The typical male garment continued to be the lucco, a surcoat
in cloth, buttoned in front and with a hood, that fell unbelted
straight to the feet, with wide long sleeves. Young men preferred
the guarnacca or smock, a sort of jacket belted at the waist, and
close-fitting hose, sometimes in different colors for each leg.
As headgear the mazzocchio, a wide cap of cloth rolled up like a
doughnut with one end falling on the shoulder, or the felt cap
were worn. Youths preferred to wear their hair long, but at the
beginning of the century bangs were fashionable, with a bowl crop
where hair was cut round high over the ears. Beards were rare.
Feminine fashions, called 'portature' varied throughout the
century. The typical garment was a one-piece dress with a hem
which touched the ground. It was close-fitting around the waist
and then fell in soft folds. The more sumptuous garments had a
train. At the beginning of the century, a surcoat with open
sleeves was worn over the undergarment. For a while it was
fashionable to wear long braids wrapped around the head. A
fashion that appeared in the dress of the commoners but which
also found favor with the ladies was the detached sleeve, which
made it possible to wear different sleeves with a single dress.
There were work sleeves and holiday sleeves, sleeves for summer
and for winter.
Weaving flourished and was an extremely important sector of the
Florentine export trade. Particularly prized for ecclesiastical
garments, and favored by wealthy gentlemen, were the velvets with
a pomegranate design, a motive of eastern origin which symbolized
immortality.
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