Gefrens

[mmcnealy]

Gefrens - aka the hair fringe

When one thinks of Gefrens, the drawings of the Housebook Master often come first to mind. However it is a fashion that is not just limited to his artwork and is a fashion that pre-dates his time by at least 40 years. In short it is a fringe of yarn that hangs down the back of the neck on young women, and sometimes older women wear them at the back of their headdresses. Typically though its a younger women's style and worn with big huge braids that were helped out with fake hair. The fringe is attached to a band that is either hidden in the hair or you can see the band in the front.

Here's a drawing by Durer, done between 1484 and 1499 called Amorous Peasants that shows the headdress from the front.
http://www.wga.hu/art/d/durer/2/11/1/15peasan.jpg


Here are some Gefrens pictures that I found today, and the dresses are really cool too! Pleats and hanging sleeves, from the 1440's!

Martyrium der Hl. Agnes
Dieses Bild: 005030
Kunstwerk: Buchmalerei ; Legenda Aurea ; Initiale A , Miniatur ; Hofwerkstatt Friedrichs III. ; Wien
Dokumentation: 1446 ; 1446 ; Wien ; Österreich ; Wien ; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek ; cod. 326 ; fol. 37r
** Red gefrens **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7006831.JPG

Martyrium der Hl. Euphemia
Dieses Bild: 005076
Kunstwerk: Buchmalerei ; Legenda Aurea ; Initiale E , Miniatur ; Hofwerkstatt Friedrichs III. ; Wien
Dokumentation: 1446 ; 1446 ; Wien ; Österreich ; Wien ; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek ; cod. 326 ; fol. 196v
** Green gefrens **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7006877.JPG

Trojanischer Krieg
Medea
Dieses Bild: 006361
Kunstwerk: Buchmalerei ; Ägidius Colonna. Trojanischer Krieg ; Miniatur ; Martinus Opifex ; Wien
Dokumentation: 1445 ; 1450 ; Wien ; Österreich ; Wien ; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek ; cod. 2773 ; fol. 16r
** Gold gefrens **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7008178.JPG

Trojanischer Krieg
Paris tröstet Helena
Dieses Bild: 006405
Kunstwerk: Buchmalerei ; Ägidius Colonna. Trojanischer Krieg ; Miniatur ; Martinus Opifex ; Wien
Dokumentation: 1445 ; 1450 ; Wien ; Österreich ; Wien ; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek ; cod. 2773 ; fol. 67r
** Pink gefrens **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7008224.JPG

Alexander der Große im Garten
Dieses Bild: 006636
Kunstwerk: Buchmalerei ; Weltchronik ; Miniatur ; Südwestdeutschland
Dokumentation: 1463 ; 1463 ; Wien ; Österreich ; Wien ; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek ; cod. 2823 ; fol. 373v
** Ugliest women ever, but the gefrens appears to be white **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7008463.JPG

Bischof von Assisi überreicht Hl. Klara den Palmzweig
Dieses Bild: 004663
Kunstwerk: Tafelmalerei ; Flügelaltar
Dokumentation: 1465 ; 1475 ; Bamberg ; Deutschland ; Franken ; Staatsgalerie
** Gold colored gefrens, and a nice front view of the hanging sleeve dress **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7006293.JPG

Hl. Klara;Hl. Franziskus
Dieses Bild: 004662
Kunstwerk: Tafelmalerei ; Flügelaltar
Dokumentation: 1465 ; 1475 ; Bamberg ; Deutschland ; Franken ; Staatsgalerie
** More gold gefrens and another front view of the dress **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7006291.JPG

Zwillinge spielend
Dieses Bild: 007400
Kunstwerk: Federzeichnung ; Wappenbuch ; Illustration ; Tirol
Dokumentation: 1475 ; 1500 ; Wien ; Österreich ; Wien ; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek ; cod. s. n. 12820 ; fol. 182r
** Black gefrens **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7009225.JPG

Tanz
Dieses Bild: 006764
Kunstwerk: Federzeichnung koloriert ; Schachzabelbuch ; Miniatur ; Konstanz
Dokumentation: 1479 ; 1479 ; Wien ; Österreich ; Wien ; Österreichische Nationalbibliothek ; cod. 3049 ; fol. 166v
** Red gefrens, and check out the particolor neckline of the man's outfit**
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7008595.JPG

Augustus und die Sibylle von Tibur
Dieses Bild: 004667
Kunstwerk: Tafelmalerei ; Flügelaltar
Dokumentation: 1495 ; 1505 ; Bamberg ; Deutschland ; Franken ; Staatsgalerie
** Tri-colored gefrens, red, white and black **
http://www.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7006301.JPG

Comments

[melaniesuzanne.livejournal.com]

What neat dresses!

(and good eye to spot some of those gefrens)

[roswtr.livejournal.com]

Is this exclusively a German style?

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

That's a good question, I'm not sure.

Its certainly something that is a Germanic lands style, but wether or not the Burgundians had it or not is something I don't know. Germanic fashion was heavily influenced by Burgundian fashion in this period, and this could be a style that that came from there as well.

[ornerie.livejournal.com]

I've seen it in German and Swiss illos. the strictly burgundian (ie Dijon and Flanders) not yet.

there's some really fun fashions in those sources taht we dont see anywhere else. and taht's really really cool :)

now, if I can just figure out how to do it with my short modern hair...as it is I can do fake braids if there's a headdress to cover up the infrastructure!

I've been toying with the idea of doing the fringie thing with my turbans though, just for grins :). I'm thinkijng a tablet woven band with the fringe in th emiddle, tied/pinned at the top of the head (if I had long hair I would have braided in my braids). does that sound about right?

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Yah, I've not seen it in the strictly Burgundian illustrations, just their neighbors.
I was thinking tablet woven too, probably just a few cards wide, with the fringe being a seperate piece woven in other than the weft. There's a tablet woven piece of tasseled trim that was used on the bottom of a dress in 1590's that was woven this way. I really want a nice hefty curtain of thread, not something skimpy.

[ornerie.livejournal.com]

I've seen photos of reenactors with the fringe and they used wooly yarn and it looked rather goofy. I'd expect something with a bit more shine to it, like silk? you for sure wouldnt want anything that would scratch the back of your neck....

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Is this similar to what you've seen?

http://www.landsknechtsrotte.de/reenactorsworld/shop/prod/gefrensgruen34.html

[ornerie.livejournal.com]

about that texture, yes.

icky!

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

I think that the yarn they are using is just standard knitting yarn. Its too heavy for this type of work, a thinner weaving yarn would be better. I'm trying to discover if there is any period reference to what they were made out of before I start trying different materials.

[merouda-true.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering, thanks for the opportunity to ask.

Do you know what it is that's drooping around the peasant girls left calf and ankle? Whatever it is, it doesn't match the right leg.

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Don't have a clue. Sort of looks like a bandage to me, but who knows?

[merouda-true.livejournal.com]

Ah, that could be indeed. She's certainly quite a mess. But a truly happy mess. :-)

[merastra.livejournal.com]

That's quite the saucy drawing (15peasan.jpg). :-) I'm a wee bit surprised her hair is short. And yet there's a braid around her head.

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Saucier than sauce. :) What looks like short hair is actually the gefrens showing behind her head.

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

Marie Chantal Cadieux has woven one of those I really like her version better than the ones I've seen on some people here in Sweden, which are only pices of yarn tied to another piece of yarn.
There are two articles on the gefrens in Waffen- und Kostümkunde, but I assume you've already read those, they're pretty old. I don't remember the exact issues, but I can check when I get to work if you want.

Eva

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Could you send me the citations for the WUK articles? I haven't read those yet and would like to.

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

It's evening here now, but I'll do that tomorrow.

Eva

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much, I really appreciate it.

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

You know, this image really reminds me of "my" wooden sculpture from Dala Järna. When the manuscript is finished I will devote some more time to the research for that costume.

Eva

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Wow, you're right, the whole look is very similar to the carving. There are several other dresses in RealOnline from the same era that show the neckline more clearly, and it does indeed look like a seperate underdress.

gefrens

[(Anonymous)]

hi love your research. I am currently researching Gefrens for an A&S project. Can you direct me to more information/documentation??

jaidadeleon@aol.com

Jaida