The Costume Maker's Companion

Diane Favell

• Publisher: Crowood
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781785007200
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Darstellende Kunst

Authentic historical costume is essential for any performance, to instantly communicate a period, a social standing, an occupation or an identity. The responsibility of this representation lies with the costume maker, in their knowledge of the design and their accuracy of construction. The Costume Maker's Companion serves as an aide memoire, to novice and experienced makers alike, covering the common garments of the Medieval, Tudor, Jacobean, Restoration, Regency and Victorian eras of British history. Learn the key styles and fashions of each period before step-by-step tutorials and detailed orders of work illustrate the costume construction process for eight popular garments, from the designer's drawing through to the finished piece. This book also covers working with a costume designer; key processes and equipment; flat pattern manipulations; cutting a pattern on the stand; taking a pattern from an existing garment; costume details, including goldwork and flounces and finally, making accessories, including gauntlets, corsets and ruffs. Logically divided by historical period and supported by over 400 photographs, sketches and diagrams, this book will develop the confidence of any costume maker to take on new projects and expand their knowledge.

PART I:
THE HISTORY OF COSTUME

This section gives a brief tour of the history of costume. My aim is to give a fairly detailed description of the costume fashions from medieval to Victorian times. I have purposefully concentrated on the main garment pieces, leaving out some of the accessories, also hair and shoes, in order to give a clear aide memoire to the different styles of each period. I have also included some suggestions of the main colours used in each period. We shall investigate the costumes themselves more in the following two sections of the book, but I shall endeavour to show the seam lines, and give tips that could help in making these garments look authentic, as well as strong and practical, for theatre, television and film use.

The progression of fashion has always fascinated me. When researching for costume making, we often take snapshots of various periods and therefore see them as very different and unconnected, when in reality there was always a progression of the various parts of the garment from one period to another. The silhouette might stay the same, but the sleeves might have larger cuffs, or the neckline might fall, or all these might stay the same, but the hemline be raised or lowered, or maybe it’s just the colours or fabrics that change.

Of course there are always exceptions to fashion progression. This usually happens after a war or political upheaval, when the fashion changes suddenly; notably this occurred after the English civil war, resulting in the Commonwealth being formed in 1649, and in the following century, after the French Revolution. Both were the result of an uprising by the people who were revolting against the excesses of the monarchy of the time.

Costume can be used to identify a character, their occupation, their wealth or their identity or self-expression. During both medieval and Elizabethan times sumptuary laws were passed that restricted what people from different classes or occupations were entitled to wear. This included colours, fabrics, and in some cases, the style of the garments. Other garments, or parts of garments that identified a character, would also have a practical use – for example, the leather apron of the furrier, the armour of the armies, the uniforms of the police force, and the gowns of the surgeons and doctors, to name but a few.

However, a very large part of the style of clothes is fashion. Historically it was often set by the monarchy and aristocrats of the time, and was then diluted as the styles progressed down the classes, the fabrics and extremes of style changing in order to be practical, and available within the means of the social class. This is not unlike the situation nowadays, when styles from catwalk events might influence what is on the shop floor.

1
MEDIEVAL

In this chapter we look at costumes from the late medieval era spanning 1200 to 1485, this being the period in Britain following a succession of invasions from other countries.

The Romans, Saxons (Scandinavia and northern Germany), Vikings, Normans (Normandy) and Danes (Denmark) all brought fashions from their own countries to Britain, and the effect had been significant.

This era also sees the start of the Renaissance period, widely accepted to be from 1300 to 1600, when fashion became a very significant influence on why we wore the clothes we did.

This period embraces Shakespeare’s historical plays about Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI and Richard III, plays that are often visited by theatre, film and television. The monarchy very much influenced fashions, and so they will often be referred to.

In this section of the book men’s and ladies’ clothes are discussed together, as they at least start in a similar way, and many of the names of garments refer to both genders.

UNDERWEAR

Both men and women would wear loin cloths, although there is evidence that draw-string briefs were also worn, in the shape of shorts and small ‘tanga’ briefs (with no legs and only a short side seam). They would have been made of linen or wool. The loin cloth was either a triangle shape or a T shape, shown in red and blue in Figure 2, and was worn not unlike a nappy, with the sides brought round and tucked in and then the flap brought under the crotch and tucked in at the front. The cote, described below, was also worn as underwear, though made in a lighter fabric. Later, if fancy sleeves were needed, they could be attached to the underwear, usually tied at the shoulder.

Fig. 2: The loin cloth.

Ladies’ corsets didn’t really exist in these times, though there is some evidence of iron forms likely to be used as a form of chastity belt, to be locked on when the husband was away. It is very possible, however, that ‘body binding’ existed, and dresses became quite figure hugging – it is likely that ladies of the higher classes wrapped their bodies tightly to smooth out any ‘unsightly’ bulges.

THE COTE

The cote was a very basic garment, which existed before any invasions. Celtic men wore it as a basic garment, and it was then used under armour. There were influences from many countries, mainly in the way it was decorated, but the development of the shape, and therefore the pattern shapes, were the same. There were garments called a cote for both men and ladies, the ladies wearing them from the middle of the thirteenth century until the fourteenth century, when a more tailored garment came into play.

Fig. 3: The classic man’s cote, worn throughout the medieval period.

The original cote was a T shape, made from one piece of fabric, as shown in Figure 3. More affluent men wore long cotes, while workers would have shorter ones (just past the knee), which was more practical; they would wear trousers, or braies, under the cote. The cote would have a faced or bound opening at the neck, and sometimes splits from the waist to the hem. This developed into a more tailored garment that flared out at the sides and had set-in sleeves.

Blues, reds and greens were the usual colours of the day, with the poorer community managing to dye greys and ‘russet’ colours. All cotes would have been woollen at this time, unless used as an undergarment, in which case they might have been linen.

Fig. 4: A cote made from tweed – from the RADA costume store.

Fig. 5: Wool was the most probable fabric to use for this period, though linen might be worn by the rich.
A: The lady’s cote, worn throughout the medieval period and as an undergarment in later periods.
B: The gown, with long, wide sleeves. Fashionable circa 1200.
C: The lady’s kirtle, also fashionable circa 1200.

Ladies’ cotes were always long, and developed quickly to have gores in the sides, and tailored sleeves. The cote would usually be drawn in at the waist with a girtle (belt), and this gave it the shape that later developed to become a gown. By the 1200s the cote had already developed wide-bottomed sleeves, as shown in Figure 5B, and was either fastened at the neck in a similar way to the man’s cote, or was laced down the back, which allowed for further shaping. This developed into the kirtle, which was a close-fitting garment, often worn under a cotehardy.

In the 1200s it is likely that the looseness of the weave of the woollen fabric allowed for the fabric to be shaped merely by the lacing at the back; it is also possible that felt was used, which would mould to the body well. The kirtle did use seams, first a princess but then a waist seam, which we are much more likely to use when ma...