GARCÍA, Miguel Herrero (2014). Estudios Sobre Indumentaria Española en la época de los Austrias. Madrid: Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica (CEEH). ISBN: 978-84-15245-39-1. Softback, 387 pp., b/w and colour illustrations, bibliography. Price: c. €29 (excluding tax).
A really interesting book that is based upon 74 Spanish garments that date to the Habsburg period (16th and 17th centuries). These garments are now in various public and private collections in Spain as well as elsewhere. In particular, this study looks at those worn by members of the Spanish court and the elite, with a few from ‘lesser mortals’, notably from the world of theatre, as well as items from the Catholic Church. The written sources used include legal documents, items from the various Spanish courts and parliament, guild ordinances, as well as visual evidence in the form of numerous full length portraits and other paintings. The book is divided into various sections that look at the wide range of men and women’s indoor and outdoor garments. There is also a section on the jewellery of the period.
This is not a book of patterns, but an academic study of written sources about textiles and garments from the period in question. The book looks at economic, political, religious and social events and how they have influenced this important period in Spanish history – one that included international tensions, wars, sieges, the threat of and actual invasions. The author has put these elements together to form a history of Spanish dress and its influences on other countries during the 16th and 17th centuries.
There is a companion book, also by Miguel GARCÍA, about the textiles used for the making of these and other garments during the Habsburg period in Spanish history (see below).
Recommendation: As with Garciá’s other book (see below), this volume should be in any serious library about the history of fashion, especially one concentrating on European textiles and garments from the 16th and 17th centuries and the influence of Spain on North European garments and fashion in particular.
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood
