More than five centuries ago, certain style icons used extravagant, opulent looks to gain influence and power during a turbulent period in Italian history.
Renaissance Italy was home to artists who are still influential and popular today.
However, a few extravagantly elegant women, with astute politically aware fashion ideas, often used as a subtle form of soft power during a tumultuous period of Italian history, were perhaps less well known but equally influential during that period.
Dubbed "Renaissance style icons" - a nod to 1920s movie stars like Clara Bow - by Darnell Jamal Lisby, curator of the exhibition From the Renaissance to the Runway: Long-Lived Italian Houses at the Cleveland Museum of Art - these women continue to influence designers in the 21st century.
The ethereal Simonetta Vespucci was a Florentine "trendsetter" in the 15th century.
"The whole city was crazy about her. Every girl looked up to her, every man wanted to be with her. She was the epitome of Florentine beauty at the time, with her long blonde locks and soft skin," says Lisbeth.
Although she was married, the brothers Giuliano and Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici fought for her affection, and she was a muse to many artists, including Sandro Botticelli.
Some experts believe that she served as the inspiration for Venus in the painting "The Birth of Venus".
However, since the work was painted around 1485, almost a decade after her tragically early death - she passed away in 1476, when she was 22 years old - this would mean that it is an idealized portrait of her.
On the other hand, since Botticelli was so in love with her that he requested to be buried at her feet when he died - it is entirely possible that he really had her image in his mind all those years.
The women who took the title of Style Icon after Simonetta came of age during the Italian Wars, a series of violent conflicts from 1494-1559, largely driven by Spain and France, who wanted to control Italy.
Fashion was often used as a diplomatic tool at the time, and Isabella d'Este, wife of Francesca II Gonzaga, Marchioness of Mantua, was particularly skilled in the art.
Isabella, a sought-after patron and collector, was one of the most famous women of Renaissance Italy.
Her innovative style choices further expanded the reputation she enjoyed as a trendsetter across Europe, but fashion was not a frivolous pastime for her.
One early 20th-century historian called her, somewhat misogynistically, "Machiavelli in skirts," wanting to emphasize how influential she was, and in choosing her style she was guided by an idea "deeply rooted in the strategies of statecraft," says historian Sarah Cockrem, who has written extensively about Isabella.
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Renaissance wars of fashion styles
Although a potentially risky move, expressing political allegiance through clothing was well known in Renaissance Italy.
When her brother-in-law Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, sent her a luxurious fabric embroidered with the Sforza motif in 1492, she immediately had a dress made from it to show her devotion to him while she was in Milan.
However, when seven years later the French king expelled Louis from Milan, and Isabella's relationship with him brought her loyalty to France into question, she tried to convince the French ambassador, through an envoy in Venice, that if he visited her, he would find her dressed from head to toe in lilies.
Her reputation as a sophisticated arbiter of taste was often used for political influence, and the gift-giving served the purpose of gaining the favor of those above her, on the one hand, while instilling in those subordinates the desire to serve her.
Her perfumed gloves seem to have particularly contributed to her influence, to the extent that the Queen of France was desperate to acquire a pair.
"If you want to survive the Italian wars, the French king needs to have a positive opinion of you, and you can hardly achieve a closer relationship with him than for a detail on his wife's hand to remind him of you?" says Cockrem.
Her distinctive combination - black velvet, gold knots on her clothes, jeweled headdress, rubies and pearls - highlighted in a portrait painted by Titian in 1536 - also had a political purpose.
Her court ladies, as well as family members, dressed similarly, because that was also how they showed their loyalty to her.
A very original head ornament, known as a zazara, an item between a wig and a hat, made from a combination of real hair and extensions, silk and gold threads, was especially associated with her, so allowing another person to wear such an ornament was a sign of her favor.
"In many portraits from that time, we see women wearing less elegant versions," says Cockrem.
It seemed that Isabella's powerful influence would undermine the marriage of her brother Alfonso and the infamous Lucrezia Borgia, who, as the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI, was far wealthier than Isabella.
One of Lucrezia's dresses cost 20.000 ducats (the same as a palace on the Venetian Grand Canal), while the value of her beret was estimated at 10.000 ducats.
Those two things alone together were worth more than Isabella's dowry.
When she arrived at her new husband's home in 1502, she was accompanied by as many as 1700 maids and courtiers.
Especially for the occasion, she wore a magnificent velvet dress made of gold boucle with a turquoise taffeta lining.
Alfonso and Isabella sent informants to follow her and gather information about her style and behavior before the wedding.
They wanted to be informed in detail about her widely-renowned abundance of toiletries and jewelry.
As a result, "during the wedding, Isabella and her best friend and sister-in-law, the Duchess of Urbino, did everything they could to ensure their style was in keeping with the occasion and not to disappoint expectations," says Cockrem.
"Mantua was poorer than other Italian city-states, so it had to strive to make a strong impression with modest expenditure," explains Cockrem.
She used informants and agents to get the best stuff.
However, in times of economic hardship, she had to pawn her jewels to support the state, "she would vow as a believer and say that she would have to wear more modest clothes for a few months."
She probably found some relief when Lucrezia died in 1519, although Cockrem believes that Lucrezia, despite her enormous wealth, never managed to surpass Isabella's style.
Isabella overshadowed her partly because the beauty of her style inspired some artists, for example, Titian painted her portrait. A sketch of her face by Leonardo da Vinci is very popular.
Isabella's reputation as a fashion icon, as well as her political activism and gift-giving practices, continue to influence Western culture to this day.
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Extravagant legacy
Perhaps Isabella's greatest rival was Eleonora di Toledo, a Spanish princess and daughter of the viceroy of Naples, who during the 16s was renowned for using clothing to project soft political power.
Due to the political circumstances of the time - the expansion of the Medici and the global domination of Spain, which led to the end of the Florentine Republic, Pope Clement VII in 1539 arranged for Eleanor to marry Cosimo I de' Medici.
Legend has it that when she first arrived in Florence, she brought a lot of Spanish brocade and that, not surprisingly, the Florentines were offended by her style and by the fact that she spoke Spanish.
However, over time, she wisely combined Spanish and Italian fashions to gain their favor and promote the Florentine state.
In a portrait painted by Broncino (around 1545), Eleonora is shown with her son Giovanni.
She is wearing a luxurious dress with a high bodice, and her cleavage is covered by an elegant gold decoration.
Although the style is Spanish, the luxurious fabric with its distinctive pomegranate motif suggests a Florentine design.
The Florentine textile industry experienced a decline in the early 16th century, and recovered thanks to the protectionist stance of Cosimo I, so this portrait can also be interpreted as a powerful symbol of Florence's political and economic revival.
It seems that Eleanor's dedication to the city she embraced as her own eventually won over the Florentines, and many noblewomen began to imitate her style.
Another Broncini portrait shows a woman “undoubtedly influenced by Eleanor’s style, wearing a jet black dress with pleated sleeves in the Spanish style with a hairnet and ruffles,” says Lisby.
She also popularized a cloak inspired by the Spanish freer style, known as the Zimara.
"It was originally intended for the home environment, but she wore it in public, so it became part of Florentine fashion," says Lisbi.
Although the extravagant nature of Renaissance style rarely fits into everyday clothing choices, many contemporary designers and celebrities are clearly influenced by the style intended for premieres and performances.
Lisbi singles out designer Alessandro Michele's ideas for Gucci as an example of Eleanor's direct influence, especially a striking green silk dress with an embroidered partlet (a collar-like detail that complements the dress's plunging neckline) from the fall-winter 2016 collection.
As for Simonetta, Isabella, and Lucrezia, "you feel like there's an inspiration board in a design studio with their ideas," says Lisby.
As an example, he points to hats from the Maxmar holiday collection, which remind him of Isabelle's famous turban.
They also inspire many celebrity stylists.
The team working for Chapelle Roan often reaches for the Renaissance style.
At the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, her makeup artist Andrew Dalling told In-Style magazine that he wanted her to look and feel like a Renaissance royalty.
Florence Welch was clearly exposed to Renaissance aesthetics from a young age - her mother, Evelyn, is a respected expert on the period.
Moreover, her airy appearance makes her a kind of modern Simonetta.
Likewise, Rosalie's puritanical pictures for the album Luxury They evoke Isabella's simple style from her period of religious observance.
Contemporary interpretations of the styles of these extraordinary women and the turbulent, highly creative era in which they lived have resulted in miraculous combinations in some cases.
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