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Figure 4: A pregnant Madonna offers a good illustration of the dress
construction
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 he
gamurra was a bodiced dress often with sleeves of a different fabric.
It was fitted through the body to the waist with a very full skirt.
The bodice was made up of four pieces (two front, two back) and could
be short, ending just below the bust, or longer extending to the natural
waist. As discussed earlier, the construction of the gamurra is imperative
to add shape to the garment worn over it. The fitted bodice acted
as a foundation garment much like the later corset. It could be laced
up the front or the sides or both. A good illustration of the construction
of this type of gamurra is the Madonna del Parto, Piero della Fracesca,
1455. (Figure 4) The unusual painting shows a pregnant woman wearing
a gamurra, with lacings open to accommodate a growing waistline. It
not only shows the construction of the dress, but it also illustrates
an interesting point-they did not have the luxury of maternity clothing
as we know it today. A bodice would be fastened in several ways including
lacings and buttons. Lacings could be closed diagonally (Figure
6), straight across (Figure 5) or in an
X-pattern. |
