A Single Step

Chinese philosopher Laozi wrote that, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." For this project, that single step was accomplished this weekend for Clothier's Seminar in the Shire of Cum an Iolar. To go with my current outfit, I created a quick bereta, or hat in the Venetian style. This is only the second hat I have made and the first of this style, but I am extremely pleased with the look overall.

Photo courtesy of Master Alan Smyith of Darkdale
Used with Permission.

The bereta is constructed of a black linen-rayon blend which matches the current pair of calze I am wearing. To stiffen the sides, I used a fusible interfacing that I had purchased for a project I was making for a friend previously.

I chose to cut out the brim as a single piece of fabric 4.5" wide and fused a 3.75" wide strip of interfacing before folding the whole brim in half and attaching to a simple crown of two layers of the fashion fabric cut in an ellipse. The edges of the brim strip were turned under and attached like a binding strip over the edge of the crown piece.

As this is the first attempt at this type of hat, I was wary of the size choices. I opted for a size which would cover a large portion of the head without looking too large. In portraiture, the bereta are shown with a large amount of hair surrounding them.

Scomensàr : To begin

With the prolific amount of dress diaries available on the internet in the modern era, I find it increasingly upsetting that there is not more on the dress of the Republic of Venice. As a commercial capital for over five centuries, Venice was a maritime power throughout the Mediterranean, yet very little is definatively known about the clothing of the Republic. In her, The Dress of the Venetians, 1495-1525 (1989), Stella M. Newton cataloged the trends seen in the archives of the . Even this seminal work marginalizes some of the most important clothing worn in the Republic, and some of the most regulated.

The togati, a class of men over the age of 25, were registered with the state and required to wear a civil uniform in public and most private settings throughout their lives. This regulated dress is catalogued in numerous portraits of the Venetian School, but due to the Toga, the outer garment worn by these men.