Some day I will be a millionaire and have the entire set of the early modern German dictionaries in my possession. Since I’m not, I consulted my Kleines Fruehneuhochdeutsches Woerterbuch. Mutter is listed as a few things, like Uterus and Ursache and Gebaermutter (same thing as item 1, but anyway!), there is also muter listed. Muter refers me to materi(e). the first results in the dictionary are “Materie, Gegenstand, Stoff, Koerper” Respectively, matter (material?), subject, cloth, and body.

Kluge’s Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Sprache (best Christmas present ever) first lists the term mieder as being mueder until sometime in the 18th century. It is similar to muter. Materie is still referred to as stoff in addition to bestandteil (component) and Gegenstand.

Kluge’s Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Sprache says:

Mieder Sn (bis in 18. Jh mueder m.) std. (11.Jh., Form 15. Jh.). Bis in 18. Jh mueder m.; die Entrundung aus mitteldeutschen oder oberdeutschen Mundarten. Mhd. muoder, mueeder, ahd. muodar >>Leibchen << neben >>Bauch, Mutterleib <<. Es handelt sich also um eine Zugehoerigkeitsbildung zu dem Wort Mutter in der Bedeutung >>Mutterleib<< als >>das Kleidungsstueck, das den Leib bedeckt<<.
Heyne (1899/1903), III, 314; Mieder W. SD 23 (1979), 118-121

Here is some of what Grimm’s Dictionary says:
MIEDER, n. weibliches kleidungsstück, leibchen ohne ärmel. (female clothing, little body without sleeves) als theit der frauentracht in Ober- und Niederdeutschland alt verbreitet (as the item of female clothing spread in Upper and Lower Germany), 640, 53 aus Vergil. Georg. 3, 427), und da später muoder (and then later as muoder)in der Martina vom menschlichen leibe und der haut steht (LEXER wb. 1, 2238) , so ist es wahrscheinlich, dasz das kleidungsstück von daher seinen namen empfangen hat und sich etwa verhält wie leib und leibchen in übertragener bedeutung (vgl. oben sp. 590. 591); (so it is possible that the piece of clothing recieved its name from where it sat on the body and approximately behaves like body and vest in a metaphorical meaning), vgl. auch brust und brüstchen pectorale, theil 2, 446. 448 und franz. corset von cors, corpus. das mittelalter kennt muoder auch als rumpftheil der männlichen kleidung (also breast and chest and the french corset from cors, corpus. in the middle ages a muoder was known as the torso part of men’s clothing :

dâ der ermel an daჳ muoder gât (am rocke des jungen Helmbrecht)
alumbe und umbe was diu nât
behangen wol mit schellen.
Helmbrecht 211, selbst als ganzes oberkleid, in éiner bedeutung mit dem fremden surkenîe.

surkenîe: Sorquenie, which is a cote.

Now that is out of the way, Zander-Seidel mentions that it was different than a Bruestlein and Leiblein and that it can be worn over or under a shirt. Margarethe Clatz leaves behind (in 1550) an ‘old white mutter on a shirt” (Zander-Seidel 94). But what is a mutter/mueder? I am of the opinion that it is not a corset as we modernly think of it.

As far as I know, it isn’t until 1598 that there is a definitive (i.e. Extant) answer on stiffening bodies in Germany and it comes in the form of a boned pair of bodies that belonged to a 22 year old. I’m going to go with an unboned bodice. Lined, of course.

However I am of the opinion that in general and prior to the 1580s an unboned but lined kirtle will suffice as far as support for gowns goes. Layers, not one heavily engineered item, is the answer.

Katharina van Hemessen, Young Woman. 1550-1560

Antonis Mor, Portrait of a Woman c. 1550-1577

With the Hemessen portrait, the first thing that jumps out at me is the lack of the distinctive Dutch headdress. In almost all of the upper class portraits I have looked at (which admittedly is not all of the extant upper class Dutch portraits) the women are wearing the distinctive Dutch style of headdress (The starched veil). The only females who tend to not wear them are children. Even in the 1590s, while the style of headdress changed, it’s still there in portraiture. The second is that if one looks at Dutch portraits from circa 1550-1560, the style of dress is different than the style in the painting. Until the late 1550s, a majority of the gowns were square necked and often worn with partlets over the dress. They eventually evolved into high neck gowns.

Despite being Dutch, In the 1540s Katharina van Hemessen attracted the attention of Maria of Austria, who served Charles V as the regent of the Low Countries. In 1556, Maria resigned her post and went back to Spain and she took Katharina with her. Though the woman in the portrait is not Maria of Austria, it is possible she was at the court of Maria and is therefore wearing the fashion of the Hapsburg court, since during the first 8 years of the possible date given for the portrait, Katharina was with her court.

Antonis Mor’s Portrait of a Lady presents the same issue. He was in demand in many European courts. The style the lady is wearing in the Antonis Mor portrait reminds me of a portrait he painted of Jane Dormer.

Antonis Mor. Jane Dormer, year unknown

Terminology:
I prefer the term Dutch to describe the style of clothing I am referencing. Flanders, and thus Flemish styles, are further south. The geography of the Netherlands in 1555 is as such:

Hapsburg Netherlands in 1555

Pieter Geyl writes “The use of the term Flemish is a modern invention used to describe the language spoken in the Netherlands. More appropriate terms to describe the people and the costume would be Dutch or Netherlandish” ( 20, 21).

The Artists Referenced:
Pieter Aertsen was born in either 1507 or 1508 in Amsterdam, Holland, where he also died in 1575. He resided in Antwerp until around 1556. When he first arrived in Antwerp he was initially linked to Jan Mandyn. Later Pieter Aertsen apprenticed to Allaert Claesz. He left Antwerp and returned to Amsterdam shortly before 1557. Many of his works follow a biblical theme.

“Pieter Aertsen ran a workshop modelled on the Antwerp studios of the first half of the sixteenth century in all probability first in Antwerp and subsequently in Amsterdam, to which he returned shortly before 1557″ (Kloek 28).

Joachim Beuckelaer was a nephew of Pieter Aertsen. He was born in approximately 1533 and died in approximately 1574 in Antwerp. He trained in his uncle’s studio and like his uncle, he too painted market and kitchen scenes with biblical undercurrents. In 1560, he became an independent master.

Joachim Beuckelaer and Pieter Aertsen likely painted women who resided in Antwerp or Amsterdam, which were truly cities. “During the second and third quarters of the [sixteenth] century, Antwerp held the undisputed place as the center of this new commercial world. Baltic grain, English textiles, Portuguese spices, Spanish silver, German wines and metals all flowed in its markets, were exchanged, and flowed out again to their new destination” (Honig 4).

The women Aertsen and Beuckelaer painted were not peasants by any means. The women in Aertsen and Beuckelaer’s art are of a working middle class. The woman seen below in Lucas Van Leyden’s The Milk Maid is more of a lower class woman.

Lucas van Leyden. Milk Maid 1510

The Clothing in the Art
The Layers
• Smock
• Kirtle
• Overgown (sometimes seen with short sleeves)
• Sleeves
• Partlets
• Aprons
• Headcoverings
• Optional Jackets

The Gown:
The gown layer is the most visible layer that the women are wearing under the aprons and partlets. The gowns would have been made of wool. The color palette of choice seems to have been predominately warm. Orange and variations of the shade occur most often (for example, red-orange, pumpkin orange, etc). Blue is not seen often on the gown layer, however this could simply be the aesthetic of the Dutch artists.

I believe that the skirts were definitely not open. There are also pictures to prove it. These women worked, and life was dangerous. Full or open skirts could get caught in things, it would be difficult to work in. All the skirts I have seen from the front and below the apron have been closed and flat in front, that is the pleating, likely loose cartridge pleating, begins around the hips and is focused towards the back. Additionally, the skirts appear to  be between ankle length and calf length.

Pieter Aersten. Market Scene, year unknown

The woman in the  picture in the orange gown and the woman to the left are perfect examples of the flat and closed in the front, full in the back skirt. To construct the skirt, I use a rectangle with a center back gore and 2 side gores if I have enough fabric. I do not pleat it in the front, and I use a loose cartridge pleat in the back. I do not use rolled pleats, because as far as I know there is no extant example of rolled pleats in the 16th century. Cartridge pleats give the correct look.

Okay, so what’s the join of the skirt and bodice look like since we can only see below the apron in the above picture? While poking through my collection, I somehow noticed a detail set in the background. The woman carrying the fruit is not wearing an apron. You can clearly see the front of her gown. I had my friend crop and enlarge and adjust the color on the image so I could make sure the color of the gown and bodice and sleeves were the same.

Pieter Aertsen. Inset from Market Scene, year unknown

You can see that the skirt is flat below the laced opening, there is no V. Also it can be seen that the woman carrying the fruit has short sleeves set into the bodice of the gown and that she has longer colored sleeves attached to the short sleeves.

The bodice hits at the natural waist, and appears to come straight down from the strap. I believe that these bodices were constructed and shaped, because Bruegel’s rural women even feature seams which shape their clothing. Beuckelaer’s Allegory of Negligence has a detail of a shoulder seam, which is set back off the shoulder.  You can also see more wrinkly kirtle.

Shoulder Detail from Allegory of Negligence

The gown can either be laced closed through rings, or laced through eyelets (see detail below).

Joachim Beuckelaer. Vegetable Seller, 1567 detail

I wear a size 14 modernly, am 5′4, and can make a gown out of 4 yards of 55″ wool.

The Kirtle:
The kirtle is a trickiest piece of clothing because it it not really visible under the gowns. All one can do is make educated guesses based on the artwork.What one can see is that sometimes the kirtle layer is wrinkled under the lacing, sometimes it is not.

The Allegory of Negligence depicts a wrinkled kirtle, which the Four Elements (Fire) depicts a smoothed out kirtle.

Shoulder Detail from Allegory of Negligence

Joachim Beuckelaer. The Four Elements (Fire). 1570

It appears that the women in the market scenes did wear their kirtles with a jacket over them, but the jackets lace closed over them. The following two paintings are examples of that.

Joachim Beuckelaer. The Four Elements, Earth. 1569

Joachim Beuckelaer. The Four Elements (Water). 1569

I believe the jackets laced closed because of the tension visible in the jacket along the laces, especially in The Four Elements (Earth).

I make side lacing kirtles with attached skirts since they are multi-fuctional and go under other gowns as well. I have a theory about how the kirtle would wrinkle under the gown if the kirtle bodice was not laced closed all the way. I don’t believe the women are wearing plackets/stomachers under their gowns.

The Smock:
The smock or shirt is the layer closest to the skin. It is made of linen. Drea Leed has an excellent smock generator on her website or there are directions for making a smock in The Tudor Tailor. Patterns of Fashion 4 has many extant smocks and is also a good book to go to for information. When the women aren’t wearing their partlets and the smock can be seen, it appears to have a square neck or a round neck. That doesn’t mean that other options weren’t put to use. The Four Elements (Water) is a good example of other things that could be done with the smock.

The Accessories
• Headcoverings
• Partlets
• Jackets
• Aprons
• Sleeves

Headcoverings:
There are a few options as far as dealing with one’s head. Seen are taped braids (See The Tudor Tailor for instructions), cauls, the sort of heart-shaped kerchief, and straw hats. Ideally one would have enough hair to braid and tape up, put a caul over, and then put a kerchief over the caul.  I make my kerchiefs by taking a piece of rectangular linen about 15×20 inches (after it is hemmed) and then I iron and starch a crease lengthwise into the kerchief. I do not wire them.  If the linen is of a fine, tight, weave, starch is liable to achieve the same effect.  To wear it, I center it on my head, pin it to my caul, and then bring the back together and pin it there to my caul. Sometimes I will split the middle as I have seen women with little kerchief tails hanging over both shoulders.

When I am wearing my straw hat, I will put on the caul (after hairtaping). I have not seen straps on the hats so I use a hatpin to secure mine to my head. I bought a shallow brimmed straw hat at an event, and I’m not sure where something like it could be found.

Also having your hair just taped up is an acceptable thing to do.

Partlets:
There are also a few things that can be done with partlets, however the general thing seems to have been a white partlet with a standing collar and if it was chilly, a black wool partlet to go over the white. Sometimes the white partlet had pleats on the collar. The black partlet also has a high collar, but no pleats. Below is a picture of a white partlet with a standing ruffed collar that doesn’t appear to tie under the arm, rather it looks as though it pins onto the gown.

Sometimes the women are seen wearing something like a jacket (see The Four Elements (Air), detail from Market Scene.) If you have access to The Tudor Tailor this would likely have been similar to the Waistcoat on page 84. With a little bit of modification to The Tudor Tailor pattern (such as leaving off the shoulder wings) this pattern would be a great way to start. A majority of the sleeves are not tight fitting though, rather that are puffed at the top.

Sleeves:
The sleeves are pinned on to either the overgown straps or to the partlet. They have a triangular sleeve head, and other than that are pretty much tube sleeves. If the gown has shorter sleeves sewn into the armscye, it appears that tube sleeves were sewn on to the short sleeve.

Aprons:
Aprons are a common accessory as well as a must have. They are rectangular.

Works Cited and Referenced
Geyl, Pieter. History of the Dutch Speaking Peoples 1555-1648. Phoenix Press, 2001.

Honig, Elizabeth Alice. Painting and the Market in Early Modern Antwerp. Yale University
Press, 1998.

Kloek, Wouter. “Het probleem van het samenstellen van het oeuvre.”. Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 40(1989): 1-28.

Mikhaila, Ninya and Jane Malcom-Davis. The Tudor Tailor. Costume and Fashion Press, 2006.

Choosing Your Visual Sources: How to go about selecting portraiture.

Foundation Layers in Germany

The Dutch Headdress

Evolution of Upper Class Female Dutch Clothing 1515-1602

“The Flemish Peasant” or Dutch Women’s Clothing in Sixteenth Century Market Scenes (Updated January 2010)

What Dutch Children Wore

The Transition to Ruffs

There are also some things to be aware of when it comes to using online images. They are the color shifts and details. If there is a dress you want to recreate or view in more detail, I would suggest searching for a print copy.

The images and artwork that I have not created are used for non-commercial purposes only.

1500-1509

1510-1519

1520-1529

Maerten van Heemskeerck. 1520.

Joos van Cleeve. Portrait of a Man and a Woman 1520 and 1527

1530-1539

Maerten van Heemskeerck. Family Portrait, 1530.

1540-1549

Katharina van Hemessen. Self Portrait, 1548

Katharina van Hemessen. Portrait of a Woman, 1548

1550-1559

Katharina van Hemessen. Portrait of a Woman with a Dog, 1551

Katharina van Hemessen. Portrait of a Lady, 1551

1560-1569

Pieter Bruegel the Elder The Peasant Dance 1568

Pieter Bruegel the Elder Peasant Wedding 1568

Joachim Beuckelaer. The Four Elements (Water). 1569

Pieter Aertsen Peasants by the Hearth 1560

1570-1579

Martin de Vos. Portrait of Antonius Anselmus, His Wife and Their Children, 1577

Antonis Mor. Female Portrait, 1577

1580-1589

Frans Pourbus the Elder. Portrait of a Young Woman, 1581

1590-1602

Gortzius Geldorp. Portrait of a Lady, 1597

Because of the nature of the text and the drawings, these are definitely not the most reliable sources when it comes to the accuracy of the women’s dress, however what Conrad Lautenbach has to say about the women is very interesting.

Ein Jungfraw auss Flandern

[57] A Young Woman from Flanders

Thus a young woman is accustomed
to adorn herself in Flanders
Well formed of face and figure,
her virtue pleases everyone,

In words she is charming,
in gestures entirely noble,
As she were a child of Venus,
swift and quick with work.

Ein Weib auss Flandern

[58] A Woman of Flanders

The dress among people
makes a difference in everyplace,
A Flemish woman is dressed,
as the figure here shows.

And although she wears simple clothes,
she acts fairly and properly,
and she entirely pleases her husband,
so he should heed no other.

Ein Hollaenderin.

[59] A Woman From Holland

Thus a merchant’s wife dresses
her lovely body in Holland,
when she goes from her house,
to address her business,

She lowers her eyes,
but her face is cheerful,
and is indeed quick and ready
to give everyone reply.

Ein Brabaendische Niderlaenderin

[60] A Netherlandish Woman from Brabant

Thus the women in Brabant
dress themselves with good garments,
When they go before respectable people,
like I have now seen.

But one can not depict their lovely figure
quickly with the hands,
They are ready and willing,
to do all the womanly work.

Ein Niderlaenderin vom Adel

[61] A Netherlandish Woman of Nobility

A woman born in the Netherlands,
chosen from noble blood,
Thus is accustomed to adorn herself,
as depicted before you here.

Not unequal to the Armenians
whom they hierin follow,
Rather it is their praise, breeding, respectability,
and honor that is famous far and wide.

Ein Niderlaendische Magd

[62] A Netherlandish Maid

Also in the Netherlands
Maids wear clothes according to their status,
as everyone can bear witness,
like this figure shows,

They are their mother’s children,
although they are somewhat dirty,
from work or kitchen smoke,
they are also to be praised.

Clothing

Mode Historique - Sarah tackles many eras and regions.

The Curious Frau - German 16th century dress.

Extreme Costuming - Fabulous articles, one of my favorites is the article on the Elizabethan seam.

Femke’s Filecabinet - A great website about Dutch clothing. She takes on regional variants of dress.

Eva’s Antonis Mor Gown. It is truly a lovely dress.Also be sure to check out her cap construction!

Cooking

Wel ende edelike spijse - a Dutch cooking manuscript from the second half of the 15th century, with English translations!

The First Printed Dutch Cookbook - 1510, with English translations.

I go to the University of Nevada, Reno where I’m majoring in English Literature and German. Neither of those things have anything to do with Dutch costume. To be honest, with all the primary sources that I am able to access because I read German, it is easy to wonder why I don’t delve into German culture in the 16th century. I’ve thought about it, but I really dig the fashion of the Dutch from approximately 1545-1560, which is a rather narrow period.

However because I don’t read Dutch, some aspects of the culture are cut off unless I am able to find materials in English or German to read. So far it hasn’t been too much of a problem, I just acknowledge that some things will get lost in translation and I will have to take it with a grain of salt.

I re-purposed this website to deal with Women’s clothing in the Netherlands as well as aspects of Dutch culture in the 16th century.  I have recently added links to Dutch recipes and cookbooks.

Articles consists of things I have written that pertain to clothing or culture.

The Portrait Gallery contains images of all the Dutch artwork I have amassed online over the years.

Clothing contains pictures of my clothing, and will eventually link to dress diaries of sorts.

Translations is where the German I have translated goes.

Links is where the links to sites I enjoy are.

About is about me.