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historical
A 14th Century Fashion Paper Doll With Citrine
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It has been a while since we had a Jewels and Gemstones 2.0 paper doll, hasn’t it? It feels weird to have taken a two week break from them, but here we are.
So, I actually had this drawn last year, but I needed one more piece of clothing to fill out the set, so I had to draw some last minute shoes which delayed it’s debut until now. But I technically meant this to go along with my 14th century Pearl set. While I never meant for the 14th century to become such a common time period on this site, every time I draw another 14th century paper doll set, I feel like I learn more about the period and get better at rendering it. And I like the learning aspect.
So, Citrine here has two patterned dresses, a veil, a hood, and an extra pair of shoes. The paper doll’s shift is based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois (fol. 87v.) at the National Library of France from around 1370-1380. I’ve used the same one for my 12th century and 13th century paper dolls, so they can all share clothing. Shifts are not the easiest thing to find reference images for in this era, let me tell you. Her shoes come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz (my usual shoe source for anything this early.
The dress on the left is a sleeveless surcoat (unlike a sideless surcoat, sleeveless surcoats didn’t have huge armholes). I based the pattern on it from BNF Arsenal 3481 Ci commence li livres de Lancelot du Lac (fol. 65r). However, I’ve noticed these lines and dots patterns show a lot in medieval manuscripts and I don’t know if that is because they were easy to paint or if that is because they were commonly worn. The sleeveless surcoat shows up all over the place in early 14th century manuscripts. Here it is in Français 761: Artus le Restauré (fol. 25v) from between 1325 and 1350, in BNF Français 1433 Le Chevalier au Lion (fol. 67) from 1300-1350, and in BL Yates Thompson 13 The Taymouth Hours (fol. 107v). I think it is reasonable to say the style was super popular.
The dress on the right is a patterned surcoat with buttons which I sometimes see referred to as a Cotehardie. I don’t know enough to know if that term is correct (it is for men, I know). I was inspired to draw the pattern, because Roman de Giron le Courtois is full of these elaborate patterned dresses. The text is Italian and I wonder if that is why. Anyway, was the specific inspiration for this one was Folio 44v and Folio 75r. I have no idea what the manuscript is about, but there’s a lot of decapitated heads in it. In case you’re wondering, medieval manuscripts use Folio rather than page number, because most of them lack numbered pages.
Now that I’ve done two 1300s Jewels and Gemstones paper dolls (see Pearl here), I feel like I should do something from the 1400s, which is not a period I know as much about. However, the only way to learn is to try and so I guess I’ll add that to my to do list.
On Patreon I have a poll right now about the next time period to tackle. So, if you join us there, you can vote.
Sapphire: A Fashionable 1960s Paper Doll for Printing and Playing With
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After I did 1970s sets (one with Sapphire and one with Opal) and a 1950s set, drawing some 1960s paper dolls felt pretty inevitable. The 1960s are a fashion era I like, but haven’t done as much drawing from. I think because my mental image of the era (super 1960s mod dresses) exists and the actual mainstream fashions which were much more conservative. I love the wild mod looks, but most folks weren’t wearing them.
So, today’s 1960s paper doll is Sapphire with a very ladylike wardrobe from mostly the early 1960s, though I didn’t notice that until I was labeling everything. Here’s a few of the sources- her underwear comes from Sears in 1968. Her bra was based on several different years like this one from 1962 or this one from 1964. The pink suit is from McCall’s 6437 from 1962. Her hats both come from my John Peacock book on 20th century fashion, The Complete Fashion Sourcebook.
The evening gown was based on this Vogue 1452 pattern from 1965 designed by Galitzine of Italy. The green suit is from Vogue Couturier Design 1127; ca. 1962 designed by Michael of England. The 1965 Montgomery Ward Spring Summer Catalog was the source for the yellow polka-dotted dress.
You can, of course, see a lot more 1960s fashion references and inspiration on my 1960s Pinterest board. I tend to collect a lot and then pick and chose when the drawing point happens. There will be another 1960s paper doll up soon, as I have a second one finished as well.
Pearl in the 14th Century Women’s Clothing: A Paper Doll
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I love historical fashion, I love book history and I love research. So, my medieval paper dolls are a chance to both draw paper dolls and spend way too much time doing research. Best part- I always learn something new. As I finished this super long post about today’s 14th century paper doll, I realized it mighty be a little much for people, so if you don’t want info on braids, sources, and scandalous surcoats of 14th century women’s clothing, stop now and just enjoy the paper doll and her pretty dresses.
One thing I learned since my latest foray into14th century women’s clothing is that I was wrong about how hair worked. I’d always thought that the hair was parted and then braided into two braids. I wasn’t sure what happened after that, but I assumed the end of the hair was tucked behind the ear. I now realize that the braid was actually tucked up under the front of the hairline. This is really clear in some of the manuscript illustrations. Pearl’s hair here is based on this illustration from the Bodleian Library’s MS. Bodl. 264: Romance of Alexander (fol. 181v). Over their hair, women wore veils or hoods (think like, just the hood part of a coat). There’s a lot of different styles of these that I’ve seen.
Looking away from hair for a moment, 14th century women’s clothing (aka 1300s) involved layers of dresses over a shift. There’s a lot of inconsistency in words used for clothing. I am going to use surcoat for the outer most dress and kirtle for the inner dress. The kirtle went over a shift and then a belt (called a girtle) was often worn over the kirtle. Here’s a paper doll example of that. Over top of all that, a surcoat could be worn for keeping warm or for being fashionable. Some surcoat’s had slits in the front, so women could get to purses hanging off their girtles. This was an early form of pockets. If you had the money, fur lined the surcoats for warmth and fashion. Cotehardie‘s were surcoats with buttons, as I understand it.
Starting with underwear, Pearl’s shift is based one illustrated in Roman de Giron le Courtois (fol. 87v.) at the National Library of France from around 1370-1380. Her shoes come from Stepping Through Time by Olaf Goubitz. Pearl’s dress on the right is a cotehardie (aka: button fronted surcoat) over a kirtle which was inspired by MS. Bodl. 264: Romance of Alexander (fol. 097v) and (fol. 181v) from between 1338-1344, plus this casket lid.
And now, a word about sideless surcoats… (aka: the gown on the right.)
Sideless surcoats are basically gowns with huge armholes. You can see examples in BGE Ms. fr. 190/1 Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes (Fol.35v) housed at the Bibliothèque de Genève from 1410 and this one in Besançon BM MS.677 Fleurs des chroniques from the Bibliothèque municipale de Besançon (fol. 087v) from 1384-1400. This French 14th century tomb slab shows the same style. If you poke around on my 14th century Pinterest board I’m sure you’ll see more.
This fur heavy version seems to mostly be ceremonial. De claris mulieribus in an anonymous French translation (Le livre de femmes nobles et renomées) Royal 16 GV (fol. 02) (my source) is from 1440, but was trying to show things that had happened in the 1300s. By the time the mid-1400s rolled around, only Queens on court occasions seem to be wearing these furry surcoats.
I find that a little ironic, because the sideless surcoat was sometimes called “windows to hell” or “windows to purgatory” when it first showed up. It showed off so much of a woman’s kirtle that it was scandalous by 14th century women’s clothing standards. It’s interesting evidence that extreme forms of fashion eventually become an accepted part of society, even some 600 years ago.
Lastly, our paper doll has veils and a hood. While I am not totally certain about the “rules” involving veils, they were definitely common and I think more common if the woman was married. Her double ruffled veil comes from Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek, Speculum Humanae Salvationis (fol. 37r). However, the large number of illustrations that show women with their hair exposed, so I don’t think it was verboten for women to have exposed hair in this era.
Her hood is based on BNF Français 20090 Bible Historiale de Jean de Berry (fol. 290r) which is from the National library of France. I’m not 100% clear on how hoods fit into the social structure of the 14th century. I can’t imagine wearing one with that fancy fur trimmed surcoat, but then I doubt fancy fur surcoats were worn outside much.
And this is the end of this super long, super involved post on 14th century women’s clothing. If you made it to the end, good for you! By the way, Topaz with 12th century clothing and Lapis with 13th century clothing have the same basic shift and therefore can easily share clothing with today’s 14th century clothing paper doll. It’s a 300 year medieval paper doll trifecta. Yes, I did plan it that way.
Amethyst Goes to the Beach in the Early 1960s
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I started these 1960s paper dolls around the same time there was a bit of a medical crisis in my family. It’s all resolved now, but I finished what I thought was going to be the three 1960s dolls, got home, and promptly stopped working on them or looking at them for four months.
When I finally came back to them, I decided I didn’t like any of their underwear (it all got redrawn). Then I decided I didn’t like the themes I’d originally planned to do and I wasn’t sure about the hair and I thought the…
Well, you get the idea.
Looking at this now, I’m still not 100% sure how I feel. I really wanted to do the 1960s, because I did the 1940s, 1970s, and 1950s and it seemed weird not to have the 1960s. However, I’m still not 100% happy with any of the things I drew. Maybe I’ve been staring at them for too long.
For this set, I wanted to embrace the beach wear I kept seeing in sewing patterns and I wanted to do something that would capture the more casual side of the 1960s styles. I didn’t really want to go mod, but I did want to explore the simple shapes.
Color-wise, I noticed at lot of yellow and orange and a lot of pink and orange. So, those were the major influences for the color choices.
Lapis in the mid-1940s
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Jade in the Lady-Like Looks of the 1930s
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I am always struck by the femininity of 1930s fashions. Both 1920s and 1940s fashions tend toward the more masculine, but the 1930s always feels very girly to me. I think it’s all the small florals and the puffy sleeves and the ruffles.
Jade here is in the same color scheme as my Diamond 1930s doll and my Amethyst 1930s doll, so between the three of them I think you get a pretty nice collection of fashions from the era, hats and shoes.
Enjoy!
The Early Fashions of the 1930s
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As often happens with my historical paper dolls, we need to talk about reference images. So, Diamond’s hair is based on the hair of Ann Sheridan in this 1935 promotional photo from Paramount Studios. HHer evening gown came from A Decade of French Fashion, 1929-1938: From the Depression to the Brink of War which I bought for this project. Her underwear is from Simplicity 2288, a sewing pattern from 1930. Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs provided more source images, because it is one of my go-to 1930’s fashion books.
As I was working on writing up alt-text for my images, I realized this printable paper dolls sort of has a little mini-wardrobe. Since, she has an evening dress, a coat, and a day dress. Plus with the two hats, she’s ready for anything. And, of course, she can share clothing with Amethyst and her 1930s clothing.
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1930s Suits and Dresses with Amethyst
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No secret that I adore doing my historical costume paper dolls and the 1930s is a time period I feel like really has two sort of looks happening. The first is a very soft, floral, feminine, lots of little details kind of country look from the feed sack prints of the era. This is not the look of today’s paper doll.
Contrasting with that aesthetic is a sophisticated, shoulder details heavy, suits and jackets of the 1930s. There are still plenty of bows, but the lines are sharper. The dresses don’t feel soft, but almost prickly to me. This is the look I wanted to explore with today’s 1930s vintage fashion paper doll.
A few references- her hair is based on the hair of Gertrude Micheal in this 1935 promotional photo from Paramount Studios, her swimsuit is from the V&A, and one of her dresses is from McCalls 8461. Over on Pinterest, I have more of my inspiration images for this 1930s vintage fashion paper doll, but I also used several books, including A Decade of French Fashion, 1929-1938: From the Depression to the Brink of War which I just picked up and Everyday Fashions of the Thirties As Pictured in Sears Catalogs which I’ve owned for years.
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Pearl and her 1860s Gowns
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