ABOUT THIS BOOK

Ornamentalism is the first book to focus on Renaissance accessories, their histories and meanings. The collection's eminent contributors bring accessories to the center of a discussion about material culture, dress, and adornment, exploring their use, significance, and multiple lives. Defining an “accessory” in the broadest sense—including scents, veils, handkerchiefs, lingerie, codpieces, dildos, jewels, ruffs, wax seals, busks, shoes, scissors, and even boys—the book provides a rich cultural history that’s eclectic and bold, including discussions of bodily functions, personal hygiene, and sexuality.

Lively, well-written, and richly illustrated with color plates, Ornamentalism will appeal to scholars of the material past and social practice, and those interested in fashion studies, manners and morals, gender and sexuality, theater and performance.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Bella Mirabella is Associate Professor of Literature and Humanities at New York University.

REVIEWS

“Much of the appeal of this fascinating book is its ability to challenge our assumptions about both accessories and the Renaissance.”

—Times Higher Education
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“Addresses, through insightful commentaries, the social structures of Italy and England that created and controlled personal ornamentation . . . useful for students of material culture and for others looking for fresh views on adornment in the early modern period.”

—Choice
— -

“Although the objects analyzed in Ornamentalism vary widely, an important unifying thread . . . is the strong focus on matters of gender and sexuality . . . . Should appeal to early modern literary scholars, historians, and art historians . . . and scholars working in queer and affect studies.”

—Early Modern Women Journal

“Will appeal to those with a specialist interest in the material culture associated with male and female bodies in Renaissance Italy and England. However, the range of intellectual and theoretical approaches will ensure that there is something well worth reading for literature specialists, historians, and a wider audience of specialists and non-specialists alike.”

—Renaissance Quarterly
— -

“Much of the appeal of this fascinating book is its ability to challenge our assumptions about both accessories and the Renaissance.”

—Times Higher Education
— -

“Addresses, through insightful commentaries, the social structures of Italy and England that created and controlled personal ornamentation . . . useful for students of material culture and for others looking for fresh views on adornment in the early modern period.”

—Choice
— -

“Although the objects analyzed in Ornamentalism vary widely, an important unifying thread . . . is the strong focus on matters of gender and sexuality . . . . Should appeal to early modern literary scholars, historians, and art historians . . . and scholars working in queer and affect studies.”

—Early Modern Women Journal

“Will appeal to those with a specialist interest in the material culture associated with male and female bodies in Renaissance Italy and England. However, the range of intellectual and theoretical approaches will ensure that there is something well worth reading for literature specialists, historians, and a wider audience of specialists and non-specialists alike.”

—Renaissance Quarterly
— -

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Introduction

Part 1: Dressing Up

1. Scented Buttons and Perfumed Gloves: Smelling Things in Renaissance Italy

2. From the Sacred to the Secular: The Gendered Geography of Veils in Italian Cinquecento Fashion

3. Embellishing Herself with a Cloth: The Contradictory Life of the Handkerchief

Part 2: Erotic Attachments

4. Busks, Bodices, Bodies

5. “Had it a codpiece, ’twere a man indeed”: The Codpiece as Constitutive Accessory in Early Modern English Culture

6. Dildos and Accessories: The Functions of Early Modern Strap-Ons

Part 3: Taking Accessories Seriously

7. Chains of Pearls: Gender, Property, Identity

8. “As my whole trust is in him”: Jewelry and the Quality of Early Modern Relationships

9. Forms in Wax: Shakespeare and the Personality of the Seal

Part 4: From Head to Toes

10. Accessorizing the Stage: Alien Women’s Work and the Fabric of Early Modern Material Culture

11. “Grandissima Gratia”: The Power of Italian Renaissance Shoes as Intimate Wear

Part 5: Unlikely Accessories?

12. What We Talk about When We Talk about Scissors

13. “Bought my boye”: The Boy as Accessory on the Early Modern Stage

Contributors

Index

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