Clothing and early modern Venetian society

Abstract

Clothing was paramount in early modern Europe. It accounted for a significant proportion of household expenditure at many different levels of society, and attracted much comment. Just as contemporaries described, often in minute detail, the garments worn by their compatriots, so foreign visitors to cities and courts devoted considerable attention to the appearance of the people they encountered. Such close observation was motivated by a serious purpose since clothing was thought to offer a kind of window on individuals and societies alike. The instructive qualities attributed to clothing may help to explain why so many costume books were printed during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; they also shed light on the inclusion of exotic garments in the collections of curiosities which similarly characterize the period.