Daily Life During The Reformation (28 page)

Women’s clothes included hooped supports under the skirts,
a style that was not abandoned until the middle of the seventeenth century,
long after the rest of Europe had ceased to wear them. With these farthingales
(or
guardinfantes
), the wealthy wore tight-fitting bodices combined with
ballooned sleeves with decorated cuffs. Near the end of the century, the neck
ruff was fashionable and continued to be worn even after 1623 when Felipe IV
banned them in his sumptuary laws.

Gloves, crucifixes, and jewelry were much in evidence, and
the fan took special importance being used not only to keep cool but also in
flirting where certain movements sent a message, especially to potential
lovers. Lace handkerchiefs now came into their own. Some kind of cloth hidden
in a pocket had been used for a long time for blowing the nose or wiping away
perspiration; but in the sixteenth century, it became an open accessory,
attached to the clothing or carried in the hand. By the end of the century,
every lady and gentleman carried one. Mantillas were used by all classes and
loose outer cloaks sometimes covered the body from head to foot so as to make
the wearer feel and seem anonymous. Hair was drawn back severely and coiled at
the nape of the neck.

Men

Men wore tightly fitting doublets that emphasized the
slimness of the waist as the century progressed, neck ruffs became higher and
higher, holding the head up high. Short pantaloons and socks were sometimes
stuffed or quilted, worn along with large, prominent codpieces.

Women of the lower classes wore loose clothing that enabled
them to move freely, while the men generally dressed in brown shirts and
knee-length woolen trousers. As in the rest of Europe, children wore similar
clothes to the adults.

Alonso Sanchez Coello. The Infantas
Isabel Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela, the young daughters of Felipe II and
Isabelle Valois. This painting illustrates the practice of dressing children in
the same manner as adults. Here, the girls wear jewelery and their dresses,
like those of grown women, show tight bodices and sleeves with ruffs and hooped
supports under the skirts.

ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

Repeated sumptuary legislation attempted to set out what
should or should not be worn by each level of society. Clothes were to be used
to indicate the wearer’s social status and to provide a visual boundary marker
via the value of the material worn and the amount used to make the garments.
The laws were unenforceable and mostly ignored. The legislation did not affect
the poor, as they could not afford expensive materials to begin with. During
the Elizabethan period, the queen herself had a wardrobe of some 3,000 dresses,
many of which were trimmed with expensive lace, fur, embroidery; and the
wealthy aristocracy, following suit, clad themselves richly, demanding every
kind of luxury and excess.

Upper Classes

Fashion played an important role for the wealthy who alone
could afford high quality wool, silk, cotton, and richly embroidered materials.
Dyes were mainly vegetable based, such as woad for blue and walnut for brown,
and were fixed with a chemical known as a mordant. The most expensive dyes were
red and black, the latter very costly.

Upper Class Men

Men wore a vest cut short at the waist, the edges laced
with strips of leather or ribbon, showing a shirt both above and below. Germany
and Switzerland had much influence on these styles that frequently had slashed
and puffed sleeves, which in time, grew very large and elaborate, some outfits
even equipped with interchangeable sleeves, each pair attached with lacing.

The style adopted by Henry VIII included long, fitted, silk
stockings, shoes with square toes, and an elaborately stitched tunic held at
the waist by a belt. The tunic was usually open in front, showing off
decorative ruffles on the front of the shirt and at the wrists. On the ruffles
were black embroidery combined with gold and red. An embroidered and jeweled
codpiece was worn, as was a dagger that was normally attached at the waist. The
king’s handkerchiefs were made of Dutch linen or lawn with Venetian gold
fringes around the edges. They were embroidered in red or white silk.

Men and women wore heavy jeweled necklaces, chains,
pendants, jeweled buttons, and rings on both hands, especially on the thumbs.
All carried embroidered and perfumed gloves.

In the 1550s, it became fashionable for men to have short
hair, a clipped beard (sometimes terminating in two points), and a mustache. On
the head a velvet beret was worn often with a feather or a felt cap ornamented
with jewels.

Once Felipe II of Spain married Mary Tudor, Spanish
influence again began to be seen in England; and men’s hats in black velvet had
narrow brims, trimmed with silk, wool, lace, plumes, or chains of gold. Short
capes with stand-up collars had a notch where the collar joined the front.

By 1558, when Elizabeth came to the throne, Spanish
influence was still more entrenched with the slashed and embroidered peasecod
bellied doublet with a long, pointed projecting front. A small, detachable
collar, called the partlet, was worn by both sexes.

Venetian-style men’s breeches were now full at the top,
narrowing at the knee, while French breeches were tight with padded trunk hose.
The latter were puffed, covering the thighs, and often made into one garment
joined to the stockings. These were seen also in Germany and had pockets in the
lining. Stockings, usually made of wool or silk that joined the breeches at the
knees were known as netherstocks, while the breeches themselves were
upperstocks. Sometimes they were embroidered in gold and silver thread at the
ankles. Garters made of ribbons were tied just below the knees. Capes were worn
for traveling and the short, Spanish version, made of perfumed leather was the
most popular.

Many Englishmen wore swords, rapiers, or daggers sheathed
in velvet or embroidered linen; but according to Moryson, this encouraged
duels. In 1580, a law was passed restricting the length of these weapons.

Upper Class Women

Women’s cloaks had similar collars to men’s and were worn
over double skirts. Cloaks and capes were often of fur, but the kind of fur was
dictated by rank and wealth. Perfume enhanced not only gloves but also shoes
and fans of which the most popular were leather mounted on carved ivory.

Hoods were smaller, and dresses became much more simple
with higher necks and (usually white) collars made of silk or linen, sometimes
wired at the edge. Hair also was simpler and although puffed in front, was
parted in the middle and knotted in the back. A jeweled girdle was worn with a
mirror or rosary at the end, and bouquets of flowers often tucked into the
bodice at the neck. Underneath, a brocaded or embroidered skirt of velvet was
visible as the top skirt of contrasting color flared open.

It is known that Anne Boleyn wore a nightgown of black
satin trimmed with velvet of the same color. At this time, men and women both
began to wear velvet nightcaps.

During the Elizabethan period, both a fan-shaped collar or
a pleated and wired Spanish ruff accompanied copious amounts of jewelry. False
sleeves as well as separate ones were laced to the armhole. Noble Englishwomen
wore bodices with a square, low neck and sleeves that had wide cuffs made of
colored velvet, fur, or net. At times, the bodice opened over a stomacher, a
decorated triangular-shaped panel that could be laced up. Ruffles from the
chemise were visible at the wrists. A steel corset with hinges on one side and
hooks on the other was covered with velvet, often a design was perforated into
it. Another corset of buckram, laced tightly, went underneath.

On their heads women wore elaborate diamond-shaped
headdresses, later followed by what was known as the French hood, which left
the hair on the forehead uncovered. A bonnet made of velvet or satin was put
over a small embroidered cap of white linen or gold net. Women’s hats often had
a plume and bands or necklaces around the crown. Caps made of lawn were worn
close to the head. The “Mary Stuart” cap with a dip over the forehead had a
frame and was made of cambric and lace.

Up to about 1626, pins to hold clothes together were
imported from France (after that, they began to be made in England). Since at
first the pin was fairly expensive and considered a luxury, the term “pin
money” was introduced for the money given to the women by their husbands
expressly for this purpose.

The preferred color of hair was red (like Elizabeth’s).
Wigs, as well as false hairpieces, were decorated with jewels, glass, or
feathers. Powder and rouge were applied and perfume hung from the waist in
small silver or gold pomanders. A fan and mirror were likewise transported. All
accessories were perfumed and clothes were fumigated with herbal scents, as in
fact few people took baths. The odor, caused by rotting teeth, was disguised by
breath fresheners.

Alexander Hay Ritchie. Engraving,
c. 1852. Mary, Queen of Scots.

The queen introduced leather and velvet shoes with high
heels and cork soles. They were often stamped with a design or embroidered. Red
hose were frequently worn with embroidered red or blue shoes and had lace and
jewels; they were tied with shoe roses, and red heels were popular. Chopines or
clogs were used in England, as they were on the continent; and slippers with
cork soles were worn over the shoes of both men and women when outside.
Sometimes the chopines had stilts on them as high as seven inches. It is said
that Elizabeth was the first woman in England to wear silk stockings, and
following suit, women then began wearing hand-knitted silk stockings usually
decorated with gold, silver, and colored designs.

In 1589, an Englishman, William Lee, invented the first
knitting machine, but he was ignored in England, so he went to France where he
stayed and worked until the end of his life. After Henri III was assassinated,
Lee’s workers returned to England with the machine to make stockings.

After Elizabeth’s death, people began wearing lighter
colors and richer materials. Fynes Moryson lamented although the materials were
fine, there was no sense of style.

Lower Classes

For the lower classes, clothes had to be hard-wearing and
practical. Men often wore a leather jerkin or a tunic that was easier to work
in than the doublet. On their legs were woolen hose and sometimes shorts under
the breeches. Woolen caps were worn on Sundays. For women, smocks of linen or
wool usually had nothing underneath; a two-piece dress of coarse, rough brown
wool was put over the smock, detachable laces held the sleeves in place. An
apron and sometimes a linen cap called a coif was used for work.

Puritans

After the Reformation, very plain clothing without any of
the trimmings was favored by extremists who tended to wear sober colors of
gray, black, and white with green woolen stockings.

Puritan Men

Men’s jackets were plain but sometimes the sleeves were of
dark red. Breeches were either full and tight at the knee or cut straight with
a simple frill or ruffle at the end. No lace edges were used for the cuffs or
the collar, which was tied with plain strings attached to a neckband, fastening
in the back. This style of collar was eventually used by the professional
class.