The Renaissance

 Renaissance is a French word meaning “rebirth”. The period in Europe from 14th to the 17th century is consider the bridge between the Middle Ages and Modern history. During the Renaissance period we have the rebirth of art and trade, so many cultures met for the first time thus exchanging values and traditions with one another. Throughout this period of rebirth, clothes and food changed according with the social and economic developments of that era.  Innovations in science and technology changed the quality of food and clothes forever.

 

Fashion was used to highlight characteristics of renaissance and the conditions of the time which used to shape the way people of different social classes dressed as well gender. Outfits for wealthy men included stocking or tights, poofy shoulder padding gold trimming or jewels of some kind. As a symbol of importance usually men with wealth wore a big chain necklace around their necks.  The sleeves on some tops usually started out big then got really tight at the wrist. A very special detail were the headdress that always was worn in public, usually one with feathers or one decorated with gems. While men that were not wealth or royal had coats with big shoulder paddings that got tight at the wrist, with some kind of trimming. Some of them had capes or robes along with their daily clothing. The deference between a wealthy man and a non-wealthy man clothes were the fancy decoration and jewelry.

 

All women wore dresses. The outfit of a wealthy women usually had big shoulder paddings, stayed big then got smaller and smaller until it got to the wrist, that part got really tight. Women with importance had their dresses decorated with beads, feathers, gems, and some kind of trimming.   Around their waist women had a thing called a girdle - chains connected to beads of silver and gold and they would usually have jewels on each head. Their shoes had slashes and some gems in them.  Headdresses decorated with feathers or gems were present at women’s clothing. Their style of dresses were the same but their social class was shown by the jewelry and fancy decoration present in the dress.  Not so wealthy women had the same way of dressing but because of their status were unable to have gems of trimming in their dresses.

 

Children’s clothing had similar look to the adult clothing.  If a child was dressed well, the child’s family was considered dignified and well respect among other. A child dressed inappropriately was thought that their family was poor. An upper-class girl might wear a gown with a deep “v” that extends down to the base of her abdomen.  Headwear was present and in the children dressing .A biggin was a tight fitting cap worn by infants and younger children.

 

Hairstyles did not become visible until the very last part of the Renaissance. Up until that point, most women wore their hair covered by hoods.  Some women puffed the sides of their hair out so it could peek out from their hoods. Renaissance fashion, hairstyles were dressed in ornate style, dripping with jewels, pins, wires and ribbons.

 

“These hat badges were often fashioned out of gold, frequently enamelled and set with precious or semi-precious stones. However, some were also rendered in bronze or copper and gilded. The medallions were executed in relief with figures and scenes. Cellini describes making such reliefs in his Trattati dell’oreficeria:And amongst the other beautiful works of that time people used to make certain medallions in the thinnest of gold, for wearing on a beret or a hat; and on these medallions were depicted figures in low relief, and in medium relief, and totally in the round, which were the most beautiful things to behold” .

 

During events people in the Renaissance period gave lots of importance to their dressing. Everyone tried to look the best, women were using the same dress style as their daily dresses but the fabric and the decor, and jewels were different. Not only women but as well men were really careful on their clothes mostly when we talk about events and social meetings.  The fashion during Renaissance period was influence by Queen Elizabeth.  She inspired the way people dressed at the time. Her clothes would help her attain authority and respect of the materialistic people she governed. Queen Elizabeth was obsessed with trends in fashion, she was the ideal model of the style and fashion of Renaissance era.  Her influence on fashion were at an unexpected degree. Most of the fashion changes have been done in what is now Italy. 

 

The italian cities were a really important component of the Renaissance and many of the changes not only of fashion but as well in art, science and food were done in those italian cities.

 

Food during Renaissance depended on where you lived and how wealthy you were. Middle class people would eat soup or mush for food for just about every meal.  Their soup would have been made of scraps of food, usually vegetables. Fruits was a common thing found on the upper classes table, and were used in desserts and some of them would be gooseberries, apples, orange, and strawberry.  Meat was hard to get because it was expensive and rare.

 

 

“Gingerbread

• 1 c honey

• 1 c breadcrumbs

• 1 t ginger

• 1/4 t pepper

• 1/4 t saunders

• 1 T sugar

• 30-40 whole cloves (~ 1 t) (or 5 t sugar, pinch powdered cloves)

 

Bring honey to a boil, simmer two or three minute, stir in breadcrumbs with a spatula until uniformly mixed. Remove from heat, stir in ginger, pepper, and saunders. When it is cool enough to handle, knead it to get spices thoroughly mixed. Put it in a box (I used a square corning-ware container with a lid), squish it flat and thin, sprinkle with sugar and put cloves ornamentally around the edge. Leave it to let the clove flavor sink in; do not eat the cloves. An alternative way of doing it is to roll into small balls, roll in sugar mixed with a pinch of cloves, then flatten them a little to avoid confusion with hais. This is suitable if you are making them today and eating them tomorrow."

 

Many of our food have been discovered since the Renaissance. During the Renaissance, wedding feasts would be two course as well as desert. It would involve a lot of meat, some of the first course food would be salads of various kinds, chickens with spinach cold saille, small pastries with hot sauce, dainty pate spring chickens in aspic, sweetened mustard etc.  The second course would be orange salad, venison broth, roast quail, plate of meaus, leg of lamb daube, olives, sweetened mustard etc.  The dessert would be a very important part of the feast, some of them are mousse tart, apple tart, clove apple, gren walnuts, cheese, ample jelly. Bread was a main course of Renaissance period. In the earliest time bread was cooked under the embers.

We can see that Renaissance period was a very rich in every aspect. Their culture not only stayed alive during that time but it still influences our cultures.   Fashion and food would not be the same today if it was not for the essential changes and transformations that happened during Renaissance.  It truly was the rebirth of humanity on so many levels.  We should definitely feel lucky to have so many resources from Renaissance so we can learn and look back in the ways that our world has changed.