Things to make one ponder

1) Hasting's blog.

I was reading her post about the Poste she made for the Artemesian Costuming Challenge and I noticed that the bodice of the gown in one of her references


















Portrait of a Woman by Paolo Zacchia the Elder

looks a whole lot like like the bodices I 'bone' with hemp cord.

So far as I know, no one has found any definitive evidence that bodices were corded to provide support in period but this picture has me going hmm...

You know, what I need is a research minion!

Just an hour to go....

'Till the start of the over and above challenge!

I'm gonna go to bed now, but it's nice to know I (almost) could start...if only anticipation hadn't made me so sleepy...

I wish everyone good luck on your projects!

Oh my!

The hair ornament. The lace. I may not be able to resist this one.














Portrait of Eleonora Ganzaga
Pourbus Frans il Giovane, 1602-1603
Polo Museale, Florentino, Palatina Inventory Item #391

Wow.

Who cares if it's a wee bit post period for the SCA?!?

I like new pages.

I've finally gotten a clue about just how helpful it could be to use the additional pages in this blog as a place to store my favorite images for projects and ponderings.

One of my upcoming projects (2012 if I can!) is to make myself a pair of great tall venetian shoes...but how tall? And how does the added stature change the balance of an outfit?

Latey I've been finding pictures of Ladies in their chopines so I'm gathering them together here.

Another Idea for the Over and Above Mini-Challenge

Portrait of a Woman
Unknown Tuscan Artist, 1590-1610
Uffuzi, Inventory of 1890, Item #2300

It's really too bad that I don't need another heavy outer layer, at least not right now. There are so many interesting possibilities!

Maybe I'll have to upcycle my winter coat in the spring...

Cinderella = Gypsy?

Zingarella, Boccaccio Boccaccino, 1504-1505
Uffuzi Gallery, Florence
Inventory of 1890 item number 8539


Apparently Zingarella is an Italian word for Gypsy. This leaves me wondering about the connection between Zingarella and Cinderella. Was she actually a Gypsy? Were her step-family merely trying to insult her...perhaps for being poor and dirty (a conventional prejudice about gypsies)?

If Cinderella were an abusive nickname what was her birth name? And why didn't she use it later in life? Or did she, and perhaps that's why we think of Cinderella as a myth?

I am at home sick today and it's clearly leaving me too much time to think.

Like, what is the connection between brazziarie (sp?)--the Italian name for partlet--and brasserie/bra. I've read in numerous books that 'the origin of the name bra is unknown' but the connection seems pretty plausible/obvious to me!

The erie absense of black folks

I found another Portrait of Maria Salviati
the one in the frame is by Jacopo Carucci after Pontormo, 1543-1545
Inventory Number 3565 from the 1890 inventory of the Uffizi collection.

Looking at the second painting I can't help wondering...is there another little bi-racial girl hidden under all that black paint?