The reigns of these two Louis span roughly the 1600s and certainly do as far as fashion and dress are concerned. Louise 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 that his son Louis 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. 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Francois Clouet was the supreme portraitist of the 1500s, but British-based artists superceded the French in the 1600s, portraying a casual style that makes it more difficult to really see what fashion was about in mid-century.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, NEW
Amalia van Solms, and
Claudia de Medici. NEW
Collars to casual - 1630 to 1640 -
with discrete images as well as these subalbums:
Queen Christina of Sweden, NEW
Mary Villiers, NEW
Beatrice de Cusance, NEW
Anne Carr, Countess of Bedford,
Frances, Countess of Portland, and Katherine, Dame d'Aubigny,
Anne Villiers, Lady Dalkeith, NEW
Queen Cecilia-Renata of Poland, and
"Casual" Dress - 1641 to 1683 -
with discrete images as well as these subalbums:
Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé, NEW
Marie de Rohan, Duchesse de Rohan et Chevreuse,
Leonora Christina Ulfeldt, NEW
Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate,
Marie de Rohan, Duchesse de Rohan et de Chevreuse,
Lady Elizabeth Wriothesley Percy Montagu,
Elizabeth and Mary Capel (Capell), NEW
Elizabeth Murray, Countess and Duchess,
Johanna St. John, NEW
Henriette Adelaide of Savoia, Electress of Bavaria, NEW
Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchesse de Montpensier,
Marie Anne and Olympia Mancini,
Hortense Mancini,
Henriette-Anne, Duchesse d'Orléans,
Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, NEW
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,
Princesse des Ursins, NEW
Undated Portraits by Sir Peter Lely,
Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sevigne ,
Catherine Sedley, Royal Mistress, NEW
Eleonora Magdalena Theresia von Pfalz, Holy Roman Empress, NEW
Marie Angélique de Scoraille de Roussille, duchesse de Fontanges, NEW
Marie Anne Christine Victoire de Bavière,
Légitimée Marie Anne de France, Mlle. Blois,
Marie Therese, a Princesse de Conti.
End of the era - 1684 to 1715 -
with discrete images as well as these subalbums:
Louise Elisabeth Rouxel dite Mme de Grancey, NEW
Electress Maria Antonia, née Habsburg, NEW
Françoise d'Aubigne, Marquise de Maintenon,
Duchess Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg,
Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska, NEW
Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans,
Queen Katarzyna Opalińska, NEW
Anna Constantia, Reichsgräfin von Cosel,
Sophia Dorothes, Queen of Prussia,
Anna Maria of Orléans, Queen of Sardinia,
Maria Luisa Gabriela de Savoia, and
Louise Hippolyte de Monaco. NEW
with discrete images as well as these subalbums:
Infanta Margarita, and