
History buffs have probably wondered why European men in the late 16th and early 17th centuries often wore elaborate and elaborate collars around their necks. Was this just another pointless fashion fad, or were there deeper reasons behind this uncomfortable “frog”?
A short excursion into the history of the appearance of “fluffy collars”
The symbol of European fashion in the late 16th century was the famous millstone, a wide, pleated, detachable collar, often reinforced with wire and starch. There is a popular legend that the fashion for such products was started by a noble Spanish woman who was trying to hide a flaw on her neck. However, historians are still breaking spears, trying to find out who first thought that wearing a “millstone” around the neck was a good idea.
In the late Renaissance, the collar-miller was considered a rather expensive decoration, requiring a lot of time to care for, and existed for the richest and most privileged gentlemen of the Spanish court. The starched folds were real traitors: it was enough to sweat a little or get into a fog, and this entire majestic structure turned into a wet rag, sadly hanging around the neck. That is why the accessory could not be worn a second time without re-modeling and applying fresh starch.
Why were they worn?
Such products literally took their owner hostage, physically forcing them to hold their head unnaturally high and proud – it was simply impossible to look down at their feet. It looked majestic, but it cost an incredible amount of money, so every self-respecting aristocrat, as well as many women, began to wear this product.
In Spain, wearing a freza was considered not so much fashionable as ostentatious, as it was a clear symbol of aristocracy and wealth.
The development of fashion in Europe for milling cutters
Initially, such accessories were quite modest in size. The size of collars increased rapidly with the arrival of starch in Spain, brought from the Netherlands.
Caring for this lacy monster was a real hell for laundresses and servants, who probably cursed the day starch was invented. They stored them in special boxes. They starched the white linen fabric from which these collars were sewn. Then the fabric was carefully gathered into pleats, sometimes in the shape of a figure of eight. Then they were shaped and dried with a hot round rod called a corrugating iron. Very wide frills with pleats on the fabric were too heavy to maintain their shape with starch alone, so an additional metal frame was needed, on which the entire starched linen main fabric was stretched.
The European fashion for millinery, which came from Spain, began to flourish in the 1550s, when starch production came to England. In 1564, Mrs. Dingen van der Plasse moved from Flanders to London, opening her own starch manufacturing business. The business flourished, and soon manufacturers appeared all over London. Starch was made from cereals, mainly wheat.
Starch production was so extensive, including for sale to Spain, that William Cecil, chief minister to Elizabeth I, once said: “Is it not a great pity that we waste so much grain on the display of vanity and pride, instead of satisfying the hunger of so many hungry in the streets?”
It was thanks to these giant collars that the fashion for forks spread massively in Europe, because getting food to your mouth with your hands through such an obstacle became a real acrobatic trick.
Criticism of this fashion and its decline
Despite their popularity, ruffled collars were quite controversial in the sixteenth century. Strict Protestants, who squinted at the mere thought of luxury, branded these accessories as satanic “wheels” of debauchery.
The famous Puritan of the time, Philip Stubbs, was struck by this fashion. In 1583, he wrote:
“Huge, horrible collars… They protrude a quarter of a yard from their necks… The devil, in all his malice, would have invented these 'wheels' first, judging by everything, these are his clothes.”
The more this fashion spread in Europe, the more bizarrely people starched their collars, and you could often meet people with incredibly huge products. It got to the point that some European governments tried to pass laws that limited the size of such collars. Queen Elizabeth I of England, who ruled from 1558 to 1603 and liked to wear a collar herself, in 1580 passed a law that limited the size that people could wear them outside her court. It got to the point of complete absurdity: the queen forced the fighting guard at the gates of London to deal not with catching spies, but with measuring the collars of passers-by, turning the soldiers into the “fashion police.”
Men continued to wear the frieze into the early 17th century, but within a few decades it had fallen out of fashion. When King Charles I ascended the throne in 1625, the European neck was finally able to breathe freely—the stifling accessory was a thing of the past. And King Philip IV of Spain banned their wearing in his country.
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Luxury accessories at the cost of life: is this the right to self-expression or a demonstration of superiority?
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👑 Symbol of the majestic elite 👺 Debauchery of the rich 🤔 Fashion is always strange
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👑 Symbol of the majestic elite 0% 👺 Debauchery of the rich 100% 🤔 Fashion is always strange 0% 💡
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