Introduction

Doublets were complex upper-body garments that were commonly made by skilled tailors and consisted of several layers of fabrics and supportive materials to create sculpted shapes. The way in which the linings, interlinings, smaller pieces of linen and the main fabric are layered together, however, are hidden, and we cannot see the layers because of ‘indirect contact with an object’.¹ The ‘Refashioning the Renaissance’ project carried out a digital reconstruction experiment to explore how new technological digital garment-making tools can be used to render the layers of materials visible and explore period garment-making. This was achieved by digitally making an animation of the seventeenth-century male doublet that used to belong to a Florentine waterseller, Francesco Ristori (see Experiment in focus III).²

The experiment

The doublet animation is based on several different source materials from the ‘Refashioning’ doublet project.³ The realisation of this doublet used notes on historical pattern and tailoring books and the patterns and materials of the physical doublet that was made at the School of Historical Dress in London. In addition, my personal skills in pattern cutting and garment making as well as dimensions of the digital space are implemented in building the digitally animated doublet. The practice-led experiment investigated the opportunities and limitations in recreating a seventeenth-century male doublet via digital tools. The focus was to advance knowledge within the practice, and practice was an integral part of this experiment. Creating the digital animation facilitates a more thorough understanding of the doublet structures via embodied experience.

The digital animation of the garment was created with Clo3D, a program that is originally designed for the fashion industry. The program was selected as it allows the construction of garments with existing patterns, easy alteration of patterns and the creation of new ones, which proved to be useful in replicating the shape of the historical doublet. Patterns were the starting point of the digital garment reconstruction because the doublet’s shape and fit are dependent on the shape of the pattern, as in the making of garments by hand with physical materials. I digitised the ‘Refashioning’ doublet patterns created at the School of Historical Dress with Gerber Accumark pattern program and imported them to Clo3D. These patterns were then multiplied to replicate each of the materials typically used in a physical doublet. One of the important benefits of digital animation is being able to illustrate the vast number of material pieces that are included in a historical doublet. In addition, the Clo3D program enables illustration of the pieces next to the avatar body, which in our case helped to visualise the pattern positions on a human body (Figure v.1). Another beneficial aspect of Clo3D is that the program allows alteration of patterns and shows the alterations simultaneously on the avatar body. Easy pattern alteration is beneficial for dress history research because historical patterns often differ from contemporary shapes. This feature facilitated the finalised pattern shape, which enabled visualisation of the doublet’s sculpted shapes.

Once imported into the program, the patterns fly in the digital space and need to be assembled on the avatar body. This process is comparable to that in real life: the many layers of different fabrics that are included in a doublet are placed on a body in the same order in the digital space. This is one of the important findings of this animation project: it can render visually all the different layers of fabrics and supports that are not visible in the physical object. For example, typically in a Renaissance doublet, the collar is constructed with multiple layers of various fabrics and supportive materials such as baleen or bent grass. In the ‘Refashioning’ animation we were able to demonstrate the ways in which the silk lining, interlinings from hemp, linen and a smaller piece of coarse linen, and the main wool fabric (mockado) are layered together (Figure v.2).

Figure V.1 Doublet pattern pieces on the right with all patterns laid over an avatar body on the left.

Additionally, the Clo3D program can mimic some of the stitching types used in the assembly of the physical doublet. This is helpful to demonstrate the supportive materials and stitchings that are positioned beneath the doublet’s main fabric layer, such as the different wool fabrics on the front and back of the shoulder. Often in physical doublets, a specific shape of wool was pad-stitched to the supportive linen between the lining and main fabric. The purpose of these materials in the physical doublet is to create softness and thickness, and pad-stitching creates round forms for the shoulder area.⁴ The animation can illustrate these different layers and stitching types, as well as the pad-stitching in the collar of the physical doublet that forms its round shape.

Sewing in the digital space functions somewhat as in real life. The seams that join are connected; however, the digital garment does not include any seam allowances, which are necessary for sewing physical materials. Material qualities, such as yarn density, fabric weight and thickness, can also be modified at any point in creating a digital garment. This feature is beneficial for research purpose as it allows one to test different material qualities on the avatar. In animation, garment simulation is the phase when the flat patterns transform into three-dimensional, finished digital garments (Figure v.3). The texture of the garment is created by inserting any digital image of a material on top of a pattern where texture is required. Any kind of digital image can be imported to the program, which is beneficial, as this enables existing historical fabrics to be replicated on digital garments. The colour and shine of the texture can also be adjusted, which is a useful tool for testing different colour options based on historical sources such as dye recipes. The ‘Refashioning’ doublet surface is a combination of the material characteristics of the physical doublet made at the School of Historical Dress. The texture and colour are slightly altered with the Procreate digital drawing program. The doublet’s ribbon is a combination of an image of an extant material, which was reworked with Adobe Photoshop before importing to Clo3D.

Figure V.2 The complex layers of doublet collar can be visualised via animation.

Figure V.3 Final digital reconstruction of a sleeveless, seventeenth-century male doublet.

Another valuable feature of digital animation is that, after the simulation, the garment and patterns can still be adjusted to finalise a perfect shape. The sculpted form of a historical doublet that requires layers of different materials and specific sewing methods executed by skilled tailors in real life is, however, created differently in the animation. All layers between the main fabric and lining have to be removed before the digital simulation process, as they cause collision effects. The volume is created digitally by adding pressure underneath the garment, inserting ‘bond’ to the pattern pieces, which should look more solid or in contemporary terms ‘fused’. One of the outcomes of this experiment was the discovery that the software lacks trimmings that resemble historical ones. Specifically designed buttons, buckles or ribbons must be created beforehand with a digital sculpting program⁵ and then imported to Clo3D.

Conclusion

The results of this experiment stem from studying Clo3D and finding ways to make the most of the program features to represent the historical doublet. The digital reconstruction is not a copy of the physical doublet but a digital creation showing aspects of the doublet that cannot be seen in real life. The digital reconstruction does not directly copy physical making because the digital space has different applications, dimensions and rules. However, it offers many beneficial tools to experiment, analyse and visualise historical garments for the purpose of demonstrating their making so that we can better understand unique craftsmanship of the skilled Renaissance tailors.