REIGN OF HENRI II.
1547 TO 1558.
Fashions under Henri II.—The ruff—A satirical print of
the time—Catherine de Médicis eats soup—The Italian
taste—Regulations for dress—Crimson—Who shall wear silk?—Lines
on velvet, by Ronsard—Rotonde—“Collet monté”—Spring-water—Style
of gowns and head-dresses—Wired sleeves—Girdles—Caps, bonnets,
and hoods—The “touret de nez”—The “coffin à roupies”—Shoes—A
quotation from Rabelais.
The taste for display had received an irresistible impulse; dress was a
fascinating pursuit, and one well adapted to our manners and customs. In
the reigns succeeding to that of Francis I. there was neither a reaction,
nor any very remarkable novelty.
The principal characteristic of feminine attire, however, in the time
of Henri II. was the amplitude of skirts and sleeves. Costumes were
alternately either of extreme splendour, or of a grave, not to say sombre
appearance. It has been observed: “The sixteenth century offers a curious
mixture of very striking and of very simple costumes.”
Catherine de Médicis, the wife of Henri II., who was an Italian,
introduced “ruffs” into France.
The ruff was a sort of double collar, in stiff goffered plaits. It
completely encircled the throat, and sometimes rose above the ears. Ruffs
became immensely fashionable, both for men and women.
A print of the time proves this. It represents a shop in which three
grotesque figures are starching and ironing ruffs. A lady, seated, is
having her own ironed, and a gentleman is bringing others. Death is seen
on the threshold of the shop, on the right. On the margin there are half
a dozen inscriptions in German and French against the fashion of wearing
ruffs. Beneath the engraving are four German and four French lines, of a
highly satirical nature:—
“Hommes et femmes empèsent par orgueil
Fraises longues pour ne trouver leur pareil;
Mais en enfer le diable soufflera,
Et à brusler les âmes le feu allumera.”[21]
Brantôme, the historian, relates an amusing anecdote concerning the
starched ruffs. He tells us that on one occasion M. de Fresnes-Forget, in
conversing with Queen Catherine, expressed his surprise that women should
wear such deep ruffs, and affected to doubt that they could eat their
soup when thus attired.
Catherine laughed. The next moment a valet handed her a _bouillie_ for
collation. The queen asked for a long-handled spoon, ate her _bouillie_
easily and without soiling her ruff, and then said, “You see, Monsieur de
Fresnes, that with a little intelligence one can manage anything.”
French ladies copied the Italian fashions in their dress, but with
more grandeur and magnificence. The influence of the Renaissance still
prevailed, and art regulated the style of dress to a considerable extent.
There was little change in the actual shape of the garments worn, more
especially among the middle classes.
It became necessary to restrict foreign importation, in order not to
crush our home manufactures, and Henri II. also thought it right to issue
edicts with reference to propriety of attire, and to the diversity of
ranks as indicated by dress. Laws were even passed concerning the quality
and colour of stuffs.
Thus, no woman, not being a princess, might wear a costume entirely of
crimson; the wives of gentlemen might have one part only of their under
dress of that colour. Maids of honour to the queen, or to the princesses
of the blood, might wear velvet gowns of any colour except crimson; the
attendants on other princesses were restricted to velvet, either black
or _tanné_, viz. an ordinary red, not crimson.
The wealthy bourgeoises, without exception, longed to wear the forbidden
material, and thus to vie with the great ladies; but their ambitious
desires were necessarily thwarted, and the law only allowed them velvet
when made into petticoats and sleeves.
Working-women were forbidden to wear silk. This was an extremely
expensive material, and women would make any sacrifice to procure it.
But as we have already remarked, nothing is so difficult of application
as a sumptuary law. The wives of gentlemen, of bourgeois, and of artisans
were loud in complaint.
Then was the lawgiver moved with compassion, and gave permission for
bands of goldsmith’s work to be worn on the head, for gold braid as
borderings to dresses of ceremony, for necklaces and belts of the same
precious metal.
He allowed working-women to trim their gowns with borders or linings of
silk; and silk was also allowed for false sleeves, the whole dress only
of such costly material was forbidden.
But just in proportion as the relaxation of the first rigorous enactments
was reasonable and right, so did the authorities show themselves stern
and severe towards those women who ventured to transgress the king’s
commands.
Ronsard, the poet, exclaims admiringly, like the clever courtier he was:—
“Le velours, trop commun en France,
Sous toi reprend son vieil honneur;
Tellement que ta remontrance
Nous a fait voir la différence
Du valet et de son seigneur,
Et du muguet chargé de soye,
Qui à tes princes s’esgaloit,
Et, riche en drap de soye, alloit
Faisant flamber toute la voye.
Les tusques ingénieuses
Jà trop de volouter s’usoyent
Pour nos femmes délicieuses,
Qui, en robes trop précieuses,
Du rang des nobles abusoyent.
Mais or la laine mesprisée
Reprend son premier ornement;
Tant vaut le grave enseignement
De ta parole autorisée.”[22]
Starched and plaited linen ruffs, or “rotondes,” were first worn in this
reign, also Spanish capes and “collets montés.”
The proverbial expression, a “collet monté,” was applied then as now to
persons who affected great gravity of manner. It owes its origin to the
severity of the Spanish dress, which was adopted in certain quarters in
France.
Catherine de Médicis, who deemed it incumbent on her to grieve
unceasingly for her royal husband, manifested her sorrow by means of the
widow’s dress she habitually wore. Her costume was remarkably austere. It
consisted of a sort of cap, with the edge bent down in the middle of the
forehead, a collerette with large gofferings, a tightly-fitting buttoned
bodice, a wide plaited skirt, and a long mantle with a “collet montant,”
or high stand-up collar.
This simplicity of dress on the part of the queen-mother formed
an exception to the boundless caprices of the ladies who formed a
brilliant court circle around Catherine de Médicis. While confining
herself to black, she made no objection to the splendid attire of her
companions. Coquetry reached to the highest pitch. The beautiful Diana
of Poitiers preserved her beauty by bathing her face, even in winter,
in spring water. This heroic practice did not come into general use,
notwithstanding its supposed efficacy.
The form of women’s attire and head-dresses in the reign of Henri II.
was really admirable. There can be no more complicated needlework than
that employed on the bodice of a dress as represented in an engraving of
1558. It is trimmed with two little epaulettes, and is made with a basque
barely three inches in depth, and far from being “décolleté,” it is high
to the throat, like a man’s jacket (sayon).
Occasionally the fair wearer threw this bodice open, in order to show the
pourpoint or vest underneath, and generally it was also slashed either in
front or behind, or on the shoulders. By this means it looked less thick,
and kept the chest less warm.
The sleeves harmonized perfectly with the gown, particularly with the
bodice. They were not wide, though ten years previously they had been
puffed, but were slashed like the bodice. They diminished in size from
the shoulder to the wrist, and were slashed from top to bottom. They were
frequently trimmed with beads, and still more frequently with silk riband.
Certain ladies of high birth ornamented them with “fers,” or delicate
pieces of goldsmith’s work, not unlike metal buttons.
A curious appendage to the costume of the most fashionable ladies, such
as we are now describing it, existed; behind the sleeve there falls
straight down a false sleeve or “mancheron,” fastened to the epaulette.
We have already mentioned these.
The high collerette, detached from the bodice and embroidered or
goffered, was attached to a light cambric handkerchief covering the
throat, hence its name “gorgias,” from “la gorge,” the throat.
When ladies preferred a low-cut bodice, they would wear with it a very
large “gorgias,” covering the shoulders and neck, and of such material as
to add to the beauty of the costume.
Skirts were plain, and slightly open in front. A girdle, knotted at the
waist, fell gracefully from the peak or point of the bodice, in front,
down to the bottom of the skirt, or was worn hanging from the side, like
the rosary of a nun at the present day.
Exquisite lace, imported from Venice, completed the adornment of feminine
costume, and made it of immense value.
Various styles of head-gear were in fashion, and were worn without
distinction by persons in all ranks of society. There were caps, bonnets,
and hoods.
The hair was first kept in its place by a little bag called a “cale,” and
then the head-dress was put on. Cales remained in use for a long time,
and young girls of the class known as “the people” were subsequently
called by the name.
The cap was toque-shaped, and generally of velvet, with a white feather
over the right ear. The constant movement of the feather, waving in every
breeze, produced a charming effect, and conferred on the fair wearers
a little cavalier air that poets have frequently sung, and that modern
novel-writers have not overlooked.
Hats, which seem to have been less generally worn than caps or hoods,
were usually of oval shape. They were high with wide brims, and were made
in rich materials, or in very fine felt.
Hoods (a favourite head-dress of Catherine de Médicis) were also
generally preferred by Parisian women, and were very like those of modern
times. They were made of velvet, cloth, or silk, with deep fronts,
strings, and a curtain. By a royal edict, velvet hoods were forbidden
to all except “the ladies of the court;” on which the bourgeoises
ingeniously concealed the velvet under gold and silver embroidery, or a
mass of beads and jewels.
The coif suggested the ancient shape of the hood, of which we shall speak
hereafter. It was padded, and had a short veil falling down at the back.
“For going out in cold weather,” observes M. Jules Quicherat, “a square
of stuff was fastened to the strings of the hood, and covered all the
face from the eyes downwards, like the fringe of a mask.” This was called
either a “touret de nez,” or a “coffin à roupies,” according to the
humour of the satirists, whose jests, however, did not prevent ladies
from wearing it.
We must add that ladies also wore capes with hoods in the severe cold of
winter.
Nor must we omit the question of clothing for the feet. This is one of
the most important parts of dress, and the woman with the prettiest shoes
will generally be found the most graceful in other respects. Ladies wore
shoes and slippers, both adapted for indoor wear only, and quite unsuited
for the hard stones and thick mud of Paris. In the streets there were but
few coaches or litters, and so ladies wore pattens with cork soles, over
their shoes or slippers, to protect them from cold and damp.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Francis II 1559
Francis II 1560]