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This is the overgown for my entry into the Realm of Venus Italian Renaissance Costuming Challenge. My entry so far can be found at the Realm of Venus IRCC 5 page.
The giornea was the under-gown/home dress common in Florence in the 1480's, and can be seen extensively in the works of Ghirlandaio. This was a bit of a challenge for me to try to figure out. There is one extant giornea that I have been able to track down, but it is a man's giornea and earlier in period. While the fashions were somewhat similar, the neckline and fullness of the men's giornea is significantly different than those worn by women. Instead I decided to try to pattern one based on what lines I see in paintings, especially the Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni, by Ghirlandaio as you can see the repeating pattern of the fabric and infer the shape somewhat.
Pattern: Birbari describes the pattern as "a segment of a circle," which is similar to what I was guessing was the pattern is seen in pieces such as Ghirlandaio's Birth of the Baptist (21). Looking at that painting as well as the Giovanna Tornabuoni portrait I noticed that neither showed a visible seam at the shoulders, something that gave me a starting point on my drafting. I also followed the lines of the pattern over the slope of the shoulders and guessed that a simple slit in the center of the fabric at the neckline would probably allow the fabric to curve over the shoulders like that while still creating the gentle folds seen in the paintings. I don’t have a mannequin or a person to be a model for me so I used the “pin, cut, & pray” method with my lining fabric, draping it on myself in a bit of a guess and placing pins where I thought the cuts should be, looking in the mirror, and cutting down until it all looked right. It took a while (and was rather terrifying), but I ended up being very happy with the resulting pattern as I think it looks and drapes like the paintings.
Fabric: I chose a cream/bronze fabric with a small geometric damask pattern based on descriptions in Frick (3, 99) and Birbari (48). I have found numerous statements that they were lined, and a contrasting lining appears in many period paintings (Frick 126, 172), so I used a dark mulberry fabric I had in my stash which showed up well against the fashion fabric. Both fabrics are synthetic due to silk damasks being very pricey. I evened out the lining fabric that I had used for the draping and laid it over the cream damask to use it as a pattern.
Construction: I pinned the heck out of the fabric as both were very stretchy on the bias and I running-stitched the two pieces together inside out along the sides. I then hung it on a hanger to rest for two days to see if the bias would stretch enough that I would have to adjust the hem. Fortunately the hand running stitch/backstitch combo I used seemed to work well and everything still looked even, so I running stitched the hems as well. Next I turned it rightside out through the neck hole and pressed the seams flat. To close the neckline I folded the raw edges under slightly and whip stitched the two layers together as I would be covering the whip stitches with gold as part of the embroidery on the gown.
Decorations: I then began to embellish the giornea with the time I had left. Records of the embroidered overgown designed by Francesco Castellani include references to the use of pearls, silken gold thread, silver thread, and small silvered ornaments (Frick 119). Other embroidered overgowns are described as "embroidered with pearls and rubies" especially seen at the "neckline, hem, and openings" (Herald, 184-185). This was the layer most predominantly decorated with expensive trims, embroidery, fur, and jewelry, so I tried to really focus on making this layer pop (Frick 163). It was noted that the clothes were decorated after the garment was made (unlike how we now embroider fabric much of the time, before they are cut and assembled), "oversewn with pearl or metallic embroidery" (Frick 163). A letter from a mother to her son, advising him on designing his bride's gown, states that "if the fabric is not adorned with pearls, one must decorate it with other trifles" (Frick 163). As such I decided to use pearls and imitation gold cord to decorate my giornea.
Inspired by the two lines of gold seen at the neckline of the giornea in Ghirlandaio’s Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple I first braided gold-wrapped cord to add texture and couched it down over the seam of the neckline. Then I couched down two lines of the same cord slightly out from the first cord, creating a channel as seen in the paintings. Looking at paintings such as Herod’s Banquet I decided to sew down large faux-pearls every half inch in between the sets of gold cords to add to the decoration at the neckline in keeping with the descriptions of pearling in Frick. Next I sewed smaller faux-pearls in the center of the quatrefoil motifs of the brocade. This was my first time beading anything on this scale and it took longer than I expected, but I really liked the look of the small pearls to brighten up the brocade.
Bibliography:
Birbari, Elizabeth. Dress In Italian Painting 1460-1500. London: John Murray Ltd., 1975.
Crowfoot, Elizabeth, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland. Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450.
London: Boydell Press, 2001.
Frick, Carole Collier. Dressing Renaissance Florence. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
Herald, Jaqueline. Renaissance Dress in Italy 1400-1500. London: Bell & Hyman, 1981.
Monnas, Lisa. Merchants, Princes and Painters. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
Orsi-Landini, Roberta and Bruna Niccoli. Moda a Firenze 1540-1580: Lo Stile di Eleonora di Toledo e la sua influenza. Florence: Edizioni Polistampa, 2005.
Orsi-Landini, Roberta and Bruna Niccoli. Moda a Firenze 1540-1580: Lo Stile di Eleonora di Toledo e la sua influenza. Florence: Edizioni Polistampa, 2005.
Tortora, Phyllis, Keith Eubank. Survey of Historic Costume. 4th ed. New York: Fairchild Publications, Inc., 2005.
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