por The colonial era clothing It is characterized by receiving a direct influence from the European fashion of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, through the conquerors and colonizers who moved to America.
This group of colonizers spread out at different times and regions of the American territory, coming mostly from the Spanish Empire, the Portuguese Empire, the British Empire, France or the Netherlands.
The colonial era began at the end of the 15th century and its point of origin was the arrival of Christopher Columbus to American territory in 1492, thanks to the support of the Crown of Castile. This period extends until the beginning of the 17th century with the well-known Dutch colonization.
In general it is considered that from the stylistic point of view the costumes of the colonial era take elements of the Renaissance environment and culminate with the baroque tendency of the 17th century, specifically with the rococo style.
Some pieces that were adopted from Europe evolved into autochthonous variations, such as the Spanish outerwear, Castilian capes, Granada blankets and Canarian blankets, which upon reaching American territory became the Colombian ruana, the Mexican serape or Argentine poncho.
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clothing variability
One of the elements that characterizes fashion in the colony is the variety of costumes as a form of social differentiation, since it allowed distinguishing cultures, places of origin, race or social status.
For example, those people of high status were the ones who brought fabrics and accessories from Europe, as well as the most recent trends and models from the Old World.
It was a kind of right with which one was born and, although there were no written rules, it was a social consensus that some garments, especially among women, were exclusive for ladies and could not be worn by peasant women.
High society outfits
The ladies used to wear wide and long skirts, lace or linen blouses and embroidered petticoats. Fans, mantillas, umbrellas and shoes with silver buckles were frequent in the Spanish style.
The “slashed” style was in fashion, which consisted of leaving the lining of the garment visible or placing a different fabric underneath.
For their part, the attire of the gentlemen of high society consisted of narrow pants or leggings, cloth capes, frock coats, shirts with ruffles, ties that ended in fringes and, in specific cases, ruffs. Among the accessories, the handkerchief, the top hat and the cane with a metal handle stood out, which were typical of the time. Boots adorned with silver settings were the most common.
The shapes that predominated in the designs were like the silhouette of an hourglass in women’s outfits and in masculine designs it was characterized by being more directed towards the rectangular.
Attires of other social classes
As for the people of the lower classes, they dressed in much simpler costumes that were usually made of cotton fabrics. Depending on the climatic zone, garments could also be made with sheep or llama wool, as was the case with ponchos.
Peasant women used to wear outfits reminiscent of the simplicity of the Greek chiton. While the Creole farmers used to wear a doublet with sleeves, leggings and high deerskin boots. They wore the classic ruffle and a sash to adjust the doublet.
In the case of the slaves, the men wore a cotton shirt with three openings for the head and arms, this was very typical of haciendas and plantations. In the case of the black maids, they had to wear long-sleeved dresses, without decorations and that covered from the neck to the feet.
military outfit
One of the most used costumes in the colonial era is undoubtedly that of the military field. In the first stage of the conquest it was common to wear full armor, clothing that was used around 1580. It consisted of a morion with a feather duster, lace ruff, short puffed breeches and a sword holder at the belt.
Subsequently, the troops and non-commissioned officers used to wear similar outfits such as high shakos with plumes and visors, uniforms with distinctive crossed bands on the chest, and wide tubed pants. These were the typical costumes of hussars, lancers and carabinieri of the time.
Senior officers used to dress in a waist-hugging jacket that covered a high-collared shirt and a vest with 5 or 6 buttons. The jacket had buttoned epaulettes and wide braided lapels, in the shape of a heraldic shield. They also used to wear a black bowtie.
Garment making
The textile technique in America was quite refined when the Spanish arrived, both in color and design. The system they used was the waist loom, which was made up of two ends tied, one to a tree and the other to the back of the weaver. The vegetable dyes were then combined with that technique that they had already mastered to perfection and that resulted in uniformity of the diameter of the thread.
Meanwhile, the Spanish were in charge of bringing a new technique, the foot or pedal loom, also known as the garrucha or shuttle loom. This technique never came to replace the traditional indigenous loom, but was implemented simultaneously.
Luxury materials for the upper classes, imported from European countries, such as velvet, brocade, damask, lace and silk, used to be used to make the outfits.
Other types of more accessible fabrics were used for daily clothing, such as alpaca or vicuña wool, cotton and linen. The latter, together with silk, were brought by the conquerors and in the short term they began to be produced in colonial settlements.
Sometimes exotic bird feathers could be woven or adhered to these materials to give a more colorful touch to the outfits.
In countries like Guatemala and Chile, ponchos or also known as cloths from the land, made in wool centers, allowed us to obtain poncho-style pieces that were impervious to the rain.
References
Colonial times: the city, houses, education and customs. (nd). Recovered from sanjuanalmundo.org
Colonial clothing. (nd). Recovered from laguia2000.com
Celanese Colombiana SA (1945). History of the suit in Colombia. Mexico: Editorial Atlante.
Hispanic Library. (2017, March 5). Hispanic-American clothing, a round trip influence. Retrieved from reinamares.hypotheses.org
European colonization of America. (2019, October 12). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org