Three fashion accessories of the 17th and 18th centuries

Someone said that besides protecting us clothes permit to communicate, show, appear… and seduce. Specially in the period we are going to consider, people exhibited their clothes also to point their social class out. Among many typical accessories, three of them drew my attention above all others:

- The Tie, created in 1600, flourished a century later. At the beginning it was a simple linen cloth tied loosely, as a butterfly tie, and later more complex in shape and knot. One of the most famous dandies of the 18th and 19th centuries was Beau Brummel, well-known for making knot in his tie and leaving it as it came, be it a success or not. The charm of the tie was so great, that a book entitled The art of knotting a tie was published.

- The Beauty Spot, a curious and eccentric fashion, reached its grandeur in the 18th century. Though it has not been confirmed, it seems that it used to cover up facial blemishes, more prevalent in women, especially those derived from smallpox. What was it? Beauty spots were made of materials such as taffeta or soft leather shaped like crescents, stars, the sun, and so on, including horse-drawn carriages to wear on the skin. Poorer women wore beauty spots to be in fashion, too, but theirs were made of paper.

- The Fan, despite its ancient origin, it was brought to the fore in the 17th century by the Portuguese who were travelling from the Far East, while in France it had been introduced by Caterina de’ Medici, some years before. Fans were pleated, semicircular, ornate or plain, made of silk or of paper. This accessory was used by women not only to stay cool but also as a social distinction element and as a special means of communication. Indeed depending on how it was moved, the fan could express different feelings. For example, making it stroke your cheeks gently showed that you loved the person you were talking with, while placing it on your lips meant that you wanted to be kissed. More than any other place in the 1700th, France was the country where fan culture flourished. Fans were also decorated with scenes of everyday life, with famous people, often portrayed as caricatures.

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Italian version here.