French hoods
I've buggered up some sewing and am therefore procrastinating by pondering on French hood colours. Specifically the brims and the falls.
The crescents on the hoods (where they exist) are all sorts of different colours and often have jewelled decorations. That's what makes these hoods so pretty. The fall (ie the veil at the back) is always black. Always. It's very annoying, but I haven't seen a single picture with any other colour.
I had thought that the brim is also always black. The instructions in Tudor Tailor certainly tell you to use black for the brim covering.
However, a closer look at various paintings and drawings reveals that it is not so. I have found several examples of different coloured brims! It's quite exciting, in a geeky sort of way.
The first is a 1525 painting by Jean Clouet. It's an early style of the hood, but the brim is white, not black. At least I think it's a brim. It could be a wired/stiffened coif, but there is no black brim anywhere to be seen.
So I think it's a white brim. The crescent and the fall are both black. By the way, how cool are her under-sleeves!
The second is a gorgeous painting of Francoise de Longwy by Corneille de Lyon, sometime in the second quarter of 16th century. The crescent is white, but the brim is pink to match her gown. Pink! It's very obvious. And very pretty.
The third is a 1525 sketch of Dianne de Poiters, probably by Jean Clouet. The brim colour seems to be orange. Being a pencil drawing, it may not be an accurate colour representation, but it is very clearly not black.
I'm not entirely sure about this one. It's a portrait ostensibly from around 1545, but I think it was painted almost 50 years later. So needs to be taken with a handful of salt.
The crescent of her hood is black, but the brim seems to be white (look just above the collar).
So there are hoods with non-black brims. There aren't many, but they exist. And because in many portraits you can't see the brim, they may be more common.
The one I'm making is going to be a traditional black colour though.
The crescents on the hoods (where they exist) are all sorts of different colours and often have jewelled decorations. That's what makes these hoods so pretty. The fall (ie the veil at the back) is always black. Always. It's very annoying, but I haven't seen a single picture with any other colour.
I had thought that the brim is also always black. The instructions in Tudor Tailor certainly tell you to use black for the brim covering.
However, a closer look at various paintings and drawings reveals that it is not so. I have found several examples of different coloured brims! It's quite exciting, in a geeky sort of way.
The first is a 1525 painting by Jean Clouet. It's an early style of the hood, but the brim is white, not black. At least I think it's a brim. It could be a wired/stiffened coif, but there is no black brim anywhere to be seen.
So I think it's a white brim. The crescent and the fall are both black. By the way, how cool are her under-sleeves!
The second is a gorgeous painting of Francoise de Longwy by Corneille de Lyon, sometime in the second quarter of 16th century. The crescent is white, but the brim is pink to match her gown. Pink! It's very obvious. And very pretty.
The third is a 1525 sketch of Dianne de Poiters, probably by Jean Clouet. The brim colour seems to be orange. Being a pencil drawing, it may not be an accurate colour representation, but it is very clearly not black.
I'm not entirely sure about this one. It's a portrait ostensibly from around 1545, but I think it was painted almost 50 years later. So needs to be taken with a handful of salt.
The crescent of her hood is black, but the brim seems to be white (look just above the collar).
So there are hoods with non-black brims. There aren't many, but they exist. And because in many portraits you can't see the brim, they may be more common.
The one I'm making is going to be a traditional black colour though.