Fashion, style, design...these are my passion. To imagine and then create beauty! But today we will be focusing on what is known today as the
Birdcage skirt. First, I will share a brief history as well as the several "original" names of the birdcage skirt.
HISTORY
The Spanish
vertugado, from which
"farthingale" derives, was a hoop skirt originally stiffened with the subtropical
Giant Cane; later designs in the temperate climate zone were stiffened with osiers (willow cuttings), rope, or (from about 1580) whalebone. The name
vertugado comes from the
Spanish verdugo, "green wood", although it also means "executioner" and in modern times that's the more common meaning of the term.
The earliest sources indicate that
Joan of Portugal started to use verdugadas with hoops in Spain. Joan had provoked much criticism as she allegedly wore dresses that displayed too much
décolletage, and her wanton behaviour was considered scandalous. When she started to use farthingales, court fashion followed suit. As Joan had two illegitimate children by Pedro de Castilla y Fonseca, rumors abounded that she used the farthingale to cover up a pregnancy. The earliest images of Spanish farthingales show hoops prominently displayed on the outer surfaces of skirts, although later they merely provided shape to the overskirt.
Catherine of Aragon brought the fashion into England on her marriage to
Arthur, Prince of Wales, in 1501..
Spanish farthingales were an essential element of Tudor fashion in England, and remained a fixture of conservative Spanish court fashion into the early 17th century (as exemplified by
Margaret of Austria), before evolving into the
guardainfante of 17th-century Spanish dress. The
farthingale in its various forms was worn from the late 15th century through the early 17th century, and
panniers throughout the 18th century. Many of these were formal and elaborate styles, often worn at
royal courts and by mid to higher levels of society.
Probably the earliest depiction of the Spanish
verdugada. Pedro García de Benabarre, Salome from the St John Retable, Catalonia, 1470—80
The first crinolines were
petticoats starched for extra stiffness, made out of the new crinoline
fabric. They often had ruffles to support the skirts to the desired width. However, these fabrics were not stiff enough to support their own weight, which tended to collapse the petticoats out of shape. Extra rigidity was added to petticoats through rings of cord or braid running around the hem. By the 1830s, women had started to wear petticoats with
hoops of
whalebone or cane inside the hem.
Now that we have a brief history that covers where these beauties came from and their differing names.
We call our modern verson,
the
BIRDCAGE SKIRT
PARADE FUN
AMAZING EDITORIALS....
HAUTE COUTURE, VALENTINO
HAUTE COUTURE MEETS ROYAL WEDDING
COUTRE FOR EVERYDAY (from work to evening)
AND
SOME NOT SO SUCCESSFUL BLACK&WHITE VERSIONS
OF (FARTHINGALE) BIRDCAGE DETAILING ON THE OUTSIDE.
Hope you enjoyed this little tidbit of information, history and the various examples (those were the pictures). Till next week, when we discover something new and FABULOUS!
Be on the lookout for a birdcage skirt tutorial coming up soon....