The Importance Of Fashion In The Renaissance

Fashion in the Renaissance Did you know that some of the fashion trends that are used today were started in the Renaissance? The Renaissance fashion has inspired many new and old designers today. The Renaissance also inspired a festival that is still celebrated today. The Renaissance festival is a place where people dress up like the people in the Renaissance and participate in activities that the Renaissance people enjoyed. They also have a variety of food and entertainment including many comedy shows, sword fights, and jousting. There is a fairy forest, a mermaid cove, and toys for the younger kids to enjoy. There is lots of dancing, singing, and acting. The Renaissance festival educates the many people who visit there about the Renaissance

Renaissance fashion was affected by many different places and cultures. Places around the world started many different fashion trends, which were spread around during the early Renaissance. “Around 1550, aristocratic styles shifted in court circles throughout Europe rather quickly to favor new influences from Spain. German fashions had given birth to a craze for slashing fabric and for making exotic cuts that allowed the undergarments to show through. Italy 's contribution to court style had consisted in the elegant juxtaposition of costly materials. The cut of Spanish clothes, however, was altogether different. Often restrained and given to long lines, Spanish tailoring was widely admired for its excellent fit, which closely followed the lines of the upper body. While Spanish court women favored the farthingale (known in Spain as the verdugado) and the elaborate ruffed collar for formal occasions, they also chose clothes that were more severe and restrained than those that had been common in courtly circles in the first half of the sixteenth century.” (Bleiberg) The main influences of early fashion in the Renaissance were Spain and Germany. The fashion changed as new cultures began creating new trends and trying new things. Other places would see this change and if they liked it, the trend would pass on to many other places, creating a craze over it. This is still seen in

There was also a great difference between the fashion of the different class systems. Courtly fashion was a big part of the Renaissance. Court fashion was greatly affected by international cultures. “Courtly dress tended to shake off many older regional styles and instead become more international in appearance. This internationalization of style, though, held only in courtly and upper-class urban societies, and even there, an elite foreigner might be embarrassed by the cut of his clothes when he visited another country. One factor that helped establish the new international styles at court was aristocratic marriage alliances.” (Bleiberg) Courtly people decided to focus their fashion styles on internationals of older regional styles. Many people had different views of the upper-classes’ way of fashion. Some people believed that all the change in their ways of fashion caused the body to be viewed more as an object than as a human being. Fashion played a large role with wealthy people, but not with common people or peasants. They didn’t focus so much on their outfits and accessories, but focused on their work. They wore hand-me downs and patched up old clothes that were ruined. Peasant fashion didn’t really change throughout the Renaissance. “Lending and borrowing sustained much of early modern life, especially among poorer sections of society.” (Rublack) Peasants usually lend or borrow their clothes so that the prices wouldn’t be as expensive. Just like peasants, common