Hello, I'm Ana Cabrera and I'm
a museum curator and a specialist on historical textile and fashion.
And I will introduce you to the costume books
of the 17th century.
During the 15th century, the known world was enlarged
from the European perspective, thanks to the maritime trade routes
that from Europe expanded through Africa and the West India,
China and Japan, and in the 16th century,
were connecting Asia
through Mexico or Peru to Iberia.
At the same time, the world was presented
to the European public through maps, engravings and books.
The later was crucial in disseminating ideas,
creating images and influencing the arts.
This is the case of the costume books that I will explain with examples
from Granada and Turkey.
The origin of the costume books
can be traced on the early drawings
by Albert Durer or Giovanni Bellini by
the 1480s.
These early drawings
showed people from German,
Germany, Flanders and Turkey
and have details on what they wear.
Also, these early drawings can be seen
in the manuscripts by travelers as the one by the German
Christopher Weiditz that you see here on your right hand, that was made
during his travel to Iberia in the early
16th century.
The book includes short comments in German
giving an idea of how the people in Iberia dressed,
which is their class, social class and status,
also they have an early depiction of the natives
from the Americas.
After this drawings,
the next step was
to publish books
based on these drawings engravings and manuscripts
thanks to the thriving print industry in Europe.
The first one was a French book by François Desprez
published in 1562
that includes 120 engraving by the Italian Enea Vico.
And from that moment on, the books
were published until mid late 17th century,
being the most popular one
the known "Habiti
antichi e moderni di tutto il mondo", that was published
in Venice by Cesare Vecellio,
having a first edition in 1590 and the second one in 1598
that you have here a page. It have more than 500 engravings
showing different garments, and people wore by the people
from, wore by person worldwide
These books are organized
by areas, kingdoms
and cities in geographical order.
They give information about the person depicted
their social classes,
profession type of garment and textiles.
They also give information on the comments
about where to purchase this garments and textiles
showing the importance of the textile industry and the tailoring practices.
These books are consider the forerunners
of the European fashion system that begun in the 18th century.
The books are the first source to know
how people of different European cities and kingdoms are dressed.
The influence of these first drawings
and engraving from publication is noted when comparing
the first drawings
with the engravings on the publications,
and it can be seen from the illustration on the manuscript
by Weiditz of a Young Women from Granada
and the engraving published
by Cesare Vecellio in 1598.
That depiction can help also to understand
the different garments, his names, and to identify
those that are
depicted in paintings and other media.
Also, some of these dresses
and garment can work as identifiers.
For example, the breeches and the rolled stockings
identify the women from Granada, the Moriscas in the
early 16th century, or the turban and the kaftan
the outer long garment wore by the Turk
are those identifers
of Turkey's men.
This simplistic image was reproduced through painters
by painters, or another artists,
not only in the costume books, also were used as propaganda
on the war against the Ottoman Empire,
and the morisco wars in Iberia, identifying the
enemies of the Catholic monarchy.
How accurate are these depictions?
Those from Europe are good representation and give an insight
on how the people from Europe dress in the 16th and 17th century.
Meanwhile, the garments depicted
from the other areas outside of Europe
are not very good ones and lack of detail,
even repeat models as you can see here.
What is really interesting is that early costume books
offer an insight
into the depths of the 16th century cross-cultural knowledge
from a Christian European perspective.
These copied and repeated
models helped in the construction of identities
and the circulation of a stereotype of non-Europeans.
The level of influence of these engravings on costume
books and their use among the educated European artists
is shown
on the later
engravings, paintings and books.
And this is another story to tell.
I hope you will enjoy from this moment on, on the costume books.
Thank you.