Welcome

Refashioning the Renaissance: Popular Groups and the Material and Cultural Significance of Clothing in Europe 1550–1650 is a five-year project led by Professor Paula Hohti, who in 2016 was awarded 2 million euro European Research Council consolidator grant. Our research group draws on documentary, visual and material evidence, to shed light on popular taste, dissemination, transformation and adaptation of fashion, as well as on meaning and changing cultural attitudes to dress. The central goal of the project is to develop a new material-based methodology and approach to Renaissance fashion by combining empirical research and theoretical models with the tradition of textile analysis and costume conservation. This involves experimenting with a range of techniques, including technical analysis of textiles, dye- and fibre analysis, and the reconstruction and visualization of historical dress using both 16th-century recipes as well as modern digital tools such as digital modelling. This five-year project is hosted by Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture.