Men decorated their caps with badges, ribbons and feathers, signifying all sorts of things such as their jobs and places they had visited. When at home in the evening caps would have still been worn, but they were more comfortable and often decorated with embroidery. Oh yes, and of course we must mention the all-important codpiece, prized possession of your masculinity, which, inspired by Henry VIII , had its heyday in the s. Robert Dudley, sporting a ruff, doublet, leather jerkin and trunk hose with codpiece.
For women, under your dress you would have worn a simple, thin, white dress called a chemise. It all began when it started to become fashionable for ladies to show off the fine ruffle at the drawstring neck of their chemise from under their dresses. As the competition for having the finest ruffle grew, they got larger and more extravagant, eventually culminating in the ruff. If you were a lower-class woman, then as well as your chemise you would have worn woollen stockings tied above the knee, with a practical, short dress, simple headdress and an apron.
If you were of higher status and going to an event, then the whole thing would be far more complicated and your outfit might consist of a petticoat, stiffened farthingale to make sure your skirts keep their shape , corset, parlet worn over the corset , kirtle underskirt , bumroll padding around the hips , headdress and finally your gown with pleated sleeves to reveal the material beneath. To add the final touch to your Tudor outfit we must add shoes. Leather shoes and boots were the most common, comfortable and hardwearing type of shoe.
Wealthy women also enjoyed silk or velvet slip-on shoes for indoor use. There was also a variety of protective shoes as the streets, churned up by carriages, were horrendously muddy in the winter months and full of human waste. To protect the hemline of the dress you spent so long pinning together, you would also own a pair of peculiar looking shoes that most closely resembled platform clogs.
Some may have been worked with an early form of lace called drawn threadwork. In the early part of Tudor period, the neckline was usually square in shape, following the line of the bodice. Later on, a high necked smock was worn which had a small standing collar edged with a frill — this would eventually become the ruff of the Elizabethan era.
The sleeves would be finished with a small narrow cuff and frill. This, and the neckline, is usually all that can be seen of a smock in contemporary portraiture. For women, it clearly has a skirt and may or may not be upperbodied. This allows for the bare minimum of fabric being used but also minimises the amount of bulk worn beneath the next two layers. Petticoats are mostly made of a red fabric — red being thought of as a health giving colour.
This idea is seen as late as the 19th century. Upperbodied Petticoat Made and modelled by Bess Chilver. Silk Petticoat with minimal upperbody. Maker — Bess Chilver. Model — Etty. The first image shows my own petticoat made of an unbleached linen bodice which is lined with itself.
A fine weight buckram is used to interline the bodice and is supported by boning of cane. Its fastens via laced on both sides. The skirt is a very fine weight scarlet wool.
The second image is the petticoat made with the bare minimum required for the bodice. It is fastened at the waist with a laces through a pair of worked eyelets. The skirt is made of a silk dupion and lined with itself. There is a lining of cotton wadding to give the skirt a bit of weight. June Coronation of Queen Anne Boleyn. Inventory of Apparel. The kirtle was a garment that supported the bust and created the correct silhouette for the period. It was worn over the petticoat, and from the s onwards, over the farthingale.
It seems that the kirtle bodice was stiffened in some way, usually with buckram. However, it is also clear, that whatever stiffening methods were used, the bodice of the kirtle was not made in the same way as a Victorian or modern corset is. Nor was it designed to cinch in the waist and torso in the same way.
Side Laced Kirtle. Maker and Model: Victoria Henige. The kirtle depicted above is very similar in construction to my upper bodied petticoat, but is designed to be seen beneath the overgown. It is also side laced and has a stiffened bodice providing a firm foundation for the overgown.
Mary Boleyn, Lady Carey. The gown is the garment in Tudor Dress which is seen in its entirety by other people. The Smock and Petticoat are very much underclothes.
The kirtle is usually only seen peaking out above the gown neckline so this too is mostly hidden. As the gown is so visible a garment, it needed to make an impact. This is where sumptuous fabrics could be used such as velvets or damasks or Cloth of Gold. The wealthier a person was or the higher the status, the more sumptuous and expensive the fabrics.
Jane Seymour, Queen of England c. Katharine gave hers to Mrs. These are the French hood and the English or, as is more commonly termed now, the Gable Hood. Early versions of both forms of hood are seen from the latter part of the 15th century. Katherine of Aragon was painted in version of the French Hood as well as the English Hood, giving the lie to this myth. Pictured with her husband, Charles Brandon. Highly decorated as we have seen for the wealthy but simple linen coifs for those of lower status.
A Tudor Gown in the 16th century was the culmination of the work numerous skilled craftsmen, artisans and merchants. The finishing touches are made by the Goldsmith. Mikhaila, Ninya and Malcolm-Davies, Jane. Costume, vol 42, The Costume Society. Hayward, Maria. I saw a fantastic demonstration at Hampton Court Palace last November which talked in detail about the layers of clothing women wore during this period.
VERY interesting and they showed some beautiful pieces of clothing! What a wonderful post. I love clothes and learning more about what The Tudors actually worse as opposed to what they wear on The Tudors is fantastic.
Thanks for the lovely list of reference books. I am having a Tudor-esque wedding. Does anyone have any resources on what their weddings were like? Kris is making my dress,but I wonder about other stuff,like what flowers they preferred,what an invitation would have looked like,etc. Any helpful hints would be much appreciated! My email is heirofartemis yahoo. All those jewels that were sewn into these clothes had to be re-used.???
Thank you! Tudor women did not wear knickers or bras, their underwear consisted of a linen smock and a woman would own enough smocks to last her a week. Heavy gowns could not be washed, and were beaten, so smocks were the pieces of an outfit that could be washed and they protected gowns from sweat and skin oils. Contrary to what some people say, Tudor people did wash their faces and bodies, and they also washed their smocks. There were recipes for scented toilet soap and scented washing water which could be used for general bathing and also for washing hands at meal times between courses.
Obviously menstruation was an issue. Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies, authors of The Tudor Tailor, write of how the use of menstruous cloths is mentioned in 16th century translations of the Bible.
These pessaries could have been the fore-runner of the modern tampon. That all came later. He was rather obsessed with cleanliness, especially for the women with whom he was having relations. He and his family were also known to have aversions to bad breath and not taking care of oral health. His sister Queen Mary of France, later the Duchess of Suffolk was recorded as having three sets of tooth brushes and picks and to have the straitest and whitest teeth at the court.
When his son was born he stipulated that everything in the nursery was to be cleaned daily and that even his walls were to be washed three times a day so that nothing could grow and fester to make him sick. Whenever an outbreak of sickness was reported in the cities Henry immediately fled the city regions that were highly populated and near the festering river that was known to cause sickness in the warmer months for the safer country settings, limiting the amount of courtiers and servants that were aloud to accompany him for fear of carrying along the contagion with the groups of people.
So contrary to popular belief that people of the period were never to bathe and believed it unhealthy is unfounded at least among the upper classes who did put quite a bit of stock in keeping clean, smelling nice, and reducing flees and pests.
People of lower rank and the working class would not have been able to bathe completely as often as those in the palaces because they would not have had running water in their living quarters nor would they have had the luxury to waste as much time in such pastimes as those of the leisure class.
Interesting article. Anne Boleyn is mentioned in parts:. LOVE this article! I wish we lived in an age where women wore more elegant clothes.
I love the feminine look of Tudor dresses, especially the necklines. For children born outside of nobility, they were usually dressed in loose-fitting wool or muslin dresses until their families were able to dress them properly. Usually, peasant children would also wear a cloth bonnet too.
When these children were old enough, they would also wear outfits that mimicked their parents too. It is believed that irrespective of status or nobility, all Tudor women wore a linen shift-like dress under their usual garments.
The farthingale was a conical shaped undergarment that gave a different shape to dresses and exaggerated the silhouette. Royal women would also be corseted and have a bodice strapped onto them, a bodice often heavily embroidered and embellished.
It is all believed that some royals allowed part of their linen shift dresses to show around the neck and the cuffs. Catherine of Aragon popularised this trend whilst involved with the royal court by embroidering these linen details. Throughout this period, royal women were known to wear a muslin or linen cap underneath their more elaborate headdresses and hoods.
These headdresses were regularly adorned with various jewels and precious stones and both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn can both be seen wearing them in a number of portraits.
Towards the end of the 16th century, jewelry makers were able to create far more intricate designs that incorporated precious jewels and stones. Members of the royal court tended to have a particular eye for the finer things in life and many brooches, gold chains, bracelets, ring, and carcanets choker necklaces were commissioned and created for the Tudor nobility. Another typical trend during the Tudor period was for jewelry designers to paint small portraits of loved ones and embed them into necklaces and bracelets.
In fact, Elizabeth I was known to have carried a small portrait of her mother on a gold chain around her neck. For poorer members of the Tudor world, the only options for jewelry were wooden beads or items carved out of stone or bone. Although, as jewelry became more popular so did the resourcefulness of normal people. Usually, these glass beads were fashioned into brooches or hair accessories. Makeup was a particularly important aspect of Tudor fashion and cultural trends. In fact, the heavy application of makeup synonymous with Elizabeth I was not a trend throughout the reign of the first Tudors.
It was only when Elizabeth I came into power and also expanded trade to the Middle East and further abroad that face and eye makeup became widely used throughout the court. As well as this, henna also became well-liked by the nobility, with women using the pigment to stain their nails and hair. A classic outfit for a wealthy Tudor man would consist of a white silk shirt with frilling at the neck and wrists. Over this shirt, they would then typically wear a doublet and a pair of tight striped trousers, known as hose.
Ruffs were a typical accessory for Tudor men and as time went on they continued to become larger and more pronounced.
In fact, they were so fashionable that in many noble households, including the royal court, a specialist laundress was usually employed to clean these ruffs daily. What clothes did people wear in the Tudor period? Did it differ between rich and poor? More on: Social history.
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