Beautifully written, this examination of costuming is not itself about actual clothing, but how that clothing was used by Italians to display their status to others. Obviously it is well-researched with extensive citations and quotes, with a great bibliography. Invaluable tables sprinkled throughout give essential social information such as color combinations, the comparative wages of different occupations, and units of currency. Any costumer will adore this, as will anybody interested in the period's sociology. ( )

This engaging book is a ticket to fifteenth-century Florence, where fashion and style carried the day--for the ruling class, at least. Using pictorial and written sources (frescoes, journals, tax reports), the author takes readers to the shops of master tailors, into homes where weddings are orchestrated by the bride’s betrothed, and into the marketplace, where female vendors offer caps and bird-catching nets for sale.
Carole Collier Frick, associate professor of history at Southern Illinois University, blends a wealth of information with a remarkably easy style. After telling us every native Florentine knew at a glance where a man ranked in male-dominated Florence by the shade of red he wore--that color in particular differentiated the great from the near great--she takes us through red and its many variations. Crimson was the most expensive dye, followed by carmine (or scarlet), and so on, till we reach “orchil” at the bottom of the red color scale. Why the difference in cost? Because crimson was imported in powdered form from the East, where it was obtained from the Kermes shield louse, while orchil was acquired from lichens.
Weddings counted as one of Florence’s premiere status events. As such, in a chapter titled “The Making of Wedding Gowns,” Frick follows the planning of a wedding, from the first public event in the marriage process, the espousal, to the ductio, when the bride, seated on a white horse, was paraded through the streets in her wedding gown, for all to see. And what a gown this had better be! Citing the betrothal of Francesco Castellani to Lena Alamanni in 1448, Frick describes the construction of Lena’s crimson cut-velvet overgown, for which Francesco spared no expense, as the gown formed part of his bride’s wedding gift, the “counter-trousseau.” Not only Francesco was involved: outfitting the bride eventually included members of both the bride and groom’s houses, the tailor, three embroiderers, family friends, a dyer--and the famous poet, Luigi Pulci. All in all, at least a dozen men were involved in the evolution of Lena’s wedding dress.
Other chapters highlight the important role tailors played, sumptuary legislation and the “fashion police,” and the clothes themselves (for example, funeral clothing and trousseaux for marriage and convent). There is as well a chapter devoted to craftspeople and an essay on painted clothes (clothing as it appears in the frescoes of the time.)
In Dressing Renaissance Florence, silks wear names like “pink sapphire” and “throat of the dove” (for grey). Many illustrations illuminate the lively text, and the book has a fine glossary, too: “chopine--very high wooden or cork platform shoes for women slipped on for outside wear over more delicate slippers (pianelle).”
Frick includes tables (“Pelts Used for Lining, Borders, and Sleeves”) and appendixes (“Currency and Measures,” “Cloth Required for Selected Garments”) and a user-friendly index: “Cloistered workers (see also convents: needlework performed in).”
Highly recommended. Seldom does one come across such a valuable and entertaining book.
By Alana White, Historical Novels Review, www.historicalnovelsociety.org ( )