The History Of Fashion Accessories: 17th Century

  Looking at 17^th-19^th century fashion was the first step in the design process of my project. I chose to use the book ‘The Visual History of Costume Accessories’ by Valerie Cumming as it enclosed the history of fashion accessories during this time in detail, and used a lot of visual representations to aid with creating my moodboards. When reading this book, I found that a lot of the fashion accessories included; actually originated from functional wear rather than fashion. I found this interesting as it allowed me to look at design in a different light and think of how I can make different objects into a high fashion accessory. The images I chose to work with from this book were the ones that inspired me most, the ones I found most aesthetically pleasing, and also the ones that posed questions to myself. Some images challenged me.  I thought deeply about the kinds of materials and decoration used, the inspiration and also the function of these accessories in order to gather a deeper understanding of accessory deign during this era.

  Starting with the 17^th century, I found it was hard to distinguish between male and female accessories as both were heavily decorated and did not resemble any form of sexuality. Progressing through to the late 17^th century, men’s accessories seem to stabilize slightly and form an almost uniform look. Men’s accessories became completely about function rather than fashion where as women’s accessories were a statement of political status and wealth. English fashion accessories during the first third of the century, presented a vast amount of embellished caps, scarves, fans etc. These designs were inspired by flora and fauna depictions from publications of that time. Intricate lace and applied ribbons, coloured silks, spangles and metallic threads; were all used to recreate the exotic patterns of nature, roses, carnations and birds. As men’s fashion became more reserved and simple; women’s did the exact opposite. Ruffles became bigger, gloves became longer and jewels were worn from every part of the body. Wealthy women wore a lot of pearls and gold daily, with diamonds and other expensive jewels being worn on special occasions to exaggerate their wealth.