Denim has become a fabric so popular and current in contemporary fashion that in its ubiquity we may forget it has a history too. The origins of the denim fabric are somewhat disputed but some historians trace its production to centers in Italy and France during the sixteenth century where mention is made of fabrics ‘de Nimes’ (from a region in France) or ‘jean’ from production centers in Italy that were made of various threads including wool, silk, cotton. By the 18th and 19th centuries the production of denim had transmitted successfully to England and the United States and had begun to detach itself from association with ‘jean’, becoming a durable, entirely cotton weave fabric, akin to the denim we are familiar with now. 
Jean and denim remained different in their categorization through the 19th century- with ‘jean’ fabric being designated for slightly more refined clothing and the sturdier denim weave being used for work-clothes and considered a much simpler, unpretentious textile. The first textile mills in the United States arose in New England and that is where in the mid 1800’s the production of denim in the weave and color we are familiar with began as well.
In the 16th century Italy and Belgium became centers of lace production as their artisans developed a refined form of needlework that would become popular adornment to the wardrobes of the growing bourgeoisie and aristocracy of Western Europe. Lacework developed from the open decorative technique of embroidery and was in its early manifestations called cut-work. As embroidery was used to finish the hems of garments and would add slight flourishes of thread patterning along edges of cloth it allowed needlework to separate itself more and more from the greater garment and evolve into a coveted item in its own right.
As early as the 14th century the Italian and Flemish states had developed economic ties and traded goods between each other through their shipping routes and it would be these two centers that would become centers of lace craftwork as much as fine art production. By the 16th century they were centers of the Renaissance movement that promoted new levels of aesthetic appreciation and technological advances in manufacture, engineering, and printing among other things. Lacework, as an art of intricate patterning that would serve to enrich textiles as much as add refinement to the fashions of the new middle classes and the extant nobility, came into great favor at this time. Women would use pattern books (that had become available through new printing practices) to develop their lacework by setting a network of crossing threads upon a frame in defined patterns.
Set into the frame, beneath the network of threads, was the quintain (the background fabric) that would be sewn to the network where necessary in accordance with the patterning while any excess quintain would be cut away. These networks of thread would be laid out according to a geometric pattern radiating from a center and would combine open-work with heavily embroidered sections. The other form of lacework that came out of this period was referred to as lacis, patterns coming from a French tradition of working along a gridded network ground and establishing shapes according to compilations of squares on the grid.
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Lace trade relied on small manufacturing centers out of Antwerp, Brussels, Venice and Florence (and subsequently France) and as markets expanded and fashion and textile trends were made available to more than the noble classes, pedlars would distribute them to provincial centers where they would be sold at market to the ever-growing consuming bourgeois class.
*image– 16th century Italian lace, Henry III cypher and arms |
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Considering the ubiquity of pants in contemporary costume throughout the West and more and more visibly in the East, it is interesting to note that they were not a staple in men’s fashion until very late in recorded history. Pants or trousers really only became a feature of fashion after developing from the hose and breeches of the 15th through 18th centuries. What we see men and women wearing today is a variation of something quite different that evolved in men’s costume as tunic’s became shorter in the medieval period. 
In the 12th century the tunic dropped to about knee-length and men would wear often loose-fitting hose underneath. The hose would rise above the knee and would fasten to drawers (called braies) or be held in place by leg bands, thus providing warmth and coverage but still not considered a separate garment. By the middle of the 1300s hose were made of progressively tighter knits and as they became more fitted they also rose in length to compensate for the shortening of the tunic. As the tunic shortened and gave way to the more form-fitted doublet (that initially was worn under the tunic but soon dominated as a form) the hose gained in length and would be fastened to the doublet. The doublet narrowed at the waist and flared slightly at the hips to accentuate a certain ideal of figure and the well-fitted hose complemented this. By the 14th century it was typical for hose to form a single garment (as opposed to the separate pieces for each leg) and since the doublet had become even shorter with time the hose would be refitted for modesty by the attachment of a codpiece.
Towards the 1500’s the hose again transformed and evolved to become a single garment that ended at the knee and which the wearer would complement with separate stockings held up over the knee with garters. This shorter version of the hose would lead to the padded hose which would express, in their girth, a flamboyance and degree of excess compatible with the spirit of Western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. The padded hose then gave way to rich silk and satin breeches that would dominate until the period of the French Revolution and the dissolution of certain class ideals and distinctions. 
The ruff, an extension of a simple collar, that appeared in the 16th century was a form in fashion that grew in length and breadth after its introduction and took on symbolic as well as aesthetic meaning.
It grew out of the gathering of fabric at the neckline of the typical chemise, or undergarment, worn under outer layers of clothing. The chemise served to protect the outer garments from excessive wear and washing and were usually made of sturdier linen that could be bleached and cleaned with frequency. The collection of fabric at the neckline, that would be tied or cinched and form a small collar, would often stand out in its whiteness and in its fabric composition against the features of the wearer’s outer garments. By virtue of this initial distinction, it came to have an importance in its own right and the aesthetic language of the collar, or more elaborate ruff, broadened accordingly.
The ruff survived longest as an accessory in Holland, after evolving quickly and becoming a form separate from the chemise, where it also grew to the most extravagant sizes– cartwheel ruffs were popular there up until the mid-17th century and were often so wide, up to a foot and a half, as to require wiring to retain their shape. Otherwise, the shape of ruffs was maintained by use of starch. The rigidity of the ruff thus ensured that the wearer projected a dignified pose that, because of hindered movement, suggested a life of leisure and attendance to. 
Until the mid 1550s in England the fashion remained for women to wear narrow-shouldered dresses with sleeves that widened to a trumpet form, a vestige of a medieval fashion. Towards the end of the 16th century, however, with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, this fashion gave way to narrower, more form-fitting, sleeves and high, padded shoulders in the French and Spanish style. The reign of Queen Elizabeth would be accentuated by the display of style that she herself embodied. She would become the namesake and emblem of the Elizabethan era, her long reign as regent allowing for great cultural achievements as well as political change in England.
The images of her became exemplary of the popular fashion of the time but with a level of glorification suited to a figure ordained by God, as she herself saw her role and responsibility as monarch. Typical of dress worn by women of the period, the upper arms of the garment would billow out and narrow towards the wrist and often would be decorated with slashings that allowed the underdress, or chemise top, to show through the surface textile. Women would wear form-fitting bodices that defined the waist and ended in a V-like shape, while lace accessories were often used to adorn the edge of the bodice at the chest and were also made as sleeve coverings.
