A Courtesan's Gown - The Creation of Seresina's Venetian Courtesan Gown

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Through these illustrations and their links to other images, you can see how one of our gowns was created.

Our costumes are one of the most important aspects of our personas as a Venetian Renaissance household. Many of our costumes (Isabella, Artemesia, Anita and Paulo) have been made by the renowned costume designer Victoria Ridenour, who also made the Queen's Gown for HOTF Faire. Two of our gowns were made by Jwlhyfer de Winter; the "Marguerite" gown and Seresina. The following is a short piece on how one of our gowns was made. Several images link to Yahoo albums for more pictures.

Victoria is an award winning  professional costumer in the Bay Area who is available for commissions. She and Adrian Butterfield won a Lifetime Achievement Award for their contributions to the International Costumer's Guild. To contact Victoria call her at 650.962.0882.

Jwlhyfer spends her time teaching, organizing Costume Clinics and getting people together for Sewing Circles. She is a fine artist who uses costume as a means of creating in the viewer an impression of another time or place. She doesn't take commissions for costumes, but she is available as a teacher and takes paying students for help  with individual costume related projects, as well as group workshops. To contact Jwlhyfer; please call 510-839-8711.

Seresina was created by Jwlhyfer de Winter in 2003. Several talented costumers generously devoted their time to the creation of the gown. Many thanks go to Linda Wenzelburger, Tessa Bronner O'Brian, Jay Hartlove and Karen Sandler. The costume consists of the gown, Venetian underpinnings; camicia and corset, as well as roped farthingale. The costume is completed by several hair pieces which are decorated with pearls and jewels. Very little other jewelery is worn as was the style in Venice.The rich fabrics along with the elaborate hairstyle and a few accessories create a look straight from Vicellio's drawings of Venetian women in the Renaissance. 

You can also find the dress diary of Kendra Van Kleave at http://demode.tweedlebop.com/ , and some of the pattern drafting of Magdelena's gown at http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/julianwhitaker/my_photos . Dany Slone constructed the balance of that gown and has discussed it in her live journal "laragoth."

Jennifer Erlichmann has a web site at www.rubyraven.com where you may order beautiful custom corsets and miniature top hats. She constructed her own gown.

The Italian Camicia (Chemise) and Elizabethan Corset. This image links to more images of the Camicia.	Research, materials, sketches and lists. This image links to more images of the corset; including the Shakespearian quote embroidered on the inside.
Bodice interior with canvas, quilting and boning. The curved structure of the corset (a design decision) required a creative solution for the non-curved bodice to lay properly. The quilting created a layer to fill in empty space and the boning and canvas create the stiffness required for the period look.	Laying the fashion fabric over the interior on the stand lets us see a glimpse of the finished garment.
Linda attaches the skirt using cartridge pleating. She uses a thick carpet thread to hold the heavy fabric. Earlier plans to have the bodice and skirt separate had to be abandoned when the two pieces didn't match up. Having the gown in one piece fascilitates ease of wear as well as distributing the weight of the dress.	The finished gown, at Costume Con 22. Simple sleeves add to the effect of over all simplicity which allows the rich fabric to shine. This image links to The Golden Rose of 2003; Seresina's Italian Showcase of the Year Award. There is more information on the gown as well as a simple dress diary.