I was super excited by the renaissance theme of Paper Doll Studio the Original Paper Doll Artists Guild magazine for Issue 126- Renaissance. On one hand, I liked the ease of drawing a Renaissance faire fantasy sort of thing, but it wasn’t long before I decided I wanted to do something more challenging and research intensive.

(This should surprise no one.)

The renaissance is a very long period of time. You can either date it from 1400 to 1600 or from 1300 to 1600, but either way it’s at least 200 years of fashion history. By the end of the 1400s, there’s very distinct regional styles developing, so I needed to consider geography and time period.

All paper dolls need underwear and I knew I didn’t want to do something that would limit me to one time period or one style of dress. So, I settled on these vague shifts from Germany. Illustrations in illuminated manuscripts of undergarments are pretty rare, but both of these illustrations from German manuscripts of the mid-1400s show sleeveless garments with fairly fitted waists. Simple and pretty generic, unlike say a boned bodice of the Tudor court.

First off, I knew I wanted to start with the Burgundian gowns of the 1400s. The styles vary throughout the century, but I liked the wider v-neck of the 1470s. From the end of the fourteenth to the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundian Netherlands included the low countries in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and northern France. It was ruled by a series of very powerful dukes and was a center of cloth production. The wealth, and the cloth production, made the area one of the centers of fashion- hence cometh the name Burgundian gown.

Next up, I decided to draw a style I’ve always loved and never had much chance to explore- the Venetian gowns of the 1400s. These empire gowns are layered, deeply regional and surprisingly revealing for a world where hair was often covered and so was cleavage. Venice had massive wealth from the spice trade, an unusually diverse population, and contact with the Middle East, making it very exotic in the eyes of the rest of Europe. There’s a reason Shakespeare set so many plays there- Venice was a place people thought anything could happen.

Last, but not least, I wanted to hop across the continent and up to Germany for a foray into Saxon gowns. Often called Cranach gowns, after the painter who depicted them, these fancy dresses were usually accompanied by amazing hats. There’s debate among some folks if these dresses ever even existed, but I tend to err on the side of assuming people in the historical past weren’t trying to somehow mislead people in the present and I haven’t heard a very solid argument against them yet.

Though, in fairness, I’m not an expert on the German renaissance.

I hope you’ll pick up this new issue from Paper Doll Studio once it comes out to see all the amazing paper dolls included. If you want to see the actual paper doll, head on over to Etsy where you can download her for 5.00 and print her out full size. She’s two pages of beautiful Renaissance history. Check her out here.

(Yes, she can share with the Mix and Match paper dolls as well.)