WOMEN'S COTEHARDIES

A woman's cotehardie had many possible interpretations.  It varied from time period to social class, in both color, style and fabric.  Needless to say, your cotehardie can be tailored to fit your individual taste and body type.  I will "narrate" the following period pictures to give you some more ideas of what was going on in cotehardie fashion during the particular time period and geographic area you want to recreate.  However, my narration is based on my own experience, and sometimes just my own opinion.  Others may disagree completely.  Take each caption with a grain of salt.  The names of the paintings and illuminations are included (if I could find them) to aid you in documentation purposes.  Enjoy!

This picture from the Lutrell Psalter (c. 1335) is the earliest pictoral evidence I can find for the depiction of what appears to be a cotehardie.  The dresses underneath the heraldic styled surcoats appear to be cotehardies to me, though some may disagree.  It is noteworthy, however, that such elaborate fabric was in use so early.  It may help you in documentation.  I apologize for the quality of the picture, but what can we expect from something so incredibly old anyway?  Note the hairstyles of the women as well.

This is the second oldest representation of women's cotehardies I could find.  It is an Italian piece attributed to Ambrogio Lorenzetti called "Results of Good Government: City Life."  (Siena--1337-1340) Again, some may second guess me as to whether these are actual cotehardies or not, but I believe they are.  Part of my reasoning is that many of the earlier period tunics that Italians appear in (that I've seen) are gathered just below the breast in women (sort of like an empire waist).  Because the belting appears at the waist in these pictures and the "parti-coloured" aspect is represented, I'm concluding that these are many panelled dresses representative of the cotehardie.  You will note in future pictures that Italians seemed to use more patterned and richly colored fabric.  I assume that this may be due to their easy access to the textile markets (and paint markets) of the Middle and Far East.

This third painting by Giovanni da Milano (1346-1396) shows the decadence of Italian clothing.  The picture is called "St. Catherine of Siena and Other Saints" and was painted c. 1360. (Residing in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.) I think this is an excellent documentation piece because it not only shows you the bright colors available, but also depicts wide gold trim along a square neckline on fabric that appears to have an almost satin quality.  I am uncertain how much of this more ethereal piece was influenced by reality, but I think it could have been based upon the more decadent womens clothing of the time.  Notice the dagging at the bottom of the dress of the woman on the front right, and also the gilded belts of the two forewomen.

Yet another painting (c. 1365) done by the Italian artist Giovanni da Milano, present on a wall painting in Florence.  It depicts the birth of Jesus.  It shows the typical Italian decadence, present in the gold trim and multicolored garments of the two standing women.  I think the interesting dress in this piece is that of the woman on the far left.  It could be that the differently colored center piece is part of the cotehardie itself, or that the cotehardie fits over the red underdress like a laced up jacket.  I wish I could see this work in person to try to discern this dilemma.

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The Cotehardie Documentation Page is republished on The Garb Index by the kind permission of Ariadne la Noire.