Fashion at the Spanish court

[Catarina Stradova]

Hello,

Does anyone have any information about the fashion and dressing style at the Spanish court throughout the centuries? Perhaps the title of a book?

Is there any period in particular that you like?

Thanks

[CountessKate]

I am not aware of any special costume book which covers Spanish court dress from A to Z as it were but if anyone knows of one, I'd be very interested myself.  However, there is one that I know of and there are many artists who painted Spanish royalty throughout the centuries.

This site: http://sayaespanola.glittersweet.com/ is particularly good for the 16th century.  I have found that the book in the series Costume of the western world : The dominance of Spain, 1550-1660, by Brian Reade published by Harrap, 1951, is a very sound basic book for this period and can be found quite cheaply.  Unfortunately many of the pictures are in black and white but you can use the captions as a basis for following up the artists on the internet.  Juan Pantoja de la Cruz, Alonso Sanchez Coello, and Bartolomé González are excellent for the 16th and early 17th century while Rubens, Velazquez, and Juan Bautista Martinez del Mazo provide a good coverage of the mid 17th century.  Spanish court dress was particularly distinctive in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the huge wide, flat hoops of the 16th century (painted by Velazquez) became the model for the huge wide flat hoops of the 18th century.  Juan Carreno de Miranda portrayed the rather grim court of Carlos II but there are not many portraits of the distinctive hairstyle and sleeves of the court women of this period, though there are a few portraits of Carlos II's queens on this web page, half-way down which gives a flavour:  http://retratosdelahistoria.lacoctelera.net/post/2009/01/23/los-austrias-carlos-ii-1661-1700-2

The Bourbon Philip V wore the distinctive male Spanish court costume for one painting by Hyacinthe Rigaud, after which he firmly adhered to French fashions; there are many paintings of him and his family by Jean Ranc, Michel van Loo, and Miguel Jacinto Meléndez.  For his heirs, Raphael Mengs and of course, Goya, give good guides.  Vicente López Portaña is good for the later Bourbons.  Winterhalter and de Laszlo included some Spanish royals amongst their numerous royal subjects which give an idea of royal court dress and there are numerous regal portraits of the Queen Regent Maria Cristina (e.g. by Juan Aldaz y Sancho).

The best website for the painters is Ciudad de la pintura: http://pintura.aut.org/ .  Go to Galeria Principal, then Autores, then Lista general de autores for the painters I have mentioned above.   

[trentk80]

A couple of years ago there was a conference in Madrid about the Spanish court dress and its influence in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. Here's the website (in both Spanish and English), where you can read about the programme:

http://www.vestiralaespanola.es/index.html

In addition, I read that the proceedings will be published.

Besides the artists CountessKate mentioned, other important painters of Spanish royalty were Juan de Flandes (for Isabella the Catholic), Titian (for Emperor Charles V), Antonio Moro and Sofonisba Anguissola (for Philip II), Claudio Coello and Luca Giordano (for Charles II), Jacopo Amigoni (for Ferdinand VI), etc. You can also find information in books about the painters themselves, such as exhibition catalogues.

In many history journals and books from Spain there are several articles about royalty and some of them have information about the dressing style of an specific royal or an specific era. For instance, I've found articles about the portraits of Marie Louise of Orleans, about the jewels of Maria Amalia of Saxony, about the wardrobe of Maria Luisa of Parma, and so on.

[CountessKate]

In addition, I read that the proceedings will be published.

I was aware of the conference, but not that its proceedings would be published - do you know where & when? 

[trentk80]

I was aware of the conference, but not that its proceedings would be published - do you know where & when?  

It will be published in Madrid by the CEEH (Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica) later this year. There is a list of their publications in their website:

http://www.ceeh.es/

The proceedings of the conference are not yet on the list, but I guess the title will appear there as soon as it is published.

[CountessKate]

It will be published in Madrid by the CEEH (Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica) later this year. There is a list of their publications in their website:

http://www.ceeh.es/

The proceedings of the conference are not yet on the list, but I guess the title will appear there as soon as it is published.

Many thanks for this - and I see a forthcoming publication will be on the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, one of my heroines and a pretty snappy dresser amongst Spanish royals, until her widowhood.

Katerina - I forgot to recommend the website of the Prado museum - http://www.museodelprado.es/ - where you can search the collections where they are gradually putting every painting online.  You can zoom in for wonderful details of the costumes.  The painters suggested by trentk80 and myself above are a starting point.

[Catarina Stradova]

Thanks for the info and the links, CountessKate and Trentk80.

Do you know if there ever was a distinctive Austrian court dress? It seems the court of Vienna dressed the Spanish way at least until Maria Teresa's era.

[gogm]

The Spanish have a real sense of flair and style. It dates back at least to the 1500s, probably earlier. Here are various images of Spanish styles:

Click on the images posted here to enter Webshots. Once in Webshots, click on the "+" sign below the image to expand it. You will need to join Webshots to be able to download the full image.. If you join Webshots, drop me a line to make me a friend, I'll approve, and you will have full access.

From the 1500s -
This is a well-known portrait of Elisabeth de Valois wearing a saya:

Outtakes from this preceding image follow.

Another of Isabel de Valois:

Outtakes also follow this image.

Anna of Austria wearing a saya:


Gregoria Habsburg wearing a saya:


Constantina Habsburg, also wearing a saya:


The first of 19 images of Isabela Clara Eugenia (the set tracks this remarkable lady into the next century):



From the 1600s -
Infanta Maria Teresa by Velazquez, the first of 16 images from the Velazquez era. These are the ladies in skirts expanded to the sides and correspondingly wide headdresses made famous by Velazquez. They are wearing highly modified sayas:

[gogm]

Museo Nacional del Prado has one heck of an online collection at:
http://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/galeria-on-line/

[Catarina Stradova]

Does anybody know any other good books about Spanish court dress? There should be more titles.

[trentk80]

Here's a video which contains a small scene showing Spanish dresses from the seventeenth century:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tdNcjFWM9Q

[trentk80]

Not fashion-related, but the Prado Museum in Madrid has a new themed trail about women and power at the Spanish court:

http://www.museodelprado.es/educacion/educacion-propone/itinerarios/las-mujeres-y-el-poder/

It's also available in the museum's audio guide.

[CountessKate]

At the Bunka Gakuen Library digital archive (http://digital.bunka.ac.jp/kichosho_e/index.php) there is a splendid set of images taken from a book of fashion plates called   To find it, click on 'fashion plates', then 'Nineteenth Century' on the drop down menu; it is called "Coleccion general de los trages que en la actualidad se usan en España : principiada el año 1801" and has numerous illustrations of contemporary fashion in Spain which can be easily enlarged.  Although fashionable dress was very similar to other European costume of the same period, women wore mantillas and long trailing veils more than their European counterparts and there seemed to a great many specialised costumes and regional variations, though that was more usual at that time in rural populations. 

[trentk80]

Thanks, CountessKate. The illustrations from the book are very nice. Do you know what the purpose of publishing this kind of books of fashion plates was?

[CountessKate]

Thanks, CountessKate. The illustrations from the book are very nice. Do you know what the purpose of publishing this kind of books of fashion plates was?

While fashion plates generally were intended to illustrate the most up-to-date fashions as guides for women and men and the dressmakers and tailors who produced their clothes, the fashions in this book seem to reflect more of a cultural purpose, and show the types of dress, from court and high society, to regional and peasant, current in Spain at the time.  Civilized people of the time were curious about the customs of their own country and that of others and it looks like these plates were meant to meet that sort of interest.