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A little story about the big collar

January 20, 2021

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Cutter, raff, gorgera, bryzhi - what is it?

In the history of fashion, these terms are often used to describe the costumes of the 16th-17th centuries. So in different languages were called very fashionable in those days, rigid round corrugated collars made of starched fabric or lace.

The fashion for such collars appeared in Spain and gradually spread to other countries. At first it was a small strip of fabric or lace at the neck of a man's suit. But the size of the collars grew and over time this accessory became an adornment of not only a man's, but a woman's aristocratic costume.

Peter Paul Rubens' Marquise Brigitte Spinola Doria. 1606г.

By the end of the 16th century the collars had become so enormous that they were called "millstone" or "cartwheel".

There was even a wire cage under the collar to keep it in place.

The head surrounded by this structure seemed small, as if separated from the body and lay on the collar, as if on a huge plate.

Turning your head with such a structure around your neck was very uncomfortable. Therefore, the movements of the aristocrats became slow, and seemed prim, arrogant.

And putting on the collar was not easy either. He was helped by his servants - supporting, straightening and smoothing it out.

The collars were starchy, blue, flattened with special tongs. Their edges were trimmed with lace, gold thread, cut out with teeth. The manufacture of huge raffs took several meters of the thinnest canvas. They were both two-tiered and three-tiered. The collars were sometimes more expensive than dresses and were indicators of the nobility and wealth of their owner.

In the 17th century there was even a saying: "A Spanish nobleman can have nothing, but a starched collar he must have!