FASHION IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The majority of individuals in the Middle Ages wore clothing made from wool with linen
undergarments. Brighter colours, richer materials, and a lengthier jacket were usually
indicators of wealth. The clothing of the aristocracy and wealthy merchants was
elaborated and changed according to fashion. Through the end of the Middle Ages,
wealthy men wore hose and a jacket, mostly with pleating or skirting, or a tunic with a
surcoat. Women wore flowing gowns and extravagant headwear, which ranged from
heart or butterfly headdresses to tall steeple caps and Italian turbans. But the Feudal
System's Pyramid of Power dictated fashion and dress, as it did everything else during
the period. Medieval clothing revealed information about the wearer's social standing.
There were strict dress codes. Sumptuary Laws strictly enforced the type of clothing
that men and women could wear, prohibiting sumptuous clothing to all but the greatest
nobles and dignitaries in the land.

Middle Ages Clothing In Europe:

During the Middle Ages, there was always one common standard of fashion and
clothing among European nations, which varied from time to time according to the
customs of each country and the peculiarities of each race. Each European country
would try to mimic the fashions and clothing of another while maintaining its own
identity. In Italy, for example, clothing and dress have always had a grandiose character,
implying that the influence of antiquity has not been completely lost. Clothing and
garments were generally heavy and massive in Germany and Switzerland, and even
more so in Holland. England consistently studied a type of instinctive elegance and
propriety in dress. It is an odd fact that Spain invariably wore the heaviness of clothing
characteristic of Germany because the Gothic element still prevailed there. France was
fickle and capricious, always ready to borrow any style of clothing that appealed to her.

Medieval Lord Clothing during the period of 1400 - 1500:

● Men's clothing was still very short. It was made up of a tight waistcoat fastened
by tags and very close-fitting breeches that showed the figure's outlines.
● Artificial pads were worn to make the shoulders appear wider.
● The sleeves would be slashed.
 ● The shoes were equipped with long metal points.
● A conical hat with a turned-up rim was adorned with gold chains and jewels.
● The fur-trimmed mantle was open in front, with false sleeves slit up above to
allow the arms of the undercoat to pass through.
● The cap was turned up, and the breeches or lengthy hose were made to fit
snugly.
● The shoes were a huge padded shoe made of black leather, with round or square
toes and gored over the foot with different coloured material.
● The emergence of Italian fashions demonstrated better taste and a higher level
of elegance.
● Sleeves that were full and gathered or puffed added grace to the upper part of
the body.
● A mantle that is both short and ornamental.
● A hat with a wide brim and feathers.
● In addition to tunics, the men wore undershirts and briefs that were covered by a
sleeveless jacket and an added tunic.
● At the end of the fifteenth century, stockings or trunk hose completed the male
attire.

Medieval Knight Clothing:

● The undergarments included a linen undershirt and linen underpants.

● Woollen stockings were worn to cover the legs.
● The underclothes of a knight were important because they kept the armour from
chafing the knight's skin.
● A padded garment, also known as an Aketon, Arming coat, Doublet, Gambeson,
or Hacketon, was a quilted coat that was either sewn or stuffed with linen or
otherwise grass. This served as padding for the additional armour worn on top.
● Surcoats were robes with a belt around the waist that were worn over body
armour.
● In order to identify the knight in battle, the surcoat was emblazoned with the cote
of arms or device of the knight.

Medieval Women's Clothing during the period of 1400 - 1500:

● The women wore lengthy trains with their gowns.

 ● These trains have been shortened.
● Sleeves grew long, dangling, and embroidered or fringed.
● Women's dresses were trimmed in the most expensive way as they became
shorter.
● Women's headdresses were made up of very large rolls that were topped with a
high conical bonnet.
● They began to expose their necks and wear necklaces.
● The following is how women's clothing was described: ""In this year (1487),
women ceased to wear trains, substituting for them trimmings of grebe, martens'
fur, velvet, and other materials, of about eighteen inches in width; some wore on
the top of their heads rolls nearly two feet high, shaped like a round cap, which
closed in above," writes the chronicler Monstrelet. Others wore them lower, with
veils that hung from the top and reached all the way down to their feet. Others
wore unusually wide silk bands with equally wide buckles and magnificent gold
necklaces in a variety of patterns."
● The main feature of female clothing at the time was its fullness.
● Catherine de Medici popularised the use of ruffles and small collars.
● Women's tight-waisted dresses began to be created very full around the hips,
using large padded rolls and an arrangement of padded whalebone and steel,
which later became paniers.

Medieval Peasant Clothing:

Peasant clothing in the Middle Ages was simple and functional. Men in the lowest
echelons of society wore breeches, or tight drawers, mostly made of leather, tight tunics
or doublets, and capes or cloaks of coarse brown woollen. The tunic was fastened at
the waist by a belt, which held the knife, purse, and sometimes the working tools. Their
clothing or dress consisted of:

● A cloth or skin blouse with a leather belt around the waist

● A thick woollen overcoat or mantle that fell from his shoulders to half-way down
his legs.
● Huge boots or shoes
● Short woolen trousers
● A sheath for his knife and a purse hung from his belt.
● Serfs in mediaeval times generally went bareheaded, but in cold or rainy
weather, they wore a woollen hat. The simple cap was fashioned from thick,
coarse woollen cloth. Caps were also made of felt or sheepskin in the early
 Middle Ages. The head-dress determined a person's rank or social position in the
twelfth century.
● Gloves have only been worn for practical clothing purposes, and they were
padded to be used in tasks such as hedging.