Queen Elizabeth I
- Creator:
- Hilliard, Nicholas, ca. 1547-1619
- Published/Created:
- 1585
- Date Depicted:
- 1975
1500 AD - 1699 AD - Notes:
- Elizabeth’s hoop is an interpretation of the Spanish style. The severity is softened by an intricate texture combining gold, jewels, cut slashes, and exquisite lace. The center front is decorated with clasps of gold and jewels. The wide ruff and cuffs are made of openwork lace. A wing-shaped ruff is behind the first ruff. This costume is surely one of the masterpieces of the dressmaker's art.
- Abstract:
- In the history of Western civilization, Elizabethan dress is the most artificial and ostentatious. The bodice is a separate, cut to fit tight and flat across the chest. It has a low, square neckline and a waistline which extends in front to a very low V. A corset is under the bodice. It is stiffened with whalebone, strips of steel or hardwood, or made entirely of pierced steel. A stomacher (plastron) is over the bodice. Shaped like a shield or triangle, it has a very long, boned point which extends below the waist. A chemise is under the bodice. The fashionable sleeve is tied with ribbons into a series of puffs down the arm. Another important sleeve, the leg-o'-mutton is stiff and voluminous. At the top it is boned and quilted into a rounded shape. It tapers to the wrist and is finished with a cuff or small ruff. Early in Elizabeth's reign the gown is shaped and supported by a Spanish hoop, the verdingale or farthingale. It is made by inserting steel or whalebone into casings in a funnel-shaped petticoat. Gradually the French wheel or cartwheel becomes stylish. Shaped like a wheel, it attaches at the hip and looks like a shelf with sharp edges. At its widest it is 1 1/2 yards from side to side and 20 to 24 inches from back to front. A pleated ruffle of the dress fabric often extends to the hoop edge. Eventually the bolster, a very large padded roll, replaces the French hoop in England. There is another under-structure made of two wide and arching wires on each hip. The skirt for the French hoop is quite wide and full, and gathered or pleated into a waistband. It is made both with and without an opening at the center front. Since the width of the hoop makes movement difficult, the skirt is shortened to the instep.
- Topics:
- Costume -- Europe -- History -- (LC)
Painting -- Britain -- 16th century -- (YVRC) - Period/Style:
- Elizabethan
- Culture:
- English
- Accession Number:
- 4390-113
- Genre:
- costume (mode of fashion) (AAT)
paintings (AAT) - Format:
- Image
- Content Type:
- Clothing & Accessories
Paintings & Drawings - Rights:
- The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.
- Access Restrictions:
- Yale Community Only
- Source Creator:
- Button, Jeanne and Sbarge, Stephen
- Source Title:
- History of Costume, In Slides, Notes and Commentaries: Volume 3
- Source Created:
- New York, NY
Theatre Arts Slide Presentations
1975 - Call Number:
- GT513 +B87 3 (LC)
- Yale Collection:
- Visual Resources Collection
- Digital Collection:
- Visual Resources Collection
- Original Repository:
- Hatfield, England: Hatfield House
- OID:
- 10600459
- PID:
- digcoll:1805525