This article discusses the relationship between women and their garments by examining written, visual, and material sources about dress drawn from the historical records of the Malatesta family. The objective of this research is to understand whether women had any degree of autonomy regarding the garments that they chose to “self-fashion” their identity, and whether they were aware of the multiple meanings the clothing held beyond economic, political, and social status, in addition to their cultural and symbolic values. Indeed, these last two factors rendered these objects into powerful and immediate transmitters of expression and communication that surpassed the conventions of their time, as will be shown in this analysis that includes secular and religious clothing. From two different perspectives, that of the clothing of nobility as emblems of luxury, in line with the conventions of the time, and that of the clothing of religious orders as emblems of abstention perceived as unconventional when the abstention was radical, this article aim to discuss the strong relationship between women and clothing and the diverse ways adopted by women to identify themselves and their radius of action, to reinforce their social networks and their authority.
Clothing the female life. Self-fashioning and memory making at the Malatesta Network of Women between the 14th and the 15th centuries / Elisa Tosi Brandi. - In: RENAISSANCE STUDIES. - ISSN 1477-4658. - ELETTRONICO. - 38:(2024), pp. 1-21. [10.1111/REST.12933]
Clothing the female life. Self-fashioning and memory making at the Malatesta Network of Women between the 14th and the 15th centuries
Elisa Tosi Brandi
2024
Abstract
This article discusses the relationship between women and their garments by examining written, visual, and material sources about dress drawn from the historical records of the Malatesta family. The objective of this research is to understand whether women had any degree of autonomy regarding the garments that they chose to “self-fashion” their identity, and whether they were aware of the multiple meanings the clothing held beyond economic, political, and social status, in addition to their cultural and symbolic values. Indeed, these last two factors rendered these objects into powerful and immediate transmitters of expression and communication that surpassed the conventions of their time, as will be shown in this analysis that includes secular and religious clothing. From two different perspectives, that of the clothing of nobility as emblems of luxury, in line with the conventions of the time, and that of the clothing of religious orders as emblems of abstention perceived as unconventional when the abstention was radical, this article aim to discuss the strong relationship between women and clothing and the diverse ways adopted by women to identify themselves and their radius of action, to reinforce their social networks and their authority.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.