Dressing Renaissance Florence

By Carole Collier Frick

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If ever a book could be compared to a box of chocolates, this is it. Setting out to harness the specifics – How many clothes did people own? What did clothing cost? – Frick includes in her spectrum a wide range of 15th-century Florentines, from prosperous textile merchants to female vendors working outside the guilds, selling notions and accessories. It comes complete with a map detailing the location of various guild residences; tables (fur pelts for lining and sleeves); appendices (currency and measures, cloth required for selected garments, in colors like “Apollo’s hair” and “throat of the dove”); a glossary (puzzole is “the dark brown fur of the polecat, which had a purplish gloss to it, used to trim cloaks and overgowns”), and perhaps the handiest index I’ve ever had the pleasure to use (boys {see also clothing, worn by: children}).

One quibble: the cover, depicting as it does a 16th-century tailor, is misleading, since the book’s text centers for the most part on the 1400s. Readers interested in the latter period might, therefore, pass over this excellent resource as I did, several times, before taking the time to explore it.