17th Century Dress

In the first half of the 17th century the exaggerated stiff Spanish influence was replaced by more graceful flowing fashions influenced by the easy military styles of the Flemish and Swedish armies fighting the Thirty Years’ War. The period was marked by long locks, lace, and leather, as seen in Van Dyck portraits of elegant, satin-clad English Cavaliers and in paintings of somber Dutch and Flemish burghers by Rembrandt, Rubens, Hals, and Vermeer.

The man’s tight doublet lost its padding and became easier in fit. It eventually was cut in one piece with its skirt, which was slit into overlapping panels that gradually became shorter, and it had set-in sleeves turned back at the wrist, suggesting a cuff. The shirt showed through button-edged slits in the body of the doublet, and it bloused below the short skirts and the sleeves. The stiff ruff gave way to falling bands, plain-edged for the Puritans or scalloped lace for the Cavaliers. The collarless jerkin was often a laced-up military garment of leather, sleeveless or with contrasting sleeves. Trunk hose, now relegated to livery, were replaced by loose, unpadded breeches, which slipped low on the hips and were cut short or caught at the knee. Both the doublet and breeches were profusely trimmed with matching ribbons and lace.

Men wore two pairs of expensive colored silk stockings, wrinkled down to show the pair underneath, and they protected the stockings with lace-trimmed linen boothose. Their spurred boots had wide tops folded down to hold boothose, stockings, garters, and hems of breeches. Boots were usually worn, although there were also heavy, square-cut, high-heeled shoes with rosettes of ribbon or lace on the instep. Long loose military cassocks (coats) and cloaks were tied diagonally and worn with the swashbuckling, broad-brimmed, cocked and plumed hats, typical of the long-locked Cavaliers, or with the stiff, narrow-brimmed, high-crowned hats of the close-cropped Puritans (Roundheads). Beards were reduced to pointed Vandykes.

Women’s dress softened as the bodice shortened and widened, and the skirt fell in rich folds over petticoats instead of a farthingale. Sometimes a loose open robe set over the bodice was draped up over a lighter-colored underskirt. The neckline moved below the shoulder, and the ruff became a falling band and finally a gauzy kerchief. A full slashed or “leg o’ mutton” sleeve was tied with a rosetted ribbon on the upper arm and finished with a lace cuff at the wrist or a blousing linen undersleeve at the elbow. In addition, there were lace-trimmed aprons, short-waisted jackets, and cloaks. Hair, drawn back into a bun, with loose side curls lengthening as the shoulders were bared, was covered indoors only by a kerchief. Outdoors, hoods and high-crowned hats were worn. Pearls replaced gold jewelry.

During the second half of the 17th century and the first decade of the 18th, the sumptuous, dignified costumes that complemented the baroque splendor of the court of Louis XIV at Versailles were copied at lesser courts all over Europe. French inifluence spread through the first fashion periodical, Mercure galant (1672-1728), and through fine engraved plates, such as those by the Bonnart family. Court costumes were made of French silk and lace and manufactured according to strict standards under royal patronage until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) caused the French silkweavers, mostly Protestant, to flee to England. Extremely popular for informal and bourgeois costumes were the washable indiennes (printed cottons from India), which, along with furs from the New World, were imported by royal patent.

In the 1660s the male costume, which included the very short, open doublet over the bloused shirt and rhinegraves (petticoat breeches or full pantaloons) trimmed at waist and hem with loops of ribbon, gave the effect of several tiers of ruffles. In the 1670s there appeared the basic costume of the next century – a solid-color collarless coat (derived from the military cassock) with slender, thigh-length, later wide, knee-length, skirts and wide-cuffed sleeves; waistcoat (derived from the doublet); shirt with neckcloth (formerly the falling band) and ruffled cuffs; culottes (close-fitting knee breeches derived from rhinegraves) made to match the coat or of black velvet; stockings; and buckled shoes instead of boots. Cloaks were used only for bad weather. Faces were clean-shaven under heavy periwigs with long corkscrew curls. Hats – tricornes (low-crowned, wide brimmed hats with cocked brims) decorated with braid and ostrich plumes – were carried if they did not fit over the huge wigs. Gentlemen also carried walking sticks.

The female silhouette again became rigid and was exaggeratedly tall, lank, and angular. The tightly corseted bodice had a long uncluttered line, extending from a wide, lace-draped neckline, through a “V”-shaped opening filled by embroidery or brocade, to a deep center point. The heavy overskirt was pleated onto the bodice, as was the full sleeve, and was draped back into a bustle and train over a contrasting underskirt supported by panniers (hoops), which flattened the figure in front and back and extended the sides. Under the pious influence of Mme. de Maintenon the pale colors of Louis XIV’s early reign gave way to dark brocade. Hair was curved widely at the sides, with a bun in back covered by a delicate cap, which in the 1690s became the tall pleated-lace fontage. Hooded capes were worn outdoors. Kid gloves, parasols, masks, and beautifully painted folding fans were important accessories. Both men and women used rouge, powder, tiny black patches, and scent.

These styles, created by the aristocracy and bourgeoisie, were copied in modified form by the peasants, who retained them, with regional differences, long after the upper classes had adopted new fashions. (Encyclopedia Americana, Dress: 17th Century)