During the seventeenth century the Netherlands were the model for many other countries in regard to art and culture. This includes the rich Dutch and Flemish bourgeois fashions, which expressed both pride and wealth of these upcoming states. Indeed, Netherlandish fashion had a greater impact on other European regions than has so far been acknowledged.
The papers assembled in this book are the result of a colloquium, which took place at the Abegg-Stiftung in 2008, in the context of an exhibition of seventeenth-century costumes in Dutch and Flemish style originally worn by citizens of Cologne. Eminent historians of dress and textiles examine various aspects of the fashions that prevailed in the Northern as well as Southern Netherlands and how they may have influenced neighbouring countries.