II.

ARISTOCRATIC FASHION
II.1. THE COSTUME DEVELOPMENT The first sparks of fashion were visible already at the end of the Middle Age with the establishing of different kinds of clothing for men and women. In fact, until the half of the XIV century, men and women used to wear baggy tunics and long capes. After that and all along the XV century, the style didnt really change, despite the number of changings in clothing. Men started wearing the so-called farsetto (a sort of tight and short gilet) together with a sort of socks (similar to tights) usually colorful and flashy. Women, on the other hand, started wearing long and tight dresses, usually low-necked, as well as bizarre hats. Men and women started then differentiating their outfits depending on the sex.

Picture 2 All this gave life to a sort of seductive behavior that developed with the years and historically represented one of the main factors of the development of fashion itself. One of the main reasons of this process was the social serenity following the end of the Barbarian invasions and the progressive development of modern states (from 1300 until 1800 every single European state developed a specific style, although starting from 1700 France hold the hegemony in fashion). In addition, the economic expansion was made possible by the revolution of agricultural production methodologies, by the development of handcrafts and international commerce, by the

onset of first metropolis as well as weaving corporations for the production of manufacturing dresses and pieces of clothing in general. In its first phase, fashion was something referred to monarchy and aristocracy. Lower classes kept wearing the same clothes not only cause of their scarce financial means but also due to the so-called sumptuary laws issued in many cities between 1300 and 1600 not to allow people belonging to lower social classes wear clothes meant for upper classes.

Picture 3 So insatiable bourgeois started imitating and dressing up like noble people, thus forcing them to change their style and create new fashions. During the 1700s, century of the French Revolution (1789), revolutionaries used to dress up with peculiar uniform features to recall nationalist, equality and freedom principles. They also introduced the use of long baggy trousers, compared to short and skinny noble ones. Last but not least, they abolished rugs and laces, symbols of a hated aristocracy: in general everything belonging to aristocracy is abolished both with regard to men and women. Up to the beginning of the 1800s, fashion developed mainly with regard to aristocracy: it developed through a progressive artificiality of the body because, in the court, interpersonal relationships were innatural and artificial as they were mainly dominated by the respect of strict protocols and manners. The Restoration imposed to women very simple and classic customs also

known as the imperial style, inspired to ancient Greece and ancient Rome. It consisted of a long tunic made with a thin fabric, hold by a lace or a fold under the breast and it was usually worn without anything else underneath in accordance to the new vision of the freedom of the body.

Picture 4