The Florence Files: Recreating a Maria d'Cosimo Outfit, 1555

Recreated by La Signora Onorata Katerina da Brescia.

Accessori:


Portrait of Maria di Cosimo 1555-57 by Alessandro Allori.

 It is a little scary when one has been sewing for a month and realise that the dress needs a girdle and 'not having one' is not an option. (argh! - again). With only 2 weeks left, till Midwinter, there was no time to carve, mould and cast the pieces, so a trip to Mrs Lee's (a local shop for jewelry bits and findings) was a must. This meant I had to wait until I had a day off work, as it does not open weekends.

Below is what I have chosen to resemble the girdle in the portrait of Maria d'Medici.

The gold pendant was the most expensive, so to cut the cost, I chose a silver pendant that was less than half the price. The problem was to find enough pieces in each colour (I cleaned out both the gold and silver pieces in the shop!). The pearls are on a 'headpin' with

beadcaps to hold the faux pearls in place. Looking carefully at the joins between the 'pendant' pieces, there appears there appears to be a gold metal ring between the two pearls. (see right). I have used this to also extend the belt (also cutting down again on the cost)

The girdle was the most challening of the accessories for this outfit. On successive 'try ons' to get the sizing, a few of the links split apart just enough to cause the belt to fall apart. This could have meant disaster but my dear hubby Dafydd soldered all of them for me. This meant that they were solid and I had no problems on the night.

Final touches included a

  • pearl necklace (gift from my mother in law - she is lovely).
  • pearl drop earrings which I made myself some years ago. I had to make clip on ones as I can no longer have pierced ears.
  • I made a pearl strand with a central pendant with drop pearl.
The basics of this style was a central part, front 'rolls' string of pearls wrapped around possibly a plaited circle and a pendant with a drop pearl.
Next time, I will wear the plaited circle higher. I have fine hair so if I wanted to get 'more hair' for this style, I would have to use a hairpiece. This has been done in different periods, including Italy in the Renaissance. I am still trying to work out how to do the front 'rolls' successfully. I decided not to do the black twisted additions. This would look a little silly on someone my age.
Finally, I really need spectacles to see and often get migraines if I do not. I cannot wear contact lenses. So not wearing spectacles is not really an option. Luckily, in my mundane job, obtaining spectacles is not too difficult. I used an mundanely 'out of date' larger round pair. There is a good 'Complete Anachronist' (number 1 in fact) on Medieval and Renaissance Spectacles. This is available through the SCA.

Bibliography

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(c)K.Carlisle. 2006