Ruffles a.k.a. Engageantes

Robe à la française, detail, 2011, by this wonderful blogger.

Para nosotros hoy en día los puños no son una parte importante de nuestros outfits del día a día, básicamente porque éstos puños están fijos a las mangas de nuestras prendas, pero durante el siglo XVIII los puños de holanes llamados "engageantes" (en francés) o "ruffles" (en inglés) eran un accesorio de todos los días para cualquier persona que se considerara con estilo, siendo usado igual por hombres y mujeres.
Usualmente estaban hechos de muselina, tira bordada o encaje, y tenían forma circular, de medio círculo o de una tira irregular que era fruncida y fijada a la manga a mano. Durante todo el siglo, la forma, tamaño, longitud y número de holanes cambió dependiendo la moda del momento. Éstos puños podían estar formados de una o hasta tres capas de tela.
Se dejaron de usar en algún momento al rededor de 1865.

For us nowadays cuffs are not an important part of our everyday outfit, basically because the cuffs are attached to the garment, but back in the 18th century the sleeve ruffles (or simply called "ruffles" in english) or "engageantes" (in french) were an everyday accessory for the fashionable wearer (man or woman).
They were usually made of muslin, whitework embroidery, broderie anglaise or lace and have the shape of a circle, half circle or an irregular line, and was draped to fit the sleeve to which was attached by hand.
During the century the shape, size, length and number of ruffles changed accoding to fashion and they could have a single simple layer or go up to three.
They ceased to be worn about 1865.

Ruffles made in Mechelen, ca. 1750. Victoria & Albert Museum.

European ruffles, 1750-1775. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ralph Finnes and Keira Knightley in the 2008 film "The Duchess" (clic for bigger)

Lace ruffle detail, made in Brussels ca. 1700. Victoria & Albert Museum.

"Lord Halifax and his Secretaries" by Daniel Gardner.

British ruffle made ca. 1765. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Fuentes / Sources:

Victoria & Albert Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art

"The Dictionary of Fashion" by Valerie Cumming, C.W. Cunnington and P.E. Cunnington, 2010.

I'm a cyborg, but that's ok

During the 18th century there was an special interest of the science, thanks to the enlightenment, directed to the way living creatures moved, especially human beings, so people created artificial creatures that intended to be an exact replica of nature. All this evolved from the clockmaking, but this automats, automatons or androids had a lot more complex mechanism (including lots of things I don't even understeand). This automats are shown doing almost everything that crosses your mind: there are birds singing, people playing, writing, dancing... a long list for this 18th century extravaganza about much have been written. Anyway I leave you some videos about this ancient mechanical marvels.


Le joueur d'échecs 
The Peacock clock at the Hermitage Museum. Build by the english clockmaker James Cook and sold to Potemkin who gave it as a present to Catherine the Great.



The Marie Antoinette's dulcimier player. This was suposed to be the queen's replica, made by Peter Kintzing and David Roentgen in 1784.



Writing automat by Jaquet-Droz from 1773. Pierre Jaquet-Droz was a swiss clockmaker and one of the most famous automat maker. Actually his company founded in 1738 was purchased in 2011 by a swiss group and they make fine watches. (At their website you can watch a video with the mechanism of the writing)



The singing bird box. By Jaquet-Droz, 1785.





A scene form the 1927 silent film Le joueur d'échecs, based in Wolfgang von Kemplen's 1770 very famous chess player automat "The Turk" (which was actually controled by a person hidden in the cabinet).  This scene shows Von Kempelen at the presentation of the Turk at the court.



Fuentes / Sources:
Jaquet-Droz 
DaVinci Automata
Automates Anciens
Versailles Museum
Hermitage Museum

Tumblr!

Les cuento que ¡tenemos un tumblr! Será una fuente de imágenes que pueden ser usadas para inspiración o referencia. Todas tienen una descripción y además podrán postear las imágenes de sus archivos para hacer la fuente más grande.

Let me tell you I've just opened a Tumblr! It will work as a source of images for inspiration or reference. All of them have a description and you'll be able to post your own images from your archives  making the source bigger.

clic clic clic

Imagen de la película The Duchess, 2008, dirigida por Saul Dibb. / Still from The Duchess, 2008, directed by Saul Dibb.

Walking on Broken Glass

Estaba tomando un café con mi mamá cuando en el lugar pusieron éste video y pensé "¡Diablos! ¿No es ese John Malkovich en vestuario del siglo XVIII?" Y sí que lo era. Ésta es una canción de 1992 de Annie Lennox y el video está claramente basado en el genial filme de 1988 Dangerous Liaisons, de hecho me parece que el lugar donde fue grabado el video es el mismo que era la casa del personaje de Glenn Close en la película. Como sea. En el video hay un poco de Hugh Laurie con todo y peluca y lunar en forma de corazón (extrañamente lindo), Annie Lennox con un tocado a la turca y todo lo demás en tonalidades crema. MUY a la dangerous liaisons.

I was at the coffee with my mom and they played this video and I though "damned! isn't that John Malkovich in 18th century costume??!!" And well, he was. This is a 1992 song by Annie Lennox and the video is clearly bassed in the gorgeous 1988 film Dangerous Liaisons, I even think the place the video was filmed was the house where the Glenn Close character lived in the film. Whatever. There is also some Hugh Laurie in this video with wig and heart shaped beauty spot (strangely cute), Annie Lennox with a turkish headpiece and lots of cream coloured costumes. VERY dangerous liaisons.

Golden Times

Ok, he vuelto. Al final creo que no haré una tesis de verdad para graduarme, pero como sea quiero seguir con la investigación sobre... bueno, cosas del siglo XVIII. Hoy debo confesar que había olvidado ésta colección y los maravillosos anuncios de Dolce&Gabbana inspirados en la era rococó y regencia.

Well, I'm back. At the end I think I'm not gonna make an actual thesis, but anyway I will continue with my investigation on.... well, 18th century stuff. This time I've got to confess I had forgotten this gorgeous collections and the marvelous ads from Dolce&Gabbana inspired by the rococo and regency eras.

Dolce&Gabbana Ad Campaign

Autum - Winter 2006

Photography Steven Meisel (who else?!)

Models Gemma Ward, Julia Stegner, Iselin Steiro, Snejana Onopka, Ines Crnokrak, Coco Rocha, Lily Donaldson, Morgane Dubled, Caitriona Balfe, Chad Dunn, Cosmin Petre, David Gandy, Terron Wood, and Sam Saffman

Dove SeiM

Andreas Scholl
Hanedel
Dove Sei

Detalle

Detalle de encaje y pasamanería en los holanes del puño de un vestido de novia.
Lace detail on cuff ruffles of a wedding dress.

Via Watzittoceska Flickr