The reigns of these two Louis span roughly the 1600s and certainly do as far as fashion and dress are concerned. Louis XIII reigned from 1610 to 1643. The farthingale was still queen of fashion when he assumed the throne, but it was deposed to allow freer styles from ruffs that became collars to the hemlines of un-supported dresses. There was turbulence during his reign. His son Louis XIV remembered and moved to prevent by bringing the aristocracy to heel during his reign that lasted all the way to 1715. Fashion evolved back to the rigid styles associated with headdresses à la Fontanges and elaborately draped mantua skirts and the first appearance of bustles. That era can be associated with his second marriage to Mme. de Maintenon who exerted a deeply religious and conservative influence on his life. Fashion took a great leap forward when he died.
Great Britain was torn by religious strife that led to the decapitation of Charles I in 1649, an unsuccessful republic under the Cromwells that makes me think of the Kim dynasty in North Korea, and to the ascendancy of Parliament that essentially hired William of Orange, husband of one Mary Stuart, to come rule in the Glorious Revolution of 1689. His successor, Anne Stuart, could not produce an heir leading to the end of the Stuart dynasty when she passed on in 1714.
Francois Clouet was the supreme portraitist of the 1500s, but British-based artists superceded the French in the 1600s, portraying a casual style that makes it more difficult to really see what fashion was about in mid-century. Mistresses, such as Louise de la Valliere, Athenais de Montespan, Barbara Villiers, and Louise de Kéroualle, were the arbiters of fashion during the reigns of Charles II and Louis XIV.
Spanish fashion retained the saya, but in a highly modified form, through the era portrayed by Diego Velazquez and later. The dresses worn by the infantas, with their distended sides, previewed Franco-European styles of a century later. Spain did not adapt to the times the way Britain and Holland did so it faded as a power and as a center of fashion. Italian states, so vibrant in the 1500s, also faded.
The albums are:
Transition from ruffs to collars - 1620 to 1630 -
with discrete images as well as these subalbums:
Maria Magdalena de Medici, née Habsburg,
Sophia Hedwig van Brunswijk-Wolfenbüttel,
Claudia de Medici, and
Collars to casual - 1630 to 1640 -
with discrete images as well as these subalbums:
Charlotte de la Trémoïlle, Countess of Derby,
Marianne of Austria, Electress of Bavaria,
Lucy Hay, Countess of Carlisle,
Anne Carr, Countess of Bedford,
Frances, Countess of Portland,
Anne Villiers, and
Queen Cecilia-Renata of Poland.
"Casual" Dress - 1641 to 1683 -
with discrete images as well as these subalbums:
Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé,
Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate,
Marie de Rohan, Duchesse de Rohan et Chevreuse,
Ludwika Maria Gonzaga, RELOCATED
Princess Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau,
Elizabeth Murray, Countess and Duchess,
Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley Percy Montagu,
Amelia of Nassau, Countess of Ossory, NEW
Elizabeth and Mary Capel (Capell),
Albertine Agnes, Prinses van Oranje, NEW
Henriette Adelaide of Savoia, Electress of Bavaria,
Mary Fairfax, Duchess of Buckingham,
Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchesse de Montpensier,
Marie Anne and Olympia Mancini,
Henriette-Anne, duchesse d'Orléans,
Anne de Bourbon-Conde, Duchesse de Longueville,
Marie Therese of Austria/Spain, Queen of France,
Louise, Duchess de la Valliére,
Françoise Madeleine d'Orléans,
Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy,
Queen Charlotte Amelie of Denmark,
Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans,
Francoise-Athenais de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise de Montespan,
Undated Portraits by Sir Peter Lely,
Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sevigne ,
Catherine Sedley, Royal Mistress,
Eleonora Magdalena Theresia von Pfalz, Holy Roman Empress,
Drottning Ulrika Eleonora, NEW
Countess and Duchess Elizabeth Percy,
Marie Angélique de Scoraille de Roussille, duchesse de Fontanges,
Marie Anne Christine Victoire de Bavière,
Légitimée Marie Anne de France, Mlle. Blois,
Diane-Gabrielle de Damas de Thianges, duchesse de Nevers, and