Medieval Dress Diaries

In beginning the research for the "Incredibly Overdocumented Camicia Project" (more on that next week) I came across the idea of period dress diaries:

"In order to discern the intense interest and care lavished on their garments by the rich families of Florence, we only have to turn to their family logbooks (ricordanze), in the pages of which their clothes are lovingly detailed. As a matter of practice in the Quattrocento, the clothes that were part of significant events in the family's life were recorded in these accounts..." (Carole Collier Frick, Dressing Renaissance Florence, p. 79)

Okay, I know that the ricodanze and contemporary dress diaries have different purposes, styles, and media - but the idea of a connection did amuse me.

Here's a good review (and authorial reply) on Dressing Renaissance Florence.