the cioppa is edged with faux fur to simulate the fur lining that would have been found on some of these garments. One of the most difficult parts was getting the pleats in the cioppa to look like the rounded and very regular pleats that appear in paintings and frescos. I ended up sewing a belt at waist level to the inside of the garment to secure these pleats. The absolute most difficult item was the calze. I decided to make full hose, which have the legs joined and a codpiece and are seen in the later part of the 15th century. These calze are made of wool gabardine cut on the bias and required numerous mock-ups and fittings to get a good end result. Sebastiano would like to point out that it was all worth it in the end to make him happy. |
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References
Embleton, Gerry. Medieval Military Costume Recreated in Colour Photographs. The Crowood Press: Wiltshire. 2000
Embleton, Gerry and John Howe. The Medieval Soldier: 15th century campaign life recreated in Colour Photographs. Windrow & Greene: London. 1994
Frick, Carole Collier. Dressing Renaissance Florence: Families, Fortunes and Fine Clothes. Johns Hopkins University Press 2002
Jones, Liz. http://home.earthlink.net/~lizjones429/farsetto.html
Thursfield, Sarah. The Medieval Tailor's Assistant: Making Common Garments 1200-1500. Costume and Fashion Press: Hollywood, CA. 2001
The dress diary for
this outfit can be found here.
If you would like to contact Sahrye you can contact her at sahryec
(at) hotmail.com
Would you like to be Showcased? E-mail me!
