17th Century Women's Accessories

While the sixteenth century was an age of excess in ornamentation, the seventeenth century is often thought of as an age of elegance, with greater care for the manner of display than for its abundance. Nowhere is this contrast more evident than in the use of jewelry. While people displayed their wealth in the sixteenth century by sprinkling jewels across their garments, hair, and bodies, people in the seventeenth century were more likely to wear just a few well-chosen jewels to demonstrate their taste. A string of pearls, a golden crucifix on a chain, simple dangling earrings, or a finely carved ring were the preferred jewels among the nobles of this period.

a noble woman in 17th century formally dressed, wearing few well-chosen jewels

Instead of jewelry, people in the seventeenth century were especially fond of accessories, which they carried in abundance, worn on a belt at their waist, fastened to their body with ribbons, or simply carried in the hands. Women accessorized carrying delicate gloves, a handkerchief, a fan, a parasol in the summer, and perhaps a mask. Both men and women wore face patches and carried muffs to warm their hands in the winter. Each of these accessories could be as simple or as luxurious as a person's budget would allow.

Noblewoman with a parasol

Henri Bonnart (France, 1642-1711)

France, Paris, 1680

· Earstrings

One of the most unique jewelry innovations of the seventeenth century was the earstring. Both men and women wore earrings during this period, and many added an earstring as well. The most common earstring was a long piece of silk thread, decorated at the ends with rosettes made of ribbon. The earstring was strung through a pierced hole in the ear and the lower rosette was attached. It could hang down below the earrings themselves, adding extra decoration. The earstring often adorned only one side of the head, most commonly the left. It was a sort of detachable lovelock.

Like the earring itself, the earstring has been endlessly adaptable. Earstrings made of very fine metal thread or even of very small chains have been worn in the West ever since their introduction. In the twentieth century it was possible to purchase earstrings with fasteners for small charms, much like a charm bracelet.

· Fans

Perhaps the most important accessory for wealthy women in the seventeenth century was the folding fan. Made of fine materials such as silk or decorated paper, stretched between handles of ivory, carved wood, or even fine gold, and studded with jewels, fans were an item used to display the user's wealth and distinction. Women carried their fans dangling from decorative ties at their waist or held them in the hand.

(L) fixed fans from Queen Elizabeth I portraits

Fixed fans and folding fans can be seen in portraits of ladies throughout the seventeenth century, a crucial time in the development of the folding fan in Europe. In the earlier part of the century, fixed fans, consisting of feathers set into a handle of varying splendour, were the norm. As the century progressed, folding fans gained in popularity until, by the end of the century, they had completely superseded fixed fans. It is also interesting to note that while folding fans can be seen in the hands of royalty and grand ladies, fixed feather fans were used by the “bourgeoisie” or less well-off

Late in the seventeenth century and through the eighteenth century fans became a prime prop in women's social performance. "There was an art in using a fan," writes fashion historian Ruth M. Green, "and some ladies wielded it with such self-conscious stylishness that they provoked the satirists," who ridiculed the exaggerated manners of some fan wavers.

Women coyly hid their faces behind fans, waving them delicately in the air, in the flirtatious courtship rituals of the period.

· Masks

Often considered one of the strangest accessories, masks had both practical and decorative uses among European women. Masks were first worn during the sixteenth century to provide protection from the sun and other elements while women were outside or riding horses, thus preserving the pale complexion that was in fashion. This practical usage of masks continued through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and such masks covered either the full face or just the nose and eyes. Full face masks were made of fine stiffened white cloth with holes for the eyes and mouth. They were held to the head with ties or, in a strange arrangement, with a button that was clenched between the front teeth.

A visard (also spelled vizard) is an oval mask of black velvet, worn by travelling women in the 16th century to protect their skin from sunburn. It was not held to the head by a fastening, but rather the wearer would clasp a bead attached to the interior of the mask between their teeth.

Fashionable half-masks were most popular during the seventeenth century. These masks covered the area around the nose and eyes, and were either held to the head with ties or fastened to a small stick, which required that women hold the mask up to the face in order to remain concealed. Such masks allowed women to conceal their identity while attending the many theater performances that were prohibited for respectable women, or simply to maintain an air of mystery at a party or ball. They were either black or white and were made of silk, satin, velvet, or some other soft material. By the nineteenth century masks had gone out of fashion and were only worn by bandits and people attending masquerades, or costume balls.

Half-black masks began to appear as a form of disguise, and this covered half of the face. After a while it became a seasonal statement or trend. Clearly, it was still easy to figure out the identity of the person, but because of the whole privacy issue, people actually respected it and pretended not to know who it was behind the mask.

Bibliography

Pendergast, Sara; Pendergast, Tom. Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body

Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages. Michigan: U•X•L, 2004.

Bigelow, Marybelle S. Fashion in History: Apparel in the Western World. Minneapolis, MN:

Burgess Publishing, 1970. [See also Volume 3, Seventeenth Century: Lovelocks]