1400-1500 in fashion - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Fashion in 15th century Europe was characterized by a series of extremes and extravagances, from the voluminous gowns called houppelande

Houppelande

A houppelande or houpelande is an outer garment, with a long, full body and flaring sleeves, that was worn by both men and women in Europe in the late Medieval period. Sometimes the houppelande was lined with fur...

s with their sweeping floor-length sleeves to the revealing doublet

Doublet (clothing)

A doublet is a man's snug-fitting buttoned jacket that is fitted and shaped to the man's body which was worn in Western Europe from the Middle Ages through to the mid-17th century. The doublet was hip length or waist length and worn over the shirt or drawers. Until the end of the 15th century the...

s and hose

Hose (clothing)

Hose are any of various styles of men's clothing for the legs and lower body, worn from the Middle Ages through the 17th century, when the term fell out of use in favor of breeches and stockings. The old plural form of "hose" was hosen...

of Renaissance Italy. Hat

Hat

A hat is a head covering. It can be worn for protection against the elements, for ceremonial or religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory. In the past, hats were an indicator of social status...

s, hood

Hood (headgear)

A hood is a kind of headgear that covers most of the head and neck and sometimes the face. They may be worn for protection from the environment, for fashion, as a form of traditional dress or uniform, to prevent the wearer from seeing or to prevent the wearer from being identified.-History and...

s, and other headdresses assumed increasing importance, and were swagged, draped, jewelled, and feather

Feather

Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...

ed.

As Europe continued to grow more prosperous, the urban middle classes, skilled workers, began to wear more complex clothes that followed, at a distance, the fashions set by the elites. National variations in clothing seem on the whole to have increased over the century.

Dominance of the Burgundian court

With England and France mired in the Hundred Years War and its aftermath and then the English Wars of the Roses

Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...

through most of the century, European fashion north of the Alps was dominated by the glittering court of the Duchy of Burgundy

Duchy of Burgundy

The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...

, especially under the fashion-conscious power-broker Philip the Good

Philip III, Duke of Burgundy

Philip the Good KG , also Philip III, Duke of Burgundy was Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty . During his reign Burgundy reached the height of its prosperity and prestige and became a leading center of the arts...

(ruled 1419–1469). Having added Holland and Flanders

Flanders

Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

to their dominion, the Dukes of Burgundy had access to the latest fabrics of Italy and the East and to English wool exports through the great trading cities of Bruges

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

and Antwerp. Purchases of fabrics through Italian merchants like the two cousins Giovanni Arnolfini

Giovanni Arnolfini

Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini was a merchant from Lucca, a city in Tuscany, Italy.Giovanni, called here di Nicolao or son of Nicolao to distinguish him from his cousin Giovanni di Arrigo Arnolfini , moved to Bruges in Flanders at an early age to work in the family business and lived there for the...

amounted to a noticeable proportion of all government expenditure. Especially in Florence, where sumptuary law

Sumptuary law

Sumptuary laws are laws that attempt to regulate habits of consumption. Black's Law Dictionary defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expenditures in the matter of apparel, food, furniture, etc." Traditionally, they were...

s prevented the citizens from wearing the most luxurious cloths on which the city's fortunes were built, the materials of men's clothing in particular often appear plain in paintings, but contemporaries who understood the difference in grades of cloth very well would have appreciated the beauty and great expense of a very fine grade.

Fabrics and furs

Wool was the most popular fabric

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

for all classes by far, followed by linen

Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....

and hemp

Hemp

Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...

. Wool fabrics were available in a wide range of qualities, from rough undyed cloth to fine, dense broadcloth

Broadcloth

Broadcloth is a dense woollen cloth. Modern broadcloth can be composed of cotton, silk, or polyester, but traditionally broadcloth was made solely of wool. The dense weave lends sturdiness to the material....

with a velvety nap; high-value broadcloth was a backbone of the English economy and was exported throughout Europe. Wool fabrics were dyed in rich colours, notably reds, greens, golds, and blues, although the actual blue colour achievable with dyeing with woad

Woad

Isatis tinctoria, with Woad as the common name, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is commonly called dyer's woad, and sometimes incorrectly listed as Isatis indigotica . It is occasionally known as Asp of Jerusalem...

(and less frequently indigo

Indigo

Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...

) could not match the characteristic rich lapis lazuli

Lapis lazuli

Lapis lazuli is a relatively rare semi-precious stone that has been prized since antiquity for its intense blue color....

pigment

Pigment

A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs from fluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.Many materials selectively absorb...

blues depicted in contemporary illuminated manuscript

Illuminated manuscript

An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...

s such as the Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry
Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry or simply the Très Riches Heures is a richly decorated book of hours commissioned by John, Duke of Berry, around 1410...

.

Silk-weaving was well established around the Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

by the beginning of the century, and figured silks, often silk velvets with silver-gilt weft

Weft

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn through the warp yarns to create cloth. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn"....

s, are increasingly seen in Italian dress and in the dress of the wealthy throughout Europe. Stately floral designs featuring a pomegranate

Pomegranate

The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...

or artichoke

Artichoke

-Plants:* Globe artichoke, a partially edible perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean* Jerusalem artichoke, a species of sunflower with an edible tuber...

motif had reached Europe from China in the previous century and became a dominant design in the Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

silk-producing cities of Istanbul and Bursa, and spread to silk weavers in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

, Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, Valencia and Seville

Seville

Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...

in this period.

Fur was worn, mostly as a lining

Lining (sewing)

In sewing and tailoring, a lining is an inner layer of fabric, fur, or other material inserted into clothing, hats, luggage, curtains, handbags and similar items....

layer, by those who could afford it. The grey and white squirrel furs of the Middle Ages, vair

Vair

Vair is the heraldic representation of patches of squirrel fur in an alternating pattern of blue and white. As a tincture, vair is considered a fur and is therefore exempted from the Rule of tincture . Variations of vair are laid out in different patterns, each with their own name...

and miniver

Miniver

*Miniver is an unspotted white fur derived from the stoat, and with particular use in the robes of peers. For the use of the fur in heraldry, see Ermine and Tincture *For the fictional character, see Mrs. Miniver...

, went out of style except at court, first for men and then for women; the new fashionable furs were dark brown sable

Sable

The sable is a species of marten which inhabits forest environments, primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia...

and marten

Marten

The martens constitute the genus Martes within the subfamily Mustelinae, in family Mustelidae.-Description:Martens are slender, agile animals, adapted to living in taigas, and are found in coniferous and northern deciduous forests across the northern hemisphere. They have bushy tails, and large...

. Toward the end of the century, wild animal furs such as lynx

Lynx

A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...

became popular. Ermine

Ermine

Ermine has several uses:* A common name for the stoat * The white fur and black tail end of this animal, which is historically worn by and associated with royalty and high officials...

remained the prerogative and hallmark of royalty.

Slashing

Contemporary chroniclers identify the source of the fashion for slashing garments (to reveal a lining or full undergarment beneath) to the actions of Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

soldiers in the aftermath of the Battle of Grandson

Battle of Grandson

The Battle of Grandson, took place on 2 March 1476, was part of the Burgundian Wars, and resulted in a major defeat for Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.- Siege of Grandson, February 1476 :...

in 1476. Supposedly the Swiss plundered the rich fabrics of the Burgundian

Duchy of Burgundy

nobles and used the scraps to patch their tattered clothes. In reality, images appear of sleeves with a single slashed opening as early as mid-century, although the German fashion for "many small all-over slits" may have begun here. Whatever its origin, the fad for multiple slashings spread to German Landsknechts and thence to France, Italy, and England, where it was to remain a potent current in fashionable attire into the mid-seventeenth century.

A second result of the defeat at Grandson was the decline of Burgundy as a fount of culture and fashion. The heiress Mary of Burgundy

Mary of Burgundy

Mary of Burgundy ruled the Burgundian territories in Low Countries and was suo jure Duchess of Burgundy from 1477 until her death...

married Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...

but died young. In the last decade of the century, Charles VIII of France

Charles VIII of France

Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...

invaded Italy

Italian Wars

The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...

and was briefly declared King of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

. As a result, the French nobility were introduced to the fabrics and styles of Italy, which would combine with German influence to dominate fashion in France (and later, England) in the first half of the sixteenth century.

Gown, kirtle, and chemise

Women's fashions of the 15th century consisted of a long gown, usually with sleeves, worn over a kirtle

Kirtle

A kirtle is a tunic-like garment worn by men and women in the Middle Ages or, later, a one-piece garment worn by women from the later Middle Ages into the Baroque period...

or undergown, with a linen chemise or smock

Chemise

The term chemise or shift can refer to the classic smock, or else can refer to certain modern types of women's undergarments and dresses...

worn next to the skin. The long-waisted silhouette of the previous period was replaced by a high-waisted style with fullness over the belly, often confined by a belt. The wide, shallow scooped neckline was replaced by a V-neck, often cut low enough to reveal the decorated front of the kirtle beneath.

Various styles of overgowns were worn. The cotehardie fitted smoothly from the shoulders to the hips and then flared by means of inserted triangular gores. It featured sleeves tight to the elbow with hanging streamers or tippets. The tight fit was achieved with lacing or button

Button

In modern clothing and fashion design, a button is a small fastener, most commonly made of plastic, but also frequently of seashell, which secures two pieces of fabric together. In archaeology, a button can be a significant artifact. In the applied arts and in craft, a button can be an example of...

s. This style faded rapidly from fashion in favor of the houppelande, a full robe with a high collar and wide sleeves that had become fashionable around 1380 and remained so to mid-century. The later houppelande had sleeves that were snug at the wrist, making a full "bag" sleeve. The bag sleeve was sometimes slashed in the front to allow the lower arm to reach through.

Around 1450, the gown of northern Europe developed a low V-neck that showed a glimpse of the square-necked kirtle. The neckline could be filled in with a sheer linen partlet. Wide turn-backs like revers displayed a contrasting lining, frequently of fur or black velvet, and the sleeves might be cuffed to match. Sleeves were very long, covering half of the hand, and often highly decorated with embroidery. Fine sleeves were often transferred from one dress to another.

In Italy, the low scoop-neck of the early decades gave way to a neckline that was high in front with a lower V-neck at the back at mid-century. This was followed by a V-neckline that displayed the kirtle or gamurra (sometimes spelled camorra). Sleeveless overgowns were popular, and the gamurra sleeves displayed were often of rich figured silks. A lighter-weight undergown for summer wear was the cotta. A sideless overgown called the giornea was worn with the gamurra or cotta. Toward the end of the period, sleeves were made in sections or panels and slashed, allowing the full chemise sleeves below to be pulled through in puffs along the arm, at the shoulder, and at the elbow. This was the beginning of the fashion for puffed and slashed sleeves that would last for two centuries.

The partlet, a sort of separate yoke to fill in a low neckline, appeared in this period, usually of sheer fabric (linen or possibly silk) with an open V-neckline. Burgundian partlets are usually depicted worn under the gown (but over the kirtle); in Italy the partlet seems to have been worn over the gown and could be pointed or cut straight across at the lower front.

Two uniquely Spanish fashions appear from the 1470s. The verdugada or verdugado was a gown with a bell-shaped hoop skirt with visible casings stiffened with reeds, which would become the farthingale

Farthingale

Farthingale is a term applied to any of several structures used under Western European women's clothing in the late 15th and 16th centuries to support the skirts into the desired shape. It originated in Spain.- Spanish farthingale :...

. The earliest depictions of this garment come from Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, where it is worn with pieced or slashed sleeves and the second new style, a chemise with trumpet sleeves, open and very wide at the wrist.

The sideless surcoat of the 14th century became fossilized as a ceremonial costume for royalty, usually with an ermine front panel (called a plackard or placket) and a mantle draped from the shoulders; it can be seen in variety of royal portraits and as "shorthand" to identify queens in illuminated manuscripts of the period.

Hairstyles and headdresses

A variety of hats and headdresses were worn in Europe in this century.

The crespine of Northern Europe, originally a thick hairnet or snood

Snood (headgear)

A snood is historically a type of European female headgear, or in modern times a tubular neck scarf. In the most common form the headgear resembles a close-fitting hood worn over the back of the head...

, had evolved into a mesh of jeweler's work that confined the hair on the sides of the head by the end of the 14th century. Gradually the fullness at the sides of head was pulled up to the temples and became pointed, like horns (à corné).

By mid-century, the hair was pulled back from the forehead, and the crespine, now usually called a caul, sat on the back of the head. Very fashionable women shaved their foreheads and eyebrows.

Any of these styles could be topped by a padded roll, sometimes arranged in a heart-shape, or a veil, or both. Veil

Veil

A veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face.One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space...

s were supported by wire frames that exaggerated the shape and were variously draped from the back of the headdress or covered the forehead.

Women also wore the chaperon, a draped hat based on the hood

Hood (headgear)

and liripipe

Liripipe

A liripipe is a historical part of clothing, the tail of a hood or cloak, or a long-tailed hood, in particular a chaperon or gugel, or the peak of a shoe...

, and a variety of related draped and wrapped turban

Turban

In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...

s.

The most extravagant headdress of Burgundian fashion is the hennin

Hennin

The hennin was a headdress in the shape of a cone or "steeple", or truncated cone worn in the late Middle Ages by European women of the nobility. They were most common in Burgundy and France, but also elsewhere, especially at the English courts, and in Northern Europe, Hungary and Poland. They...

, a cone or truncated-cone shaped cap with a wire frame covered in fabric and topped by a veil. Later hennins feature a turned-back brim, or are worn over a hood with a turned-back brim.

Women of the merchant classes in Northern Europe wore modified versions of courtly hairtyles, with coifs or caps, veils, and wimple

Wimple

A wimple is a garment worn around the neck and chin, and which usually covers the head. Its use developed among women in early medieval Europe . At many stages of medieval culture it was unseemly for a married woman to show her hair...

s of crisp linen (often with visible creases from ironing and folding). A brief fashion added rows of gathered frills to the coif or veil; this style is sometimes known by the German name kruseler.

The general European convention of completely covering married women's hair was not accepted in warmer Italy. Italian women wore their hair very long, wound with ribbons or braided, and twisted up into knots of various shapes with the ends hanging free. The hair was then covered with sheer veils or small caps. Toward the 1480s women wore chin-length sections of hair in loose waves or ripples over the ears (a style that would inspire "vintage" hair fashions in the 1620s and '30s and again in the 1840s

1840s in fashion

1840s fashion in European and European-influenced clothing is characterized by a narrow, natural shoulder line following the exaggerated puffed sleeves of the later 1820s and 1830s...

and 1850s

1850s in fashion

1850s fashion in Western and Western-influenced clothing is characterized by an increase in the width of women's skirts supported by crinolines or hoops, and the beginnings of dress reform.-Gowns:...

). Blond hair was considered desirable (by Botticelli for one), and visitors to Venice reported that ladies sat out in the sun on their terraces with their hair spread out around large circular disks worn like hats, attempting to bleach it in the sun. Chemical methods were also used.

Style gallery – Northern Europe 1400s–1440s

Image of Christine de Pisan in a cotehardie. She wears a wired "horned" headdress with a veil. France, 1410–11.
Christine de Pisan presents her book to Queen Isabeau, who wears a figured houppelande lined in ermine
Ermine
Ermine has several uses:* A common name for the stoat * The white fur and black tail end of this animal, which is historically worn by and associated with royalty and high officials...

with a broad collar and a heart-shaped headdress. Her books stress that women should dress appropriately to their station in life, as her own less sumptuous headdress here reflects.
This woman wears a houppelande of dark blue figured fabric with a narrow belt. Her hair is shaved back from her forehead, and she wears a blunt pointed cap (now over-restored), France or Flanders, c. 1410.
Modestly dressed woman wears a linen headdress and a grey gown lined in black fur confined with a belt at the high waist. Her veil is pinned to her cap, and has sharp creases from ironing, Netherlands, 1430.
Margarete van Eyck
Portrait of Margaret van Eyck
Portrait of Margaret van Eyck is a 1439 oil on wood painting by the Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck...

wears a horned headdress with a ruffled veil called a kruseler. Her red gown is lined in grey fur, 1439.
Gown with fur-lined bag sleeves, Bruges, 1443.
Two women at a baptism, Seven Sacraments Altarpiece
Seven Sacraments Altarpiece
The Seven Sacraments Altarpiece is a fixed-wing triptych by the Early Netherlandish artist Rogier van der Weyden and his workshop. It was painted from 1445 to 1450, probably for a church in Poligny, and is now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp. It depicts the seven sacraments of the Roman...

(likely godmother and mother) wear heart-shaped headdresses with veils and belted, fur-lined gowns open at the front to display the chemises beneath, Burgundy, 1445–50.
Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, wears an elaborate embroidered and jeweled headdress with a sheer veil. Her gown is made of an artichoke-patterned red velvet on a gold ground, lined with ermine, and laces at the front opening. She wears a sheer linen partlet and a checkered belt, c. 1445–50
Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou
Margaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453...

, Queen consort of Henry VI of England. She is wearing the close-fitting cotehardie with gold buttons and tight gold sleeves. Her red mantel is richly embroidered at the neck and clasped with a brooch.

Style gallery – Northern Europe 1450s–1470s

Portrait of a Lady (van der Weyden) shows the hair pulled smoothly back from the face and confined in a caul or early hennin beneath a sheer veil. The gown has a wide V-neckline that shows the dark kirtle beneath and is worn with a wide red belt and a sheer partlet at the neck, Netherlands.
Emilia in the garden in this illustration from Boccaccio, Emilia wears the formal ermine-trimmed sideless surcoat that identifies royalty in illuminated manuscripts of this period, 1460.
Ladies in another illustration from Boccaccio wear tall steeple hennins with white veils. A long gown with a train has fur at the cuffs and neckline and is worn with a wide belt, c. 1460.
An attendant in the same illustration wears a red hood with a long liripipe. Her blue gown is "kirtled" or shortened by poufing it over a belt, c. 1460.
Woman wears a simple headdress of draped linen and a red gown trimmed with white fur. Note that the sleeve is only attached to the gown at the top, 1467–71.
Maria Portinari wears a truncated cone hennin with a veil draped over the back. The black loop on her forehead is thought to be part of the wire frame that balances the hennin. Her gown has a black collar trimmed in white fur and she wears an elaborate carcanet or necklace
Necklace
A necklace is an article of jewellery which is worn around the neck. Necklaces are frequently formed from a metal jewellery chain. Others are woven or manufactured from cloth using string or twine....

, Netherlands, 1478–78.
Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort of Edward IV of England
Edward IV of England
Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...

, wears a black gown with patterned collar and cuffs and a matching truncated English hennin beneath a sheer veil. ?1470s.

Style gallery – Northern Europe 1480s–1490s

Mary Magdalene is portrayed in contemporary dress of 1480. The low front opening now laces over the kirtle or an inserted panel or plackard, and the gown is draped up to reveal the richer fabric of the kirtle skirt.
Long gowns of the 1480s are carried looped up to allow walking, displaying the kirtle beneath.
In this allegory of True Love, the woman wears a pointed hennin with a sheer veil. Her gown is laced across her kirtle, Netherlands, 1485–90.
Anne de Beaujeu, Regent of France, in the ceremonial ermine-trimmed sideless surcoat and mantle of royalty, c. 1490s. The small cap worn with her coronet is a new French fashion of the last decade of the century.
Margaret of Austria wears a red velvet front-opening gown lined in ermine. Her hood has black velvet lappets and gold embroidery, 1490s.
Hypsipylé, first wife of Jason is depicted wearing an embroidered coif or cap decorated with small slashes, with her hair braided down her back underneath. She wears a square-necked gown with flared sleeves, French, 1496–98.
Another fashionable headdress of this period features a striped veil wrapped over an embroidered padded roll with a jewel, worn over a coif tied under the chin. The portion over the brow is probably a matching "forehead cloth" rather than part of the coif. The loose, square-necked gown of figured silk is worn over a black partlet, French, 1496–98.
"Juana the Mad" (Joanna of Castile
Joanna of Castile
Joanna , nicknamed Joanna the Mad , was the first queen regnant to reign over both the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon , a union which evolved into modern Spain...

) is depicted in the royal ermine-trimmed sideless surcoat and a symbolic mantle with heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

decoration.

Style gallery – Italy 1400s–1460s

Italian headdresses. The woman on the left wears a veil twisted into a turban
Turban
In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...

. The woman on the right wears her hair in a long, thick braid encased in sheer fabric and twisted around her head. Her simple gown laces up the front with a single lace, 1423.
Woman at a casement wears a fur-lined red gown with a belt at the high waistline and full slashed sleeves over dark patterned undersleeves gathered to the elbow. Her headdress features a red chaperon, Florence, c. 1440.
Bianca Maria Visconti
Bianca Maria Visconti
Bianca Maria Visconti was Duchess of Milan from 1450 to 1468.-Early years:Born near Settimo Pavese, Bianca Maria was the illegitimate daughter of Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan and last of the Visconti rulers, and Agnese del Maino, the only person the shy, secluded Filippo ever loved...

is depicted as the Virgin Mary with her son Galeazzo as the infant Jesus in this portrait c.1445. She is wearing a high-waisted gown of embroidered gold with tight-fitting sleeves, and her blonde hair is partially covered by a long black veil.
Italian sleeveless gown of mid-century has an obvious waist seam and a skirt pleated to the bodice. The figured underdress has a high front neckline and wide upper sleeves. Hair is lightly covered with a cap and veil twisted into a turban.
Battista Sforza, Duchess of Urbino wears her hair wrapped in ribbon, coiled at her ears, and covered with a ruched veil. Her black gown is high necked in front and lower at the back, typical of Italian fashion at this time, and is worn with floral sleeves, probably attached to an underdress, 1465–70.
Italian fresco shows women with their hair braided or twisted and wrapped around their heads, secured with ribbons laced through the coils, 1468–70.

Style gallery – Italy and Spain 1470s–1490s

Florentine woman wears sleeves of figured silk with the fashionable pomegranate motif, 1470.
Simonetta Vespucci wears her very long hair in a knot at the back with a tail wrapped in black cord or ribbons. A single braid is studded with pearls, and a long loose lock is looped over the braid. Her neckline is lower and squared, 1478–80.
Princess Salome and her attendants are pictured in Catalonian dress of the 1470s. This image is one of the earliest depictions of the verdugada or farthingale
Farthingale
Farthingale is a term applied to any of several structures used under Western European women's clothing in the late 15th and 16th centuries to support the skirts into the desired shape. It originated in Spain.- Spanish farthingale :...

, a skirt stiffened with reeds set in casings, that would spread to Italy briefly in the 1480s and '90s, and to France and England in the 16th century. The flaring chemise sleeves of striped or embroidered fabric are uniquely Spanish at this time, but the small cap and wrapped braid of hair are common to both Spain and Italy.
1490 portrait of a lady features the sheer pointed partlet worn over the gown that was popular in Italy at this time. This woman wears a small cap with a brim on the back of her head; it ties under her chin.
Neroccio di Bartolomeo de' Landi "Lady" wears a V-necked, high-waisted gown with hanging sleeves over a floral silk gamurra with a square neckline. Her cap is of the same floral silk. Siena, c. 1490.
Two Venetian ladies
Two Venetian Ladies
Two Venetian Ladies is a painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Vittore Carpaccio.The painting, believed to be a quarter of the original work, was executed around 1490 and shows two unknown Venetian ladies. The top portion of the panel, called Hunting on the Lagoon is in the Getty Museum, and...

with blonde frizzy hair and caps. The very high waist is typical of Venice. Note the chopine
Chopine
A chopine is a type of women's platform shoe that was popular in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Chopines were originally used as a patten, clog, or overshoe to protect the shoes and dress from mud and street soil....

s or platform shoes to the left. As with other similar pictures, historians argue as to whether these are patrician ladies or courtesans.
Isabella of Castille in her crown wears an overgown with long hanging sleeves over pieced and jewelled undersleeves and a gold brocade kirtle. Her companion (probably her daughter Juana or Joanna) wears undersleeves fastened up the back over full chemise sleeves. Her red gown is open from the waist down in back and has very long hanging sleeves, one of which is looped up over her right shoulder. Her hair is braided and wrapped with a knot or tassel at the end. Spain, 1490–95.
Da Vinci's La Belle Ferronière
La Belle Ferronière
La belle ferronnière is a name often applied to a portrait of a woman in the Musée du Louvre, traditionally attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. It is also simply known as Portrait of an Unknown Woman. The Louvre currently ascribes it to the school of Leonardo da Vinci in Milan...

wears her long hair smoothed over her ears and pulled back into a braid. Her sleeves are tied to her gown, and the chemise beneath is pulled out in puffs between the ribbon ties. The puffs and the lower waist would be important fashion trends in the next decades.

Men's fashion

Shirt, doublet, and hose

The basic costume of men in this period consisted of a shirt, doublet, and hose, with some sort of overgown (gown worn over clothing).

Linen shirts were worn next to the skin. Toward the end of the period, shirts (French chemise
Chemise
The term chemise or shift can refer to the classic smock, or else can refer to certain modern types of women's undergarments and dresses...

, Italian camicia, Spanish camisa) began to be full through the body and sleeves with wide, low necklines; the sleeves were pulled through the slashings or piecing of the doublet sleeves to make puffs, especially at the elbow and the back of the arm. As the cut of doublets revealed more fabric, wealthy men's shirts were often decorated with embroidery

Embroidery

Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....

or applied braid.

Over the shirt was worn a doublet. From around the mid-century very tight-fitting doublets, belted or tailored to be tight at the waist, giving in effect a short skirt below, were fashionable, at least for the young. Sleeves were generally full, even puffy, and when worn with a large chaperon, the look was extremely stylish, but very top-heavy. Very tight hose, and long pointed shoes or thigh-boots gave a long attenuated appearance below the waist, and a chunky, solid one above. The doublet was often elaborately pleated, especially at the back, the pleats being achieved by various means. In Italy both shirt and doublet were often high, tight and collarless at the front of the neck; sometimes they are shown higher at the front than the back.

Men of all classes wore short braies or breeches, a loose undergarment, usually made of linen, which was held up by a belt. Hose

Hose (clothing)

or chausses

Chausses

Chausses are armour for the legs, usually made from mail. They could extend to the knee or cover the entire leg. Chausses were the standard type of metal leg armour during most of the European Middle Ages. Chausses offered flexible protection that was effective against slashing weapons...

made out of wool were used to cover the legs, and were generally brightly colored. Early hose sometimes had leather soles and were worn without shoes or boots. Hose were generally tied to the breech belt, or to the breeches themselves, or to a doublet

Doublet (clothing)

.

As doublets became shorter, hose reached to the waist rather than the hips, and were sewn together into a single garment with a pouch or flap to cover the front opening; this evolved into the codpiece

Codpiece

A codpiece is a covering flap or pouch that attaches to the front of the crotch of men's trousers and usually accentuates the genital area. It was held closed by string ties, buttons, or other methods...

.

The hose exposed by short tops were, especially in Italy late in the century, often strikingly patterned, parti-coloured (different colours for each leg, or vertically divided), or embroidered. Hose were cut on the cross-grain or bias

Bias (textile)

The bias or cross-grain direction of a piece of woven fabric, usually referred to simply as "the bias" or "the cross-grain", is at 45 degrees to its warp and weft threads. Every piece of woven fabric has two biases, perpendicular to each other...

for stretch.

Gowns and outerwear

The Houppelande

Houppelande

, in Italy called the cioppa, is the characteristic overgarment of the wealthy in the first half of the 15th century. It was essentially a gown with fullness falling from the shoulders in organ pleats and very full sleeves often reaching to the floor with, at the start of the century, a high collar. The houppelande could be lined in fur, and the hem and sleeves might be dagged or cut into scallops. It was initially often worn belted, but later mostly hanging straight. The length of the garment shortened from around the ankle to above the knee over this period. The floor-length sleeves were later wrist-length but very full, forming a bag or sack sleeve, or were worn off the arm, hanging ornamentally behind.

A sideless overgown or tabard

Tabard

A tabard is a short coat, either sleeveless, or with short sleeves or shoulder pieces, which was a common item of men's clothing in the Middle Ages, usually for outdoors. It might be belted, or not...

, called a giornea in Italy and a journade in France, was popular. It was usually pleated and was worn hanging loose or belted. Young men wore them short and older men wore them calf- or ankle-length.

The middle of the century in Burgundy saw what seems to have been the earliest occurrence of the male fashion for dressing all in black, which was to reappear so strongly in the "Spanish" style of the mid-16th–17th century and again in the 19th–20th centuries. This was apparently begun by Duke Philip the Good.

In Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, the patrician class, after the age of joining the Great Council, wore their long red robes as a uniform virtually unchanged throughout the century. In contrast, the young men and the famous courtesan

Courtesan

A courtesan was originally a female courtier, which means a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...

s of the city dressed very extravagantly.

In the last decades of the century, a new style of gown

Gown

A gown is a loose outer garment from knee- to full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the early Middle Ages to the 17th century ; later, gown was applied to any woman's garment consisting of a bodice and attached skirt.A long, loosely-fitted gown called a Banyan was worn by men in the 18th...

appeared; this was of various lengths, generally worn unbelted, and featured wide turned back revers and collar.

Short or long cloak

Cloak

A cloak is a type of loose garment that is worn over indoor clothing and serves the same purpose as an overcoat; it protects the wearer from the cold, rain or wind for example, or it may form part of a fashionable outfit or uniform. Cloaks are as old as human history; there has nearly always been...

s or mantles were worn overall for ceremonial occasions and in bad weather; these typically fastened on one shoulder.

Headgear

Early in the century, the hood remained a common component of dress for all classes, although it was frequently worn around the neck as a cowl or twisted into the fantastical shapes of the chaperon

Chaperon (headgear)

Chaperon was a form of hood or, later, highly versatile hat worn in all parts of Western Europe in the Middle Ages. Initially a utilitarian garment, it first grew a long partly decorative tail behind, and then developed into a complex, versatile and expensive headgear after what was originally the...

. Hat

Hat

s of various styles—tall-crowned with small brims or no brims at all, or low-crowned with wider brims pulled to a point in front—began to compete with the draped chaperon, especially in Italy. A brimless scarlet cap became nearly universal for young Florentines in particular, and was widely worn by older men and those in other cities.

In mid-century, a bowl haircut with the hair shaved at the back of the neck was stylish. In Germany, and briefly in Venice, a wide shock of frizzy blond hair was often seen on images of lovers (and angels) in the later part of the century—less often in portraits. By the end of the century, shoulder-length hair became fashionable, a trend that would continue into the early 16th century.

Style gallery 1400–1450

The lord on the left wears a long figured houppelande with full sleeves lined in fur, while the men of his household wear short solid-coloured gowns with parti-coloured or matching hose. Several of the men wear hoods around their necks, and some wear hats. France, Livre de Chasse, 1405–10.
John the Fearless (d. 1419), Duke of Burgundy and father of Philip the Good, wears a fur-lined black houppelande with high neck and dagged sleeves over a red doublet. His bag-shaped hat has a rolled brim and is decorated with a jewel. Early 15th century.
Young man wears a draped chaperon and a dark gown over a reddish doublet. Note the characteristic high front neckline compared to the back neckline, Florence, 1425.
A chaperon worn in elaborate twists, 1433.
Chancellor Rolin wears a bold floral patterned gown with fur trim and bag sleeves. The "bowl" haircut with the back of the neck shaved was popular in mid-century.
Hose or chausses worn with braies and tied to a belt, 1440.
Back view of a knee-length Italian cioppa or houppelande of figured silk. One sleeve is turned back to the shoulder to reveal the lining and the doublet sleeve beneath. Sienna, 1442.
Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, wears an elaborately draped chaperon with a black-on-black figured silk short gown with width at the shoulder, 1447–48.

Style gallery 1450–1500

Back view of the conjoined hose of the 15th century. The man on the right has slashed undersleeves. Note V-shaped back neckline, 1460s.
France, late 1460s Short doublet, heavily pleated, with chaperon and thigh boots.
Antoine, Bastard of Burgundy, all in black, wears a soft "sugarloaf" hat and a doublet laced at the neck with a collar. He wears the emblem of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Order of the Golden Fleece
The Order of the Golden Fleece is an order of chivalry founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to the Portuguese princess Infanta Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King John I of Portugal. It evolved as one of the most prestigious orders in Europe...

around his neck, 1467–70.
A prince (right) wears a long floral patterned gown, while his attendants wear very short doublets with hose. All wear long pointed shoes, France, 1468–70.
Parti-coloured hose are worn with a sideless gown belted at the waist. Italy, c. 1470.
Giuliano de' Medici wears the high collarless Italian style at the neck, 1478.
Maarten van Nieuvenhove wears an open gown fastened across his chest with pairs of ribbon ties. Beneath the gown he wears a brown velvet doublet with sleeves buttoned to the wrist. Bruges, 1487.
At the very end of the century, Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker, engraver, mathematician, and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...

's self-portrait shows the influence of Italian fashion: His low-necked shirt or chemise of fine linen, gathered and trimmed with a band of gold braid or embroidery, is worn under an open-fronted doublet and a cloak tied over one shoulder. His hair is worn long, under a draped pointed hat with a tassel
Tassel
A tassel is a finishing feature in fabric decoration. It is a universal ornament that is seen in varying versions in many cultures around the globe.-Etymology:...

, 1498.

Children's fashion

Charles, son of Philip III of Burgundy, wears a gold floral figured short gown, black hose, and pointed shoes with pattens underneath, and a "pudding-basin" haircut 1447–48.
Young boy holding a teething ring wears a short gown with a sash and open-toed shoes, Italy, 1461.
Two Gonzaga princes wear the family colours with parti-coloured hose with ornamental points (laces).
Margherita Portinari a banker's daughter of Bruges wears a green gown laced up the front with a single lace over a dark kirtle. Her hair is worn loose under a black cap with a pendant jewel, Netherlands, 1476–78.

Working class clothing

Older huntsmen wear looser gowns belted at the waist while younger men wear fashionable short gowns fitted through the body and belted at the hip. The higher-ranking figures wear less practical clothes and chaperons, Livre de Chasse.
Peasant reaping in linen braies and shirt, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry.
Man and woman shearing sheep. She wears a black hood with a long liripipe and a scrip or bag at her waist. He wears a floppy black hat tied under the chin, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry.
Women raking hay work barefoot and wear their kirtles looped up over long-sleeved linen smocks, Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry.
Workmen on a dock wear short gowns with hats, Italy, 1437.
The very poor of Florence receive alms in well-worn and basic versions of the clothes of the more prosperous.
Workman showing fastening of the hose to the short doublet by means of points or ties, 1475–80.
Venetian gondoliers wear open-fronted, slashed doublets and hose divided into upper and lower sections, 1494.

External links

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