Tailoress wrote:Does anyone have a copy of Peter Spufford's Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval Europe? If so, what do you think of the dude on the right of page 126? He's wearing the red gown... with what looks like buttons in the back.
I've been wanting input from 15thc specialists on this image forever but keep forgetting to ask about it here. Do others think that's an opening with buttons? Maybe the guy has it on backwards?? I don't know, but it caused me a bit of a "huh" moment the first time I saw it.
I seem to recall seeing some jackets with built in hoods where they buttoned down the seam, and the halves laying on the shoulders, Spanish perhaps?
People at work often wear Tyvek coats, and cut ventilation holes in the back to reduce the heat of wearing plasticized paper. Something similar may be going on here, with the option of attaching a hood for more inclement weather. It did not look to me like he was wearing his over-tunic backwards, judging from the sleeves.
Durer drew a series of "foreign costume", if IIRC, and there are others that drew "National Costumes" in the 16thC, maybe something similar can be found there.
