Baroque and Rococo (also called – late Baroque) decade’s fashion was slightly different. These decades were the period from the early 17th century to the mid-18th century.
During the Baroque and Rococo decade, Europe was at the peak of being fashionable. There was so much more fashion and art than the globe had ever seen. Though it ended abruptly because the French Revolution began and hit France hard. And it was France that had been the center of all the fashion and art that was there.
The differences between Baroque and Rococo fashions were that Rococo was slightly upgraded from Baroque. Both styles feature elaborate ornament and decoration, and both were used in large structures with social or cultural status. Baroque architecture is serious, dramatic, and heavy. On the opposite, Rococo was light, airy, and ornamental.
Baroque Period
The Baroque was the decade of artistic fashion mode that started around the year 1600 within Rome, Italy, and also throughout the predominance of Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. In short, the word baroque described something that’s ornamented and highly manifest.
During the Baroque period, silk was the popular fabric and sometimes velvet was used also. Linen was common for the inner layers of garments.
Rococo Period
The Rococo movement was an artistic period that emerged in France and spread throughout the world in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It was also called “Late Baroque” because it developed with Baroque artists and moved faraway from symmetry to more fluid designs.
The more austere and righteous sort of the Rococo was softened and adorned. The most popular fabrics in this decade were linen, silk, taffeta, atlas, damask, brocade, cotton, and wool. Fur was an accustomed line as an example cloaks of made persons and to guard the hands against the winter cold within the sort of muffs.
Baroque and Rococo Fashions for Men
In Baroque time, Men’s fashion had a militaristic look with a doublet worn over an undershirt, loose breeches, and boots up to the knee. The most trendy fashion was the French suit, which might have defined by a matching waistcoat, ribbons, bows on the shoulders, and short trousers with stockings. This was the primary sort of Rococo men’s fashion and it changed across the century.
Undergarments
A man’s shirt would be made of linen and would serve as an undergarment or nightshirt as well. Men put on their breeches and tucked their shirts up around the legs somewhat like a diaper.
Men wore socks named “stockings” which length was over the knee. Generally, they were made of wool or linen. Stockings might have tied by garters that might be made from ribbons, knitted, or leather and might be tied above or below the knee.
Baroque and Rococo Fashions for Women
During the Baroque, women wore long gowns with a low neckline, lace collars for decoration, and virago sleeves. Elaborate patterns and dark colors were popular.
Rococo women began adapting looser dresses and skirts. Since most of aristocratic life now centered on private estates instead of the formal court, women began publicly wearing the type of garments that had previously only been worn in private.
Undergarments
Corsets were made their first real appearance during the Baroque period and also upgraded at Rococo. These were mostly made from linen and bones with reeds, bents, or whalebones. Corsets helped to emphasize the bust and significant look on the décolletage.
The farthingale also came into fashion, which was another type of undergarment which had a hooped petticoat or circular pad of fabric around the hips, formerly worn under women’s skirts to extend and shape them. A farthingale usually made of wood or wicker, sewn into a fabric under-skirt. Petticoats or skirts were worn for warmth and were made of wool or cotton, while those worn for fashion were made of taffeta, satin, linen, or a combination of starched fabrics. Petticoats had gathered of fabric at the waist and flared style at the hem. These were also made using ornaments, featured layers of ruffles, trimming, and also lace.
Clothing for Children
During Baroque Pinafores were typically made of linen, either plain or finely embroidered. Adult boys wore the shortened version made of leather. Both boys and girls also wore linen collars, sometimes trimmed in lace. To top off an outfit, a boy wore a woolen cap or outstretched hat.
The children clothings of the Rococo period was frock dresses for the girls and therefore, trouser & suits for the boys.
Makeover
Beginning in the Baroque and continuing throughout the Rococo, both men and women in England and France wore obvious cosmetics. Gender differences were less important than class differences – cosmetics marked one as aristocratic and were adopted as well by those who were trying to rise in social status or become fashionable. Women and men showed their social class through white skin; and also heavy makeup was considered more respectable than naturally light skin.
The key aspects of the Rococo cosmetic look were a complexion somewhere between white and pale, red cheeks in a large circular shape (particularly for French court wear) or upside-down triangle, and red lips. The two popular cosmetics were worn mostly by women and men called Blanc and Rouge.
Accessories
Headdress
The men kept their hair long and free in the style of Louis XIV. The woman wore a high fontage headdress during this time. The stiff stomacher was also returned to fashion in the late Baroque period.
Tricorne hats were popular in the Rococo time. These hats often edged with braid and decorated with ostrich feathers. Wigs were usually worn by men, preferably white. Women used a more decorative apron, fontage headdress, and sleeves are all lavishly trimmed with lace.
Jewelry
Before the Baroque period, jewelers became more skilled in cutting gemstones, they started to produce necklaces, earrings, rings, bracelets, and tiaras that can be described as being nothing short of masterpieces. They used gemstones, diamonds, pearls, and enamel for making the jewelry most of the time.
The Rococo style is marked by the asymmetry of naturalistic designs. Motifs of flowers, foliate, and also feathers might be embossed or engraved on the metal. Enamel had been abandoned completely for jewelry styling. We find the Rococo style mainly in functional jewelry like chatelaines and snuff boxes.
Footwear
Shoes had high, curved heels—the origin of modern “Louis heels”—and were made of lace or embroidered fabric or leather, with separate shoe buckles. These were designed with shiny metal, mainly using silver; sometimes the metal cut with false stones or with paste stones, and also there were many types.
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