[MR] clothing question

[Jessica Maxson]

Salve!

Well, um, it depends on what you mean by "Italian Ren". That 
covers a lot of ground, both geographically and temporally. 
Italy was not a unified country as we know it now during the 
Renaissance, but was made up of a number of separate city-
states, duchies, papal states, etc. Fashions varied among 
all of them. What was fashionable in 15th century Florence 
was not necessarily so in 16th century Venice, or Naples. 
Can you describe what you think of visually as Italian 
clothing?

That being said, generally the fashions of Italy were fairly 
different from those of the rest of Western Europe and did 
not spread much. The northern parts of Italy (Milan and 
environs) shared some aspects of clothing with parts of 
Germany and France, but also had its own distinct look. 
Italy was pretty isolated from the rest of Europe, having 
the Meditteranean on one side, the Adriatic on the other, 
and the Alps at the top. That is not to say Italians didn't 
get out and about, because they did, but they retained their 
own sense of fashion. There are plenty of costume elements 
in Italy that I have not seen elsewhere in Europe!

Hope that answers your question. Sorry for being long-winded!

--Giuliana, Italian geek
>
>Greetings unto the Tavern!
>
>I have a question about Italian Ren gowns.  Are there any 
examples of  
>this style of clothing in art outside of the Italian ones 
we see so  
>often?  That is, are there examples of this type of 
clothing in  
>artwork from England, France, the Netherlands, parts of 
Europe which  
>make up modern Germany, etc.?
>
>Curious to know how far this fashion spread,
>
>Genevieve D'Aubigne