The open, square neckline of French gowns was a popular and permissible way for an English woman to show some skin. Aside from providing visual identifications of who was who, it helped keep money in England because fewer people were buying expensive, imported fabrics.įrench fashions were very popular at the Tudor court and favored by the women. Purple was absolutely reserved for royalty, as were several types of fur, such as ermine. These same sumptuary laws also allowed the Tudor monarchs to collect fines and bestow special status on favorites.Īlong with which types of cloth could be worn by whom, sumptuary laws dictated what length the cloth could be and what colors. Mary I continued this trend, as did Elizabeth I. Given that clothing was an automatic identifier of who was what class, Henry wished to keep the status quo in place, despite the rising wealth of the merchant class. Henry VIII passed his first sumptuary laws in 1510, shortly after ascending the throne. The upper classes enjoyed the luxury of silk, brocade, velvet, and satin. The lower classes wore linen or wool cotton was not allowed to be imported into England so as to protect the wool trade.
There were also restrictions on who could wear which fabrics. And along with new clothing styles came sumptuary laws, which created strict visual distinctions between the different classes.
The Armada Portrait Fashion has had innumerable iterations throughout the centuries, with the Renaissance bringing about not just changes in thinking, art and education, but also clothing style.
0 kommentar(er)
