Delighted to announce a new book, published next week, by Elizabeth
Currie, formerly of the Material Renaissance project. The book is
discounted on the publisher's website - see the link at the foot of this
message.
Elizabeth Currie
Fashion and Masculinity in Renaissance Florence
Published: 28-07-2016
Extent: 224
ISBN: 9781474249768
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations: 40 bw illus
Dimensions: 234 x 156 mm
RRP: £65.00
Dress became a testing ground for masculine ideals in Renaissance Italy.
With the establishment of the ducal regime in Florence in 1530, there
was increasing debate about how to be a nobleman. Was fashionable
clothing a sign of magnificence or a source of mockery? Was the graceful
courtier virile or effeminate? How could a man dress for court without
bankrupting himself? This book explores the whole story of clothing,
from the tailor's workshop to spectacular court festivities, to show how
the male nobility in one of Italy's main textile production centers used
their appearances to project social, sexual, and professional identities.
Sixteenth-century male fashion is often associated with swagger and
ostentation but this book shows that Florentine clothing reflected
manhood at a much deeper level, communicating a very Italian spectrum of
male virtues and vices, from honor, courage, and restraint to luxury and
excess. Situating dress at the heart of identity formation, Currie
traces these codes through an array of sources, including unpublished
archival records, surviving garments, portraiture, poetry, and personal
correspondence between the Medici and their courtiers.
Addressing important themes such as gender, politics, and consumption,
Fashion and Masculinity in Renaissance Florence sheds fresh light on the
sartorial culture of the Florentine court and Italy as a whole.
Table of contents
Introduction
Part 1 Fashioning the Medici Court
Chapter 1 The Court on Show
Chapter 2 The Rise and Fall of the Florentine Toga
Part 2 The Courtier as Consumer
Chapter 3 The Noble Art of Shopping
Chapter 4 Ruinous Appearances
Part 3 Modes of Masculinity
Chapter 5 The Versatility of Black
Chapter 6 Youth, Fashion, and Desire
Chapter 7 Festive Dress
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Reviews
“This book opens up the wardrobes of elite Florentine families, showing
how subtle and sophisticated the choice of dress could be in the
sixteenth century. An intelligent, beautifully illustrated and original
study, this is essential reading for anyone interested in how clothing
"made the man" during the Renaissance. Highly recommended.” – Evelyn
Welch, Vice-Principal (Arts & Sciences), King's College London, UK
“This insightful contribution turns a discerning and critical eye
towards the clothing of sixteenth-century Florentine men. Currie
skillfully explores the ways that clothing made the man within this
emphatically sartorially literate society, and shows the rich,
fundamental ways that power and identity were invariably “negotiated
with a material reality” on elegantly dressed male bodies.” – Timothy
McCall, Associate Professor of Art History, Villanova University, USA
“A brilliant analysis of men and the importance of dress in one of early
modern Europe's fashion capitals. Readers will discover Florentine elite
men as avid sartorialists propelled by their enthusiasm for new
possibilities of materials and displays as much as by the intricate
political and emotional games dress and accessories allowed them to
play. Richly researched, this book represents a milestone in our
knowledge of how sixteenth-century men conducted their lives through
interacting with things.” – Ulinka Rublack, Professor of Early Modern
European History, University of Cambridge, UK
“Elizabeth Currie vividly captures the pleasures and perils of engaging
with appearances for Florentine men of the sixteenth century. Recent
work on the history of clothing has taught us much about sumptuary laws,
courtly etiquette, and cultures of consumption in the period. Currie
teaches us more, showing how the politics and materials of dress
informed the very experience of men's lives, from political posturing in
the lucco, through the reputational risks attached to balancing
magnificence and sobriety, to the playful freedoms sought in eroticised
youthful display and dressing for the homosocial pursuits of sport and
carnival. Accessible and scholarly, Fashion and Masculinity in
Renaissance Florence is a valuable addition to an expanding literature
on sartorial histories.” – Christopher Breward, Principal, Edinburgh
College of Art, University of Edinburgh, UK
See more at:
http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/fashion-and-masculinity-in-renaissance-florence-9781474249768/#sthash.pxVvU4yJ.dpuf
(including electronic editions and online discount)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|