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Clothing In The Middle Ages

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Clothing has been apart of the world for over 170,000 years. Clothing can simply be garments worn to cover bodies, or it can have much more meaning. In the Middle Ages, clothing and fashion was a very large part of the society. Clothing was a direct reflection of the Feudal System. The garments one wore, said a lot about their lives, and identified their place in the world. The social pyramid was one of the largest elements in the middle age society. Everyone had their place in the pyramid. Clothing was a very clear indication in which social class you were in. Your status was shown by the materials that your clothes were made out of, to the colors of your fabrics.
The difference between the clothing in the social classes was very distinct. The wealthier the person was, the more elaborate the clothing material, color, and size. Fashion was dominated by the kings and queens of the land. Their dress highly influenced their people. Nobility, upper classes and lower classes were also set apart by a set of laws that restricted specific elements of their clothing. Due to these set of laws, only higher classes were able to …show more content…

Color was made using dyes. Dyes were expensive because it was adding and extra step into the manufacturing process which increases the price of the garment. Therefore, colored clothing was most commonly seen in nobility. Peasants and the lower class were also able to create colors in their clothing by using plants, roots, crushing insects, etc. But these colors faded very fast from their clothing, therefore, rich and deep colors were only seen in higher class garments. Likewise, deep and rich colors showed signs of wealth.
A typical outfit for a peasant was basic and practical. They could not afford anything elaborate. But due to their work-filled lifestyle, they did not need extravagant clothing like the higher classes. Both men and women wore neutral colors, such as browns and grays. Men

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There were also various classes of common people. There were farmers, who were very efficient. There were merchants, who would travel and trade. These people had a fair amount of freedom to be independent and wear stylish clothes. There were artisans of different kinds.

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