Fashion and masculinity in Renaissance Florence
Elizabeth Currie (Author)
"Dress became a testing ground for masculine ideals in Renaissance Italy. With the establishment of the ducal regime in Florence in 1530, there was increasing debate about how to be a nobleman. Was fashionable clothing a sign of magnificence or a source of mockery? Was the graceful courtier virile or effeminate? How could a man dress for court without bankrupting himself? This book explores the whole story of clothing, from the tailor's workshop to spectacular court festivities, to show how the male nobility in one of Italy's main textile production centres used their appearances to project social, sexual, and professional identities. Sixteenth-century male fashion is often associated with swagger and ostentation but this book shows that Florentine clothing reflected manhood at a much deeper level, communicating a very Italian spectrum of male virtues and vices, from honour, courage, and restraint to luxury and excess. Situating dress at the heart of identity formation, Currie traces these codes through an array of sources, including unpublished archival records, surviving garments, portraiture, poetry, and personal correspondence between the Medici and their courtiers. Addressing important themes such as gender, politics, and consumption, Fashion and Masculinity in Renaissance Florence sheds fresh light on the sartorial culture of the Florentine court and Italy as a whole"-- Provided by publisher
Print Book, English, 2017
First paperback edition View all formats and editions
Bloomsbury Academic, London, 2017
History
xv, 202 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm
9781350169982, 9781350031630, 1350031631, 1350169986
1000616867
Introduction
Part One Fashioning the Medici Court. 1. The Court on Show ; 2. The rise and fall of the Florentine Toga
Part Two The courtier as consumer. 3. The noble art of shopping ; 4. Ruinous appearances
Part Three Modes of Masculinity. 5. The versatility of black ; 6. Youth, fashion, and desire ; 7. Festive dress
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index