Fashion in the period 1550-1600
in Western European clothing
is characterized by increased opulence, the rise of the ruff
, the expansion of the farthingale
for women, and, for men, the disappearance of the codpiece
The Spanish style
, king of Spain
, and Sicily
and Holy Roman Emperor
, handed over the kingdom of Spain to his son Philip II
and the Empire to his brother Maximilian II
in 1558, ending the domination of western Europe by a single court, but the Spanish taste for sombre richness of dress would dominate fashion for the remainder of the century., New alliances and trading patterns arose as the divide between Catholic
countries became more pronounced.
The severe, rigid fashions of the Spanish court were dominant everywhere except France and Italy; black garments were worn for the most formal occasions. Regional styles were still distinct though. Janet Arnold in her analysis of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe records identifies French, Italian, Dutch, and Polish styles for bodices and sleeves, as well as Spanish.
Linen ruffs worn at Court grew from a narrow frill at neck and wrists to a broad "cartwheel" style that required a wire support by the 1580s. Later ruffs were made of delicate reticella, a cutwork lace that evolved into the needlelaces of the seventeenth century.
Fabrics and trims
The general trend toward abundant surface ornamentation in the Elizabethan Era
was mirrored in clothing, especially amongst the aristocracy
and edged in lace
, and heavy cut velvets
were further ornamented with applied bobbin lace
embroidery, and jewels
. Toward the end of the period, polychrome (multicolored) silk embroidery became fashionable..
Leather and fabric garments continued to be decorated by slashing and punching the fabric in regular patterns, and linings could be pulled through the slashes in small puffs.
Clothing was fastened with buttons or tied with cord or ribbon points. For the wealthy, buttons were made of silver and gold and set with gemstones, and points were tipped with aiguillettes or aiglets of precious metals.
By the end of the period, a sharp distinction could be seen between the sober fashions favored by Protestants in England and the Netherlands, which still showed heavy Spanish influence, and the light, revealing fashions of the French and Italian courts; this distinction would carry over well into the seventeenth century...
Bodices and sleeves
The narrow-shouldered, wide-cuffed "trumpet" sleeves characteristic of the 1540s and 1550s disappeared with the accession of Elizabeth, in favor of French and Spanish styles with narrower sleeves.
Emphasis was on high or wide shoulders. Slashed upper sleeves with puffs of the chemise pulled through, seen in Italian dress in the 1560s, evolved into single or double rows of loops at the shoulder with contrasting linings. By the 1580s these had been adapted in England as padded and jeweled shoulder rolls.
Bodices could be high-necked or have a broad, low, square neckline, often with a slight arch at the front early in the period. French, Spanish, and English bodices were stiffened into a cone shape or worn over corsets. Bodices fastened with hooks in front or were laced at the side-back seam; high-necked bodices styled like men's doublets might fasten with hooks or buttons. The bodice ended in a V-shape at the front waist in French, English, and Spanish fashion. Italian and German fashion retained the front-laced bodice of the previous period, with the ties laced in parallel rows; Italian fashion uniquely featured a broad U-shape rather than a V at the front waist.
A low neckline could be filled in with a partlet. English partlets were usually of embroidered linen with matching sleeves. Embroidered sets of partlet and sleeves were frequently given to Elizabeth as New Year's gifts. Alternatively, a high-necked chemise with a standing collar and ruff could be worn.
Gowns with hanging sleeves in various styles, often lined in fur
, were worn as an extra layer indoors and out through the period. Loose gowns of the 1560s hung from the shoulders, and some had puffed upper sleeves. Loose gowns could be worn over a one-piece kirtle
or under-dress, usually laced at the back...
Later gowns were fitted to the figure and had full or round sleeves with a wristband. These were worn over a bodice and matching skirt or petticoat and undersleeves. Extremely long hanging sleeves came into fashion at the end of the period.
The fashion for skirts worn open at the front to display a rich petticoat or separate forepart
continued into the 1580s. The forepart was a heavily decorated panel to fill in the front opening; it might be sewn to a plain petticoat or pinned in place. Often the forepart matched the bodice sleeves.
During this period, underwear consisted of a linen chemise or smock and (optionally) linen drawers. The chemise could have a low, square neckline or a high collar and ruff like a man's shirt. Fine chemises were embroidered and trimmed with narrow lace.
To shape the figure, the fashionable lady wore a corset called a pair of bodies. Her skirts were held in the proper shape by a farthingale or hoop skirt. In Spain, the cone-shaped Spanish farthingale remained in fashion into the early 17th century. It was only briefly fashionable in France, where a padded roll or French farthingale held the skirts out in a rounded shape at the waist, falling in soft folds to the floor.
In England, the Spanish farthingale was worn through the 1570s, and was gradually replaced by the French farthingale. By the 1590s, skirts were pinned to wide wheel farthingales to achieve a drum shape.
Italian women wore skirts gathered at the waist, without hoops.
Women wore sturdy overskirts call safeguards
over their gowns for riding or travel on dirty roads. Hooded cloaks were worn overall in bad weather.
The fashion for wearing or carrying the pelt of a sable or marten spread from continental Europe into England in this period; costume historians call these accessories zibellini or "flea furs". The most expensive zibellini had faces and paws of goldsmith's work with jewelled eyes. Queen Elizabeth received one as a New Years gift in 1584.
Gloves of perfumed leather featured embroidered cuffs.
Folding fans appeared late in the period, replacing flat fans of ostrich feathers.
Hairstyles and headgear
Early in the period, hair was parted in the center and fluffed over the temples; later front hair was curled and puffed high over the forehead. Wigs and false hairpieces were used to extend the hair.
In keeping with tradition, married women in Northern Europe wore their hair pinned up and covered. A close-fitting linen cap called a coif or biggins was worn, alone or under other hats or hoods, especially in the Netherlands and England; many embroidered and bobbin-lace-trimmed English coifs survive from this period. A style called in French at attifet was wired or starched into a slight heart-shape; it is called a Mary Stuart cap by costume historians, after the Queen of Scots who wears this French style in several portraits. Flemish and French hoods were worn into the 1560s (and later farther from Court and great cities).
Another fashionable headdress was a caul or cap of net-work lined in silk attached to a band, which covered the pinned up hair, which had been seen in Germany in the first half of the century.
In this period, women began to wear hats similar to those worn by men, usually over a caul or coif. This fashion was deplored by Puritan commentator Philip Stubbes in his Anatomie of Abuses 1583 (although a tall hat would become a characteristic of Puritan women's costume in the 1590s and for half a century thereafter, contributing to the popular notion of "Pilgrim" dress).
Widows in mourning wore black hoods with sheer black veils. First-time brides wore their hair down in token of virginity and wore orange blossoms in their hair.
Style gallery 1550s
- Angelo Bronzino 060.jpg of the early 1550s features a loose gown of light-weight silk over a bodice and skirt (or kirtle) and an open-necked partlet.
- Anthonis Mor 002.jpg of 1554: A black gown with high puffed upper sleeves is worn over a black bodice and a gray skirt with black trim. The high-necked chemise or partlet is worn open with the three pairs of ties that fasten it dangling free.
- Tizian 072.jpg wears Italian fashion of 1555. The front-lacing bodice remained fashionable in Italy and the German States. She appears to be wearing a straight-bodied corset.
- KatharinavonMedici.jpg in a gown with a high-arched bodice fur-lined "trumpet" sleeves, over a pink forepart and matching paned undersleeves, c. 1555.
- Mary1 by Eworth 2.jpg wears a brocade gown with fur-lined "trumpet" sleeves and a matching overpartlet with a flared collar, 1555-58. Neither the sleeves nor the overpartlet would survive as fashionable items in England into the 1560s.
- Maria de Medici portrait.jpg wears a blue gown with a flared collar and tight undersleeves with horizontal trim. The uncorseted S-shaped figure is clearly shown, 1555-57.
- S Anguissola.jpg wears a gold-colored gown with tied-on sleeves and a chemise with a wide band of gold embroidery at the neckline. She holds a jewelled fur or zibellino suspended from her waist by a gold chain, Lombardy (Northern Italy), 1557.
- LadyDacre.jpg Mary Nevill, Baroness Dacre wears a black gown (probably velvet) over black satin sleeves. Her collar lining and chemise are embroidered with blackwork, and she wears a black hood and a fur tippet over her shoulders, later 1550s
Style gallery 1560s
- EleonoradiToledo02.jpg wears a red loose gown over a bodice and a sheer linen partlet. Her brown gloves have tan cuffs, 1560.
- MargaretAudley.jpg wears the high-collared gown of the 1560s with puffed hanging sleeves. Under it she wears a high-necked bodice and tight undersleeves and a petticoat with an elaborately embroidered forepart, 1562.
- Gripsholm Elizabeth.jpg, thought to be Elizabeth I, shows her wearing a red gown with a fur lining. She wears a red flat hat over a small cap or caul that confines her hair.
- Mary Queen of Scots portrait.jpg wears an open French collar with an attached ruff under a black gown with a flared collar and white lining. Her black hat with a feather is decorated with pearls and worn over a caul that covers her hair, 1560s.
- Pourbus lady pomander.jpg holding a pomander wears a black gown with puffed upper sleeves over a striped high-necked bodice or doublet. She wwears a whitework cap beneath a sheer veil, 1560-65.
- Isabel de Valois1.jpg in severe Spanish fashion of the 1560s. Her high-necked black gown with split hanging sleeves is trimmed in bows with single loops and metal tags or aiglets, and she carries a jewelled flea-fur on a chain.
- Tobias Stimmer 001.jpg in modest German style: she wears a light-colored petticoat trimmed with a broad band of dark fabric at the hem, with a brown bodice and sleeves and an apron. An elaborate purse hangs fron her belt, and she wears a linen headdress with a sheer veil, 1564.
- Hermann tom Ring 001.jpg wears German front-laced gowns of red satin trimmed with black bands of fabric. They wear high-necked black over-partlets with bands of gold trim and linen aprons. Their hair is tucked into jewelled cauls, 1564.
Style gallery 1570s
- VenetianLady1570.jpg over a stomacher and an open chemise are characteristic of Italian fashion. The skirt is gathered at the waist.
- Jeannedalbret.jpg wears a high-necked partlet with an attached ruff open at her throat. Her long hair is twisted with pink ribbon and pinned in a crown on the back of her head; her front hair is parted in the center and tightly curled, 1570.
- François Clouet 003.jpg is portrayed by the French court painter François Clouet in a brocade gown and a partlet with a lattice of jewels, 1571. The lattice partlet is a common French fashion.
- In this allegorical painting c. 1572, Elizabeth succession allegory.jpg wears a fitted gown with hanging sleeves over a matching arched bodice and skirt or petticoat, elaborate undersleeves, and a high-necked chemise with a ruff. Her skirt fits smoothly over a Spanish farthingale.
- Elizabeth I Darnley Portrait.jpg wears a doublet with fringed braid trim that forms button loops and a matching petticoat. Janet Arnold suggests that this method of trimming may be a Polish fashion (similar trimmings à la hussar were worn in the nineteenth century).
- Mary-queen-of-scots full.jpg in captivity wears French fashions: her open ruff fastens at the base of the neck, and her skirt hangs in soft folds over a French farthingale. She wears a cap and veil.
- Nicholas Hilliard 001.jpg of his wife Alice shows her wearing an open partlet and a closed ruff. Her blackwork sleeves have a sheer overlayer. She wears a black hood with a veil, 1578.
- Margarethe-Elisabeth-von-An.jpg Margarethe Elisabeth von Ansbach-Bayreuth wears a tall-collared black gown over a reddish-pink doublet with tight sleeves and a matching petticoat. She wears a black hat.
Style gallery 1580s
- LetticeKnollys.jpg wears an embroidered black high-necked bodice with round sleeves and skirt over a gold petticoat or forepart and matching undersleeves, a lace cartwheel ruff and lace cuffs, and a tall black hat with a jeweled ostrich feather, c. 1580s.
- Eliz Kitchner portrait.jpg wears a black gown with vertical bands of trim on the bodice. The curved waistline and dropped front opening of the overskirt suggest that she is wearing a French roll to support her skirt. She wears a heart-shaped cap and a sheer veil decorated with a pattern of pearls, early 1580s.
- Ball Henri III detail.jpg c. 1580 wear gowns with wide French farthingales, long pointed bodices with revers and open ruffs, and full sleeves. This style appears in England around 1590. Note the fashionable sway-backed posture that goes with the long bodice resting on the farthingale.
- Anne knollys 1582 robert peake.jpg wears a black gown and full white sleeves trimmed with gold lace or braid. She wears a French hood with a jewelled billiment and a black veil, 1582.
- Isabella buch2-251.jpg wears a Spanish farthingale and closed overskirt. The long pointed oversleeves are uniquely Spanish, 1584.
- Infantin Isabella Clara Eugenia, 1599.jpg is seen here again wearing a Spanish farthingale, a closed overskirt, and the typically Spanish, long, pointed oversleeves. However, she is also wearing black, a testament to the austere side of the Spanish court, c. 1584.
- Nicholas Hilliard 009.jpg wears a cutwork cartwheel ruff. Her stomacher and wired heart-shaped coif are both decorated with blackwork embroidery, 1585-90.
- Elizabeth I attrib john bettes c1585 90.jpg wears a cartwheel ruff slightly open at the front, supported by a supportasse. Her blackwork sleeves have sheer linen oversleeves, and she wears wired veil with bads of gold lace, 1585-90.
- Elizabeth Brydges 1589.jpg, aged 14, wears a black brocade gown over a French farthingale. The blackwork embroidery on her smock is visible above the arch of her bodice; her cuffs are also trimmed with blackwork. This style is uniquely English. She wears an open-fronted cartwheel ruff.
Style gallery 1590s
- Hardwicke,Bess(CShrewsbury)01.jpg Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, wears a black gown and cap with a linen ruff, 1590.
- Elizabethditchley.jpg, 1592, wears a dark red gown (the fabric is just visible at the waist under her arms) with hanging sleeves lined in white satin to match her bodice, undersleeves, and petticoat, which is pinned to a cartwheel farthingale. She carries leather gloves and an early folding fan.
- Elizabeth1592.jpg wears a painted petticoat with her black gown and cartwheel farthingale. She wears an open lace ruff and a sheer, wired veil frames her head and shoulders. Her skirt is ankle-length and shows her shoes, 1592.
- Robt Peake c1592.jpg wears a fashion seen in many formal portraits of Puritan women in the 1590s, characterized by a black gown worn with a blackwork stomacher and a small French farthingale or half-roll, with a fine linen ruff and moderate use of lace and other trim. She wears a tall black hat called a capotain over a sheer linen cap and simple jewelry.
- MariadeMedici04.jpg Maria de Medici wears a bodice with split, round hanging sleeves. Her tight undersleeves are chartacteristic of Spanish influence. From the folds of her skirt, she appears to be wearing a small roll over a narrow Spanish farthingale. Note that her oversleeves are the same shape as those worn by Lettice Knollys.
- MariadeMedici05.jpg (assumed to be Maria de Medici) shows the adaptation of fashion to accommodate pregnancy. A loose dark gown is worn over a matching bodice and skirt, with tight white undersleeves. The lady wears an open figure-of-eight ruff of reticella lace, 1594.
- Dogaressa.jpg featured bodices cut below the breasts and terminating in a blunt U-shape at the front waist, worn over open high-necked chemises with ruffled collars that frame the head. The Dogaressa of Venice wears a cloth of gold gown and matching cape and a sheer veil over a small cap, 1590s.
- UnknownLady Segar.jpg, formerly called Elizabeth I, wears a black gown over a white bodice and sleeves embroidered in black and gold, and a spotted white petticoat. Her hood is draped over her forehead in a style called a bongrace, and she carries a zibellino or flea-fur, with a jeweled face, 1595.
Men's fashionable clothing consisted of:,
- A linen shirt with a ruff and matching wrist ruffs early, replaced by a collar and matching cuffs later in the period.
- A doublet with separate sleeves tied or laced to the shoulders.
- Optionally, a jerkin, usually sleeveless and often made of leather, worn over the doublet.
- Hose, in variety of styles, worn with a codpiece early in the period:
- Trunk hose or round hose, short padded hose. Very short trunk hose were worn over cannions, fitted hose that ended above the knee. Trunk hose could be paned or pansied, with strips of fabric (panes) over a full inner layer or lining.
- Slops or galligaskins, loose hose reaching just below the knee. Slops could also be pansied.
- Pluderhosen, a Northern European form of pansied slops with a very full inner layer pulled out between the panes and hanging below the knee.
- Venetians, semi-fitted hose reaching just below the knee.
- Stockings or netherstocks.
- Flat shoes with rounded toes, with slashes early in the period and ties over the instep later.
, usually hip-length, often with sleeves
, or a military jacket
like a mandilion
, were fashionable. Long cloaks were worn for inclement weather. Gowns
were increasingly old-fashioned, and were worn by older men for warmth indoors and out. In this period gowns began their transition from general garments to traditional clothing of specific occupations, such as scholars (see Academic dress
Hairstyles and headgear
Hair was generally worn short, brushed back from the forehead. Longer styles were popular in the 1580s
. In the 1590s
, young men of fashion wore a lovelock
, a long section of hair hanging over one shoulder.
Through the 1570s, a soft fabric hat with a gathered crown was worn. These derived from the flat hat of the previous period, and over time the hat was stiffened and the crown became taller and far from flat. Later, a conical felt hat with a rounded crown called a capotain or copotain became fashionable. These became very tall toward the end of century. Hats were decorated with a jewel or feather, and were worn indoors and out.
Close-fitting caps covering the ears and tied under the chin called coifs or biggins continued to be worn by children and older men under their hats or alone indoors; men's coifs were usually black.
A conical cap of linen with a turned up brim called a nightcap was worn informally indoors; these were often embroidered.
Style gallery 1550s-1560s
- Edward VI Scrots c1550.jpg Edward VI of England wears matching black doublet, paned hose, and gown trimmed with bands of gold braid or embroidery closed with jewels, c. 1550.
- Antoine-de-bourbon.jpg wears an embroidered black doublet with worked buttons and a matching gown. His high collar is worn open at the top in the French fashion.
- Moroni Don Gabriel de la Cueva.jpg wears a jerkin with short slashed sleeves over a red satin doublet. His velvet hose are made in wide panes over a full lining, 1566.
- Moroni Prospero Alessandri 1560.jpg wears a severe black jerkin with the new, shorted bases over a light grey doublet with rows of parallel cuts between bands of gold braid. His rose-coloured pansied slops are also decorated with cuts and narrow applied gold trim, 1560.
- ThomasHoward4HerzogvonNorfolk.jpg wears a shirt trimmed in black on ruff and sleeve ruffles. He wears a belt pouch at his waist. 1563.
- François Clouet 004.jpg wears an embroidered black jerkin with long bases or skirts over a white satin doublet and matching padded hose, 1566.
- Ludger_tom_Ring_d._J._001.jpg fastens with buttons and loops. The detailed stitching on the lining can be seen. The blck-and-white doublet below also fastens with tiny buttons, German, 1566.
- HenryLee.jpg of Henry Lee of Ditchley in a black jerkin over a white satin doublet decorated with a pattern of armillary spheres, 1568.
Style gallery 1570s
- Anjou 1570louvre.jpg, the future Henry III of France, wears doublet and matching cape with the high collar and figure-of-eight ruff of c. 1573–74.
- GiovanniBattistaMoroniTheTailor.jpg wears a pinked doublet over heavily padded hose. His shirt has a small ruff.
- Christopherhatton after ketel detail.jpg's shirt collar is embroidered with blackwork, 1575.
- Valois Tapestry Men.jpg features very short pansied slops over canions and peascode-bellied doublets and jerkins, the Valois Tapestries, c. 1576.
- Martin Frobisher by Ketel.jpg in a peascod-bellied doublet with full sleeves under a buff jerkin with matching hose, 1577.
- Nicholas Hilliard 002.jpg shows a deep figure-of-eight ruff in pointed lace (probably reticella). Note the jeweled buttons on his doublet fasten to one side of the front opening, not down the center, 1577.
Style gallery 1580s-1590s
- Nicholas Hilliard 007.jpg shows a linen cartwheel ruff with lace (possibly reticella) edging and the stylish small pointed beard of 1585.
- H Unton.jpg He wears the cartwheel ruff popular in England in the 1580s. His white satin doublet is laced with a red-and-white cord at the neck. A red cloak with gold trim is slung fashionably over one shoulder, and he wears a tall black hat with a feather, 1586.
- Nicholas Hilliard 015.jpg of 1588 wears a lace or cutwork-edged collar rather than a ruff, with matching sleeve cuffs. He wears a tall grey hat with a feather which is called capotain.
- WalterRaleigh 1588.jpg wears the Queen's colors (black and white). His cloak is lined and collared with fur, 1588.
- Robert Sidney.jpg wears a loose military jacket called a mandilion colley-westonward, or with the sleeves hanging in front and back, 1588.
- PhilipII.jpg (d. 1598) in old age. Spanish fashion changed very little from the 1560s to the end of the century.
- Nicholas Hilliard 006.jpg wears a fur-lined gown with hanging sleeves over a slashed doublet and hose, with the livery collar of the Order of the Garter, c. 1590.
- Cloak.jpg of red satin, couched and embroidered with silver, silver-gilt and coloured silk threads, trimmed with silver-gilt and silk thread fringe and tassel, and lined with pink linen, 1580-1600 (V&A Museum no. 793-1901)
For most of this period, fashionable shoes for men and women were similar, with a flat one-piece sole and rounded toes. Later shoes tied with a ribbon over the instep.
Thick-soled pattens were worn over delicate indoor shoes to protect them from the muck of the streets, and men wore boots for riding.
A variant on the patten popular in Venice was the chopine – a platform-soled mule that raised the wearer sometimes as high as two feet off the ground.
Toddler boys wore gowns or skirts and doublets until they were breeched
- FrancescodeMedici.jpg wears an unusual doublet (or gown?) that appears to fasten up the back, Italy, 1551
- Hercule-Francois Duke of Alencon.jpg, France, 1556-58
- Margot 001.jpg Marguerite of Valois wears a while gown with embroidery and pearls. Her hair is twisted and coiled against her head and pinned in place with pearls, 1560.
- Sofonisba Anguissola 001.jpg, c. 1570. The girls wear gowns of striped fabric trimmed with bands of black, with linen chemises and partlets.
- Infantas Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela of Spain.jpg wear miniature versions of adult costume, including gowns with hanging sleeves and Spanish fathingales, c. 1571. Their skirts appear to have tucks to allow them to be let down as the girls grow.
- FAMILY SAYING GRACE ANTHONIUS CLAEISSINS C 1585 detail 1.JPG at table wear brownish doublets and slops over cannions, the Low Countries, 1585.
- Isaac Oliver d. Ä. 001.jpg wears a coif, ruff, and lace-trimmed cuffs, England, 1590
- Van Zijll 1.jpg of Ammerzoden, aged 8, wears a red velvet gown with embroidery and several gold chains. Dutch, 1598.
Working class clothing
- Das-Abendmahl-1565-pluderhosen.jpg painting of the Last Supper in contemporary dress shows a table servant wearing pluderhosen with full, drooping linings, 1565.
- Pieter Aertsen 006a.jpg wears a black partlet, a front-lacing brown gown over a pink kirtle with matching sleeves, and a gray apron. Her collar has a narrow ruffle, and she wears a coif or cap under a straw hat, 1567.
- Pieter Bruegel the Elder 014 detail1.jpg. The woman in the foreground wears a gown with a contrasting lining tucked into her belt to display her kirtle. The woman at the back wears contrasting sleeves with her gown. Both women wear dark parlets; the V-neck front and pointed back are common in Flanders. They wear linen headdresses, probably a single rectangle of cloth pinned into a hood (note knots in the corners behind). Men wear baggy hose, short doublets (one with a longer jerkin beneath), and soft, round hats, 1568.
- De Heere London women detail.jpg wears an open-fronted gown laced over a kirtle and a chemise with narrow ruffs at neck and wrists. A kerchief is pinned into a capelet or collar over her shoulders, and she wears a high-crowned hat over a coif, a chin-cloth, and an apron. She carries gloves in her left hand and a chicken in her right, c. 1570.
- Vincenzo Campi - The Fruit Seller detail.jpg wears a front-fastening gown with ties or points for attaching sleeves, a green apron, and a chemise with a ruffled collar. Her uncovered hair is typical of Italian custom, c. 1580. Fruit and vegetable-sellers are often shown with more cleavage exposed than other women, whether reflecting a reality or an iconographic convention is hard to say.
- Gardeners 1594.jpg wear cotes with full skirts, hose, hats, and low shoes, 1594.
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