SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE AND CYRANO DE BERGERAC: THE FASHIONABLE AND THE

FIERCE

THE REAL CYRANO DE BERGERAC

Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, a French writer and soldier, was born March sixth, 1619, in Perigord, near Paris.

He was born to prominent (but not noble-blooded) parents who were originally from Bergerac, an area in southern France.

Later in life he added the ‘de Bergerac’ to his name solely to impress people.

THE REAL CYRANO DE BERGERAC

As a child, other children made fun of his very large nose, a characteristic exaggerated in the stories about him, though historians believe he did once actually say his “nose preceded him by a quarter of an hour wherever he went.”

However, Cyrano later became a highly respected swordsman, and very few men were then brave enough to insult his nose.

Cyrano joined the army and fought at the battle of Arras, where he was wounded. This is portrayed in The Fourth Act of the play Cyrano de Bergerac.

THE REAL CYRANO DE BERGERAC

He retired and became a philosopher in Paris. He wrote poems, political pamphlets, and plays.

Cyrano also died in much the same manner as described in the play.

MEN’S FASHION Indoor garments gained more

and more importance after the first half of the 17th century. Banyans, dressing/indoor gowns, were quite splendid and by no means comparable with modern dressing gowns; instead they were made from brocades, velvets and silks, and were highly respectable wear.

MEN’S FASHION When a man went indoors he would

exchange his high-heeled outdoor shoes for more comfortable, low-heeled mules, which were often covered with fabric and embroidered with pearls or spangles.

MEN’S FASHION

Boots became fashionable at the English court during the reign of the English king Charles I and spread from England throughout the rest of Europe (including France). They were worn by all social classes, over pantaloons or breeches.

MEN’S FASHION

Less extravagant were boots made from buff leather (cowhide), which was heavier and more durable. A galosh—made using thick leather and sometimes even wood—was used to keep the fine boots and shoes from the dirt of the streets.

Modern Galoshes =

MEN’S FASHION Gloves were always worn

and belonged to every gentleman’s outfit, as well as muffs, which were worn with a band around the waist, and carried in front. Very often these fur muffs were rather big. 

MEN’S FASHION Walking sticks remained in fashion as

well, and those that had been carried already in the first half of the century, when the cavalier outfit was in fashion, continued to be popular throughout the period. Walking sticks were never higher than the hips of their owners.

MEN’S FASHION Furthermore the small-sword was always on

its sword-belt on a courtier’s side, because this often extremely elaborate and elegant weapon represented the status of a free man, namely that of an aristocrat.

MEN’S FASHION Expensive laces

belonged to the costume of a fashionable gentleman as well, and they were worn in abundance, at the cuffs of the shirtsleeves and on cravats. Those cravats either consisted of lace or were richly edged with deep laces.

MEN’S FASHION Another male

accessory was the handkerchief, which was large, beautifully trimmed in lace, and held between the index and second fingers with the four corners falling down the back of the hand. This was integral to fashion and etiquette.

MEN’S FASHION The one item which

usually comes immediately into one’s mind when thinking of the second half of the seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century is the long and full wig: the so-called periwig or allonge perruque. 

MEN’S FASHION In the first half of the seventeenth century, it

had been fashionable to wear one’s hair long and in locks, often with one plaited strand of hair even longer and tied at the end with a small ribbon bow, the lovelock.

MEN’S FASHION Hats became very broad-brimmed once

again around the middle of the seventeenth century. The hat was now richly adorned with plumes (feathers/panaches). White plumes were still the most common, but they also came in reds and darker shades of brown; they were also (very rarely) other colors, like yellow and green.

MEN’S FASHION Only after the 1600’s did it become

polite manners to take off one’s hat indoors. Before that a gentleman wouldn’t even take off his hat during dinner, amongst people, nor in church.

WOMEN’S FASHION Once indoors, a lady would also

change into more comfortable garments. She changed her heavy robes for a housedress and her high-heeled shoes for mules (slippers). The dress worn indoors was usually shaped like a jacket, open at the front, and reached down to the floor.

WOMEN’S FASHION The house garments, as

well as their caps, were richly decorated with lace. Again, corresponding to the dressing gown which the man was also wearing indoors, these house garments were not only meant to be seen by family members, but were also worn when informally receiving visitors and such. It was often touched up by a small decorative apron.

WOMEN’S FASHION During this period men’s

and women’s shoes were the same in style and cut. Around 1630, ladies’ shoes were made of fine kid or brocade, often with embroidered foreparts. In the same fashion as the men’s shoes, ribbon rosettes covered the fastenings, though often ladies didn’t wear the really huge rosettes because of the length of their skirts.

WOMEN’S FASHION The collapsible parasol came

into fashion, to protect the ladies’ pale complexions from the sun while promenading through the terraced gardens. But this umbrella, which was meant to protect from the sun, could also be used as protection against the rain.

WOMEN’S FASHION Collapsible fans, which

had first been introduced to Europe in the sixteenth century, were of course always used by ladies. The fan plates were painted beautifully, and the sticks were made from a variety of materials, such as woods, ivory, and tortoise shell, and they were intricately carved and very elegant.

WOMEN’S FASHION It was truly a science by then how to

‘talk’ with a fan, different gestures and stances and movements having many different meanings.

WOMEN’S FASHION Necklaces were almost

always pearls, narrow around the throat. They were either one strand or two, but usually just one, though with big pearls. Sometimes a crucifix was worn, attached to the pearl necklace by a thin chain, letting the cross dangle.

THE RULES OF ETIQUETTE FOR MEN

Besides ballet, fencing was the other major activity that affected male movement. Therefore movement was based on certain ballet positions and fencing stances that gave it grace, simplicity, and, if practiced correctly, a classic and structured beauty.

THE RULES OF ETIQUETTE FOR MEN There are three

important stances for the male courtier. The first, a simple and rather heroic posture not acceptable in the presence of one’s superior, was the second ballet position, with feet about a foot apart and slightly spread while the hands rested gracefully on the hips.

THE RULES OF ETIQUETTE FOR MEN The second stance was the third

enclosed ballet position: feet perpendicular to one another with the weight on the rear foot and with the heel of the front foot at the hollow of the rear foot. Since the front foot bore no weight, the knee was slightly bent. Hands were placed between the folds of the coat or the waistcoat if it were partially unbuttoned, or one hand rested lightly on the sword and the other on the head of the high walking stick.

THE RULES OF ETIQUETTE FOR MEN

The third stance was to have the enclosed foot open sideways, bearing no weight and with the toes pointed out. The hat was placed under the arm that was on the same side as the foot that took the weight; the head turned toward the free foot, and the other arm rested easily but low on the hip. Gentlemen would also always bow with grace.

THE RULES OF ETIQUETTE FOR WOMEN Female movement,

like male movement, was also like that of a trained ballet dancer: graceful and vital, with the center of motion at the waist, which was both flexible and yet firmly controlled at all times.

THE RULES OF ETIQUETTE FOR WOMEN

A lady’s gown often had to be lifted and set down again. This was accomplished by making a graceful sweeping curve, not by merely picking up and dropping the skirt. A grand manner had to be adopted in walking in order to carry the heavy looped-up skirts and the high headdresses of the later French Baroque style.

THE RULES OF ETIQUETTE FOR WOMEN For entering a room, the

curtsy en avant was in order. Here the lady paused on the foot that made the last step, slid the disengaged foot to the front, and bent the knees with weight equally distributed and without bending the body or shaking. The lady rose with the weight on the front foot.  There were a variety of curtsy types for leaving and walking, too.

THE BAROQUE ERA The Baroque period is the era in the

history of the Western arts roughly coinciding with the 17th century.

Baroque artists tried to make viewers have deep emotional responses to their work by appealing to the senses in dramatic ways. Some of the qualities most frequently associated with the Baroque period are grandeur, sensuous richness, drama, vitality, movement, tension, and emotional exuberance.

PORTRAIT OF KING LOUIS XIII BY PHILIPPE DE CHAMPAIGNE