The Role Of Clothing In The Elizabethan Era

The rules and trends during the Tudors/ Elizabethan era on clothing

In the Tudors era fashion was equally as important to both men and women. People were immediately recognised of their status by their clothing. “Wearing stylish and attractive looking clothes was very important to the wealthy during the Tudor period. Clothes were a form of status, symbol and the rich demonstrated their wealth by wearing clothes made from expensive materials and fabrics.” (1)

In the Tudors era, the Kings and Queens wore clothes made out of the most expensive materials e.g. stain, silk and velvet. Colours which represented the royals was gold, crimson and mainly purple These three colours were only allowed to be worn by the royals and not allowed by ordinary

Elizabeth’s fond of clothing came from her father. Her love of clothing was same as her father if not more. She loved clothing involving detail and carefully arranged patterns with jewels, embroidery and ribbons. She was known as the (image 3) Virgin Queen because of her love in pearls. In her Rainbow Portrait, her gown and headdresses were made more attractive. In her Amada Portrait she wore clothing expressing her own style including the ruff, leg-of-mutton sleeves, (puffed up sleeves) as well as her pearls.

In the Tudor era, there were many changes in fashion. The popular style for women were long flowy dresses and a wig. It was popular for men to wear doublets. (Doublet was a fashionable tight fitting buttoned jacket.) A ruff was popular for both men and women; (a ruff is a strip of cloth which hangs behind neck.) During this era, there was also a variety of hats and cloaks. Most Tudor clothes were held together using laces, pins and buttons also to add

The methods for his style was to exaggerate and puff up the sleeves by using stuffing. During his reign, even after his death this fashion carried on and was worn by women and men. During the reign of Henry VIII, the codpiece was popular for men and became important.

Lady Jane Grey ruled only for nine days but she managed to introduce Spanish style Surcoat gowns with high necks.

Queen Elizabeth, I had a sweet tooth so some of her teeth went black. Some women painted their tooth black so people would think they had enough money to buy sugar. (image 12)

In the Tudors and Elizabethan era fashion was mostly influenced by Henry VIII but especially by Elizabeth I. The main part of clothing for women is the gown. A gown has many layers worn by the rich and is not worn to relax in. The main part of clothing for men is a doublet. A doublet is a tight fitting jacket which originated from Spain and is normally hip length or waist length,

During the reign of Henry VIII, he made a major decision of the Sumptuary laws. The Sumptuary laws gave people no self-decision to what they would like to wear or buy. This law showed the importance of clothes because it showed status, rank and