If you could make garb to match a portrait........

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

Looks like a cameo. But more than likely a miniature. Miniatures were common as pendants and pins of a loved one or Betrothed during Tudor and Elizabethan periods.

[DonaCatalina]

I've always liked this dress for its detail. I have made something similar but I still need to figure out how to engineer these exact sleeves.

[Valencia]

LOVE the balzo.  And the sleeves look like they are very loosely pulled up... there are pictures of the Italians pulling their full camicia sleeves up and tucking them into their shoulder straps or pinning them to their shoulders... I wonder if this is a take on that idea?

[gem]

Moda a Firenze has a full-page feature of baragoni (sleeves like that) in detail, which is worth checking out, and Kat's Purple Files has a page on the construction, as well. I think it could be fairly simply achieved as Jaqueline suggests: by drawing up long, strong gathering stitches in a wide tubular sleeve. They remind me a lot of poufy drapery treatments, actually, which makes me think drapery hardware (like the strung-together pull rings that draw up Roman shades) might be employable here.

[DonaCatalina]

This one would be meticulous if the silk ribbons had to be sewn to the silk sleeves individually, but it is a striking dress.

[Drudonn]

For myself, I like the guy in the middle with the yellow sleeves (but the woman in the green dress is awesome...however, I don't look good in drag  )

[LadyShadow]

(but the woman in the green dress is awesome...however, I don't look good in drag  )

That is an awesome dress. Thank you for sharing the picture, I might have to make me a dress like that now.  And I admire the honesty 

[operafantomet]

*snorts at Drudonn's comment*

But I agree, lovely dress! Flemish? Dutch?

[Drudonn]

It's "Predigt des Hl. Ambrosius" by Bernard van Orley, a Flemish painter.

I leave the drag to my fiance, the future Mr. Drudonn. I've done a bit of drag for the drag show for charity at University of Houston, but I'm told I don't make a very good girl 

[gem]

Those sleeves (on the woman in green) *are* completely awesome! Ophelia's double-puff Juliet chemise, in a nice green silk, would be perfect for those.

[operafantomet]

I'm longing to make a Roman renaissance dress! I love that the dresses are so understated, with the details being in the cut rather than colours and sashes, and I also love that grand golden veil. The first portrait, if identified correctly, is Giulia de' Medici. She was Florentine, but this portrait is thought to have been painted while she lived in Rome. The other one is thought to show Vittoria Farnese, granddaughter of pope Paul III Farnese. The third is Giulia Gonzaga, countess of Fondi (a bit south of Rome).



Roman style is very little researched; most often the ladies portrayed is though to be in mourning because they wear dark colours and a veil. But this is not the case. The Roman/Lazio style followed the basic cut of dresses in Florence/Tuscany and Venice/Veneto, but a whole different kind of modesty applied to the noble ladies of the holy city. The restricted use of silks, and the muted colours and large veils are a result of this. I've found two period sources describing the Roman style:

A courtier described the indecent behaviour of the second wife of Cosimo I de' Medici in the late 1500's:
And she adorns herself with finery and vanity more than ever, and even this morning decided to go to Mass all decked out and with a golden veil on her head in the Roman style...

Another source is a letter a father, Sperone Speroni, sent to his daughter when she and her children were to move from Padua to Rome in 1575:
You will need to dress them according to the custom here, I would advice you not to dress them in the Paduan way, and here they do not wear silk either, except for sarsenet in the summer. This is my opinion.

If I ever get around to start on this project, I'll try cardboard stiffening and padding for the bodice, and I'll hopefully make the dress of a fine twill wool in black. Maybe it would be an excuse to try out cutwork sleeves as well...


ETA: they don't always wear black, although it looks that way. Giulia de' Medici actually wears a dark blue dress, according to the latest conservations. Dark grey and green colours are also seen.

ETA 2: Roman ladies rarely bleached their hair either, like the Florentine and Venetian women almost always did. Don't ask me why, they just didn't. Courtesans might be the exception, but despite the big economical contributions they made to the city, they suffered from harsher laws in both living situation, work conditions and clothing, especially after the counter-reformation. They were restricted to live in a specific area as well - the Ortaccio. So if courtesans did indeed bleach their hair, they would hardly be mistaken for honest women.

[Auryn]

Thanks to operafantomet who showed me this portrait last year
I have been thinking about making it since last summer.
I think this might be the time I actually do it.

I don't know if I have the talent and skill to do it but I will try. You will all definitely be getting lots of questions from me once I start.

Don't know who the artist is.

[gem]

Auryn, there's a woman on the Margo Anderson Yahoo group who's just starting a recreation of that gown. You might sign up and check it out!

[operafantomet]

Don't know who the artist is.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/operafantomet/renaissanceportraits/venezia1/brescia1535.jpg

The artist is Moretto from Brescia, and the portrait is from ca. 1535.

[Auryn]

I love you guys, such enablers  

gem- how do I get to that yahoo group?