I'm not sure how well it will reproduce here, but it's this one:
Isabelle deHauteville, dated between 1540-45. I had to look at this for a long time before I realized that they really were earrings and not the ends of the biliment. However, this is the only example I've found so far. So, it's apparently possible to wear earrings, but not particularly common.
As to the details I'd see as 'typically French' (although I hesitate to classify anything like that), I believe it is a certain set in combination, more than any one thing that jumps out. So, off the top of my head (here at work and without any references): Slightly bowed shape of the upper edge of the bodice, beautiful, fragile-looking underpartlets, a characteristic pattern of trim and jewelry on the bodice, sleeve rolls considerably lower on the arm - the cap of the sleeve rather than shoulder rolls as we tend to think of them.
Now, any one or combination of those things can be present in Italian, Spanish, German or English dress - which is why I find this so frustrating to try to pin down. In fact, about the only thing I can't reliably interchange with any of those countries are the fact that it appears that sleeve rolls, based on the evidence I've seen so far, tended to be larger, stiffer, and placed further up on the crest of the armscye on Spanish and German clothing. And that is yet written in water. So... I'm not saying that there is no such thing as a French dress/style, simply that it may not be as strictly codified as people tend to think.
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Isabelle deHauteville, dated between 1540-45. I had to look at this for a long time before I realized that they really were earrings and not the ends of the biliment. However, this is the only example I've found so far. So, it's apparently possible to wear earrings, but not particularly common.
As to the details I'd see as 'typically French' (although I hesitate to classify anything like that), I believe it is a certain set in combination, more than any one thing that jumps out. So, off the top of my head (here at work and without any references): Slightly bowed shape of the upper edge of the bodice, beautiful, fragile-looking underpartlets, a characteristic pattern of trim and jewelry on the bodice, sleeve rolls considerably lower on the arm - the cap of the sleeve rather than shoulder rolls as we tend to think of them.
Now, any one or combination of those things can be present in Italian, Spanish, German or English dress - which is why I find this so frustrating to try to pin down. In fact, about the only thing I can't reliably interchange with any of those countries are the fact that it appears that sleeve rolls, based on the evidence I've seen so far, tended to be larger, stiffer, and placed further up on the crest of the armscye on Spanish and German clothing. And that is yet written in water. So... I'm not saying that there is no such thing as a French dress/style, simply that it may not be as strictly codified as people tend to think.