Doublet (clothing)

A doublet (derived from the Ital. giubbetta[1]) is a man's snug-fitting jacket that is shaped and fitted to the man's body which was worn in Spain and was spread to Western Europe from the late Middle Ages up to the mid-17th century. The doublet was hip length or waist length and worn over the shirt or drawers. Until the end of the 15th century, the doublet was usually worn under another layer of clothing such as a gown, mantle, overtunic or jerkin when in public.

Carlos, Prince of Asturias wearing a doublet, in a painting by Alonso Sánchez Coello.
The unidentified tailor in Giovanni Battista Moroni's famous portrait of ca 1570 is in doublet and lined and stuffed ("bombasted") hose.

Originally it was a mere stitched and quilted lining ("doubling"), worn under a hauberk or cuirass to prevent bruising and chafing. Doublets were sometimes opened to the waistline in a deep V. The edges might be left free or laced across the shirt front. If there was space left it might be filled with a stomacher. By the 1520s, the edges of the doublet more frequently met at the center front. Then, like many other originally practical items in the history of men's wear, from the late 15th century onward it became elaborated enough to be seen on its own.

Throughout the 300 years of its use, the doublet served the same purpose: to give fashionable shape and padding to the body, to support the hose by providing ties, and to provide warmth to the body. The only things that changed about the doublet over its history was its style and cut. It was fashionable until the 1600s.

History

Doublet, 1635–1640 V&A Museum no. 177-1900

The doublet developed from the padded garments worn under armour, such as the gambeson, aketon, and arming doublet.[2]

14th and 15th centuries

Doublets of the 14th and 15th centuries were generally hip-length, sometimes shorter, worn over the shirt and hose, with a houppelande or other form of overgown.

From the late 14th century, doublets were cut and padded to give the wearer an egg-shaped or pigeon-breasted silhouette, a fashion that gradually died out in favor of a flatter natural fit.

Later 16th century

Doublet, ca.1620, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Through the Tudor period, fashionable doublets remained close-fitting with baggy sleeves, and elaborate surface decoration such as pinks (patterns of small cuts in the fabric), slashes, embroidery, and applied braid.

In the early Elizabethan period, doublets were padded over the belly with bombast in a "pouter pigeon" or "peascod" silhouette. Sleeve attachments at the shoulder were disguised by decorative wings, tabs, or piccadills, and short skirt-like peplums or piccadills covered the waist of the hose or breeches. Padding gradually fell out of fashion again, and the doublet became close-fitting with a deep V-waistline.


More images:

  • Edward VI in an elaborately trimmed and pinked, long-skirted late Tudor doublet under a crimson gown with hanging sleeves.
  • Martin Frobisher in a peascod-bellied doublet under a buff jerkin.
  • Sir Philip Sidney, when governor of Flushing in the Low Countries, chose to be portrayed in his doublet, but still in a gorget, as if he were caught in the act of setting aside his armour to institute a civil government.

17th century

Doublet, 1610 circa.
Charles I in the doublet and breeches fastened with points of 1629, by Daniel Mijtens the Elder.

By the 17th century, doublets were short-waisted. A typical sleeve of this period was full and slashed to show the shirt beneath; a later style was full and paned or slashed to just below the elbow and snug below. Decorative ribbon points were pulled through eyelets on the breeches and the waist of the doublet to keep the breeches in place, and were tied in elaborate bows.

The doublet fell permanently out of fashion in the mid-17th century when Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England established a court costume for men consisting of a long coat, a waistcoat, a cravat, a wig, and breechesthe ancestor of the modern suit.

See also

  • 1500–1550 in fashion
  • 1550–1600 in fashion
  • 1600–1650 in fashion
  • 1650-1700 in fashion

References

  1. Wedgwood, Hensleigh (1855). "On False Etymologies". Transactions of the Philological Society (6): 70.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-12-28. Retrieved 2009-10-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Bibliography

  • Janet Arnold: Patterns of Fashion: the cut and construction of clothes for men and women 1560-1620, pajama 1985. Revised edition 1986. (ISBN 0-89676-083-9)
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