This week's report - July 5, 2026

Today, I'd like to persuade you to acquire this very skirt.

My opening argument is also my strongest point: its name. VERTUGADIN! Aka “farthingale”.

Born in Spain in the fifteenth century, the vertugadin is a framework worn under the skirt to give it volume. Its name is thought to come from verdugo, the Spanish word for “green wood.”

Originally, it consisted of hoops made of reed, wicker, rope, or metal, creating a bell-shaped silhouette. The fashion is said to have been popularized by Joanna of Portugal, whom some contemporaries accused of adopting the device to conceal a pregnancy.

The impish Jeanne by Antonio de Hollanda

Catherine of Aragon later introduced it to England at the time of her marriage to Prince Arthur in 1501, where it became an essential element of the Tudor silhouette. In France, by the end of the sixteenth century, it evolved into a roll placed at hip level, and then into a wheel- or drum-shaped platform.

1570, Cone-shaped Vertugadin / 1580, Roll Vertugadin / 1610, Drum Vertugadin

The farthingale turns the skirt into architecture. It accentuates the waist, slows the gait, and takes up space. Of these attributes, we have kept only the first.

Here I am last month in LA, my gait entirely unslowed.

Yesterday in Milan, the space entirely unoccupied.

This is the last piece we created for the collection, perhaps just a week before the photoshoot, because we were suffering from a skirt deficit. I think it is one of the most resolved.

Bon dimanche,

Bourgine
15 rue Racine à Paris
Lundi-Samedi, 11h-19h
Dimanche, 13h-19h