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11-2 Looking Closer: Focus on the Fashion!

The women depicted in the tapestry have their long hair gathered at the back in a single ponytail and wear bonnets on the back of their heads. Closer inspection of their clothing reveals that the sleeves are detachable, and connected to their bodices with ribbons or cords. Their hairstyles and garments were in fashion in Milan and Mantua in northern Italy in the 1490s, and those fashions had spread to France and northern Europe by the 1500s. This tapestry was likely produced in the Southern Netherlands, a fact that highlights how those fashion trends spread.

Similar fashions appear in several of the works in Section IV, the final part of the exhibition.