As the 17th Century progressed…

…the silhouette changed and evolved quite a bit.  It continued to become softer and more rounded.  Simpler materials replaced the stiff patterned brocades and velvets notable of the prior era.  The best silks, velvets, brocades, and laces still came from or through Italy at the time.

(Portrait: 1658 Queen Maria Anna of Spain in the new and simpler fabrics of the mid-17th century)