Imagine this scene: You walk through the busy restaurant to meet a friend for lunch. People smile at you, nod hello or even say hi. What is happening? You’re not a celeb…? Then you see yourself in the window confidently wearing your theatrical puff sleeves.
Puff sleeves are magical.
When Bridgerton filled our romantic hearts and GenZ created #royalcore, mostly younger women or advanced style divas experimented with theatrical styles of the past, from Renaissance to Regency. In those days it wasn’t so much about wearing your heart but your status on your sleeves. The puffier your arms were wrapped and the more intense the adornments, the richer the wearer was. Kings and Queens wore mighty examples, stuffed with fabric or sliced between the jewels to show other precious layers of fabric underneath. After proving their superiority to their satisfaction, royals rewarded selected aristocrats by allowing to copy them before the new styles sank down below to the less worthy.
French designer Jaquemus adorned several of his ethereal designs with detachable sleeves in his Fall 2023 Ready-to-Wear Collection. Guests watched them from boats, gliding by on the red runway with the palace of Versailles as their backdrop. The message?
“We can all be royal.”
Theatrical sleeves for the masses is like holding the flag for everyday rebellion. Posh transforms to power; landing in TikTok, the once snobby appeal of eccentric arm wraps vanished.
More than that; it points to the absurdity that people with so called royal blood have privileges over commoners, that even styles were given to the lower levels like the crumbs from their luscious buffets. The first kings were made by people or appointed by themselves as rulers of large territories their tribe owned or conquered. Being in power became hereditary and “genetic” because people made it so. A royal “bloodline” is a rather funny invention when we think back to the yelling and screaming of drunk tribes nominating their first king. And blood curling when we imagine the brutality of warriors conquering lands. An example a leader who became king is Clovis I – a German tribal leader who established the Kingdom of France in 481.
One is not born, but rather becomes royal.
The value of “We can all be royal,” lies in what it imbued in the true sense of royal, in educated, enlightened, beneficiary aristocratic behavior. History shows that royals had more vices than virtues but what was attributed to or better desired from them was morality, altruism, honesty, self knowledge, compassion and foresight, qualities that would truly lift their bearer above the crowd.
Imagine these qualities imbued in our royal core outfits and in this case, in ruffled, pleated or adorned puff sleeves.
Puff sleeves are full of suggestions of how to become royal.
Puff sleeves rise us above the standard of daily wear. Their boldness says that we are entitled to be grand in a new way; we turn the not so noble entitlement of the past into personal affirmations.
With royally puffed sleeves, we are invited to loosen up in playful decadence, or rebel against the normal. Feeling our attraction or resistance to their extravagance can tell us a lot about our selves.
It is what we wear but most importantly why and how we wear it that gives life to fashion.
Wear puff sleeves knowing their history.
We can turn “vain” trends into value and give our content a little depth when we understand where they come from and what they mean right now.
Puff sleeves date back to the Renaissance period of Europe, from the 14th to the 17th century and were literally royal; for the longest time only men and women of high standing were allowed to wear it.
The opulence that best describes the fashion of this fascinating time in which art, music and literature bloomed, encompassed the entire physical person; adornments enhanced every inch from pearls in artfully braided hair to the satin garnish on slip ons. Life at court tickled all senses from perfumes to song, innovative designs and even new thought.
Whereas Henry the VIII spent over 3 million for his pompous outfits per year and Elizabeth I over 1 million, the middle class created second hand stores as they had to sell their fancy robes to afford the newest must wear trend.
I love the words describing fashion of this time:
bombasting — stuffing for men’s trunk hose and peascod belly, and both sexes leg-of-mutton sleeves
slashing and puffing — slits cut in a garment with fabric from the undergarment pulled through to form puffs. The many layers showed again that the wearer was abundantly rich.
Sleeves styles
Leg of mutton - puffed at the top it tapers gradually to tuck in closely at the wrist
Juliette - a long, tight sleeve with a puff at the top
Virago - gathered into 2 - 5 puffs by ribbon or fabric bands
Bishop - a long sleeve, fuller at the bottom than the top, and gathered into a cuff
Finestrella sleeves – a voluminous sleeve with two layers of fabric, the outer fabric has horizontal slits through which you can see the fabric layer under it
Juliet sleeve, named after Shakespeare’s heroine in “Romeo and Juliet” features a large puff near the shoulder that narrows for the rest of the arm’s length.
I am a fan of adding slim sleeves to my outfits since the 90s, which started with my knitted wrist warmers as a teenager in the 70s. That the Renaissance fancied those detachable sleeves, makes me want to believe in reincarnation and wear the puffy versions.
Puff sleeves for fall 2023
At the Jaquemus runway his guests felt the past glory and decadence of Versailles while amazing fashion creations lifted their senses and inspired their daily lives.
“That’s the Jacquemus magic trick—no matter how big, how far, or how spectacular, it somehow always feels within reach,” said CEO Bastien Daguzan
We make life sustainable by upcycling your outfits, adding sleeves to boring old tops we proudly wear again, or even making puff sleeves out of fabrics from dresses and jackets we don’t like anymore. We allow fluffy fabrics to lift us out of our boxes and into adventures.
The magic of modern royalty is fulfilling one's (trendy) duties with integrity.
Wearing royal virtues on our sleeves; that’s puff sleeve philosophy.
Where to buy
Etsy’s creative sleeve versions
