1500–1550 in European fashion

Portrait of the family of Sir Thomas More shows English fashions of the later 1520s.

Fashion in the period 1500-1550 in Western Europe is marked by voluminous clothing worn in an abundance of layers (one reaction to the cooling termperatures of the Little Ice Age, especially in Northern Europe and the British Isles). Contrasting fabrics, slashes, embroidery, applied trims, and other forms of surface ornamentation became prominent. The tall, narrow lines of the later Medieval period were replaced with a wide silhouette, conical for women with breadth at the hips and broadly square for men with width at the shoulders. Sleeves were a center of attention, and were puffed, slashed, cuffed, and turned back to reveal contrasting linings.

Women's fashion

Overview

Drawing by Holbein shows front and back views of an English gown and gable hood of 1528-30.

Women's fashions of the earlier sixteenth century consisted of a long gown, usually with sleeves, worn over a kirtle or undergown, with a linen chemise or smock worn next to the skin.

The high-waisted gown of the late medieval period evolved in several directions in different parts of Europe. In the German states and Low Countries, gowns remained short-waisted, tight-laced but without corsets. Sleeves were puffed and slashed, or elaborately cuffed.

In France, Spain, and England, the high waistline gradually descended to the natural waist in front and then to a V-shaped point. Cuffs grew larger and were elaborately trimmed.

Hoop skirts or farthingales had appeared in Spain at the very end of the fifteenth century, and spread to England and France over the next few decades. Corsets (called a pair of bodies) also appeared during this period.

A variety of hats, caps, hoods, hair nets, and other headresses were worn, with strong regional variations.

Shoes were flat, with broad square toes.

1530s and 1540s

File:Janegrey-CatherineParr 1545.jpg

English or French fashion of 1545: the trumpet-sleeved "Tudor gown", worn over a farthingale and false undersleeves with a matching forepart. The turned-back cuffs are lined with lynx fur, and the skirt of the gown also appears to be fur-lined. The lady wears a jeweled girdle with a tassel and a French hood.

French and English fashions of these decades featured an open, square-necked gown with long sleeves fitted smoothly over a tight corset or pair of bodies and a farthingale. With the smooth, conical line of the skirt, the front of the kirtle or petticoat was displayed, and a decorated panel called a forepart, heavily embroidered and sometimes jeweled, was pinned to the petticoat or directly to the farthingale.

The earlier cuffed sleeves evolved into trumpet sleeves, tight on the upper arm and flared below, with wide, turned back cuffs (often lined with fur) worn over full undersleeves that might match the decorated forepart. At the very end of the period, full round sleeves (perhaps derived from Italian fashions) began to replace the flaring trumpet sleeves, which disappeared by the later 1550s.

Fabric or chain girdles were worn at the waist and hung down to roughly knee length; a tassel or small prayer book or purse might be suspended from the girdle.

The low neckline of the gown could be filled with a partlet. Black velvet partlets lined in white with a high, flared neckline were worn pinned over the gown. Partlets of the same rich fabric as the bodice of the gown give the appearance of a high-necked gown. Sheer or opaque linen partlets were worn over the chemise or smock, and high-necked smocks began to appear; toward 1550 these might have a small standing collar with a ruffle, which would become the pleated ruff of the next period.

Blackwork embroidery in geometric and floral patterns appeared on the chemise and cuffs, especially in England, starting a trend that would last into the next century.

Hats and headgear

In France and England, black hoods with veils at the back were worn over linen undercaps that allowed the front hair (parted in the middle) to show. These hoods became more complex and structured over time.

Unique to England was the gable hood, a wired headdress shaped like the gable of a house. In the 1500s gable headdress had long embroidered lappets framing the face and a loose veil behind; later the gable hood would be worn over several layers that completely concealed the hair, and the lappets and veil would be pinned up in a variety of ways.

Albrecht Dürer's Young Woman of 1507 wears hat called a barett, popular in the German states.

A simple rounded hood of the early years of the century evolved into the French hood, popular in both France and England; its arched shape sat further back on the head and displayed the front hair which was parted in the center and pinned up in braids or twists under the veil.

German women adopted hats similar to fashionable men's styles earliest; these were worn over caps and cauls or nets. Hats became fashionable in England as an alternative to the hood toward the 1540s. Close fitting caps of fur were worn in cold climates.

Linen caps called coifs were worn under the fur cap, hood or hat.

In warmer climates (especially Italy), hair was more often worn uncovered, braided or twisted with ribbons and pinned up, or confined in a net.

First-time brides wore their hair loose, in token of virginity, and a wreath or chaplet of orange blossoms was traditional. A jeweled wreath with enameled "orange blossoms" was sometimes worn.

Jewelry and accessories

Women of wealth wore gold chains and other precious jewelry; collar-like necklaces called carcanets, earrings, bracelets, rings, and jewelled pins. Bands of jeweler's work were worn as trim by the nobility, and would be moved from gown to gown and reused. Large brooches were worn to pin overpartlets to the gown beneath.

A fashionable accessory was the "flea fur" or zibellini, the skin of a sable or marten worn draped at the neck or hanging at the waist. The idea was that fleas would be attracted to the fur and not the wearer. Some flea furs had faces and paws of goldsmith's work with jeweled eyes.

However, it should be noted that not all women or men were allowed to wear jewelry because of the sumptuary laws that restricted wearing certain types of jewelry and luxurious fabrics, such as purple velvet, to first royalty and then nobility.

Gloves of soft leather had short, sometimes slashed, cuffs and were perfumed.

Style gallery - German States and the Low Countries

• 
  1502-03
• 
  1514
• 
  1516
• 
  1526
• 
  1526 Bride
• 
  1538 Mourning
• 
  1539
• 
  1545

1. Anna Cuspinian wears a rose-pink brocade gown with a high belt and black collar and cuffs with a large headdressm 1502-03.
2. Countess Katharina von Mecklenburg wears a front-laced gown in the German fashion, with broad bands of contrasting materials, tight sleeves, and slashes at the elbow, 1514.
3. Dorothea Kannengießer wears an off-the-shoulder gown with a black collar and cuffs. A semi-transparent striped scarrf is wrapped over her headdress, 1516.
4. Katharina von Bora wears a front-laced grayish gown with black trim. She wears a white partlet edged in black, and her hair is confined in a net or snood, 1526.
5. Princess Sibylle von Cleve als Braut wears a tight-waisted gown with slashed and puffed sleeves over a high-necked chemise with a wide band at the neck. Her loose hair and the jeweled wreath of orange blossoms indicate that this is a bridal painting, 1526.
6. Christina of Denmark, Duchess of Milan in mourning wears a black robe with a fur lining over a black gown. She wears a close-fitting black cap, 1538.
7. Anne of Cleves wears a red gown with a high waist confined with a belt. Her sleeves have broad puffs at on the upper arm and wide, open lower sleeves. Her cap or hood has a sheer veil draped over it, 1539.
8. Christoph Amberger's Unknown Woman wears a finely pleated partlet with a high collar and small ruff tucked into her gown. Her close-fitting cap may be similar to that worn by Anne of Cleves under her veil, c. 1545.

Style gallery - Italy and Spain

• 
  1505
• 
  1518
• 
  ?1527
• 
  1536
• 
  1538
• 
  1540
• 
  1545
• 
  1548

1. Maddalena Doni wears a rose-colored gown with contrasting blue sleeves. She wears a sheer shoulder cape or open partlet with a dark edging, 1505.
2. Joanna of Aragon wears a gown with wide, open sleeves lined in light pink. Her high waist is accentuated with a knotted sash. The full sleeves of her chemise are gathered into ornamented bands, and she wears a broad hat that matches her gown, 1518.
3. Marguerite d'Angoulême wears the Italian style common in Savoy. Her black gown has very large puffed upper sleeves with a white lining pulled through numerous cuts or slashes. Her hair is confined in a bag-like fabric snood under a broad black hat, c. 1527.
4. Titian's Italian Lady wears a gown with puffed upper sleeves over contrasting slashed lower or undersleeves. She wears a jeweled girdle at her natural waist. Her hair is done up in intricateky knotted braids, 1536.
5. Eleonora Gonzaga wears a black gown with puffed upper sleeves. A "flea fur" with jeweled gold face is suspended from her knotted and tasselled girdle. She wears a partlet with a high collar and small ruff, and her hair is confined in a black cap, 1538.
6. Lucrezia Panciatichi wears a rose gown with intricately ruched or gathered puffed upper sleeves. The tight gathers of her skirt can be seen at the front waist, 1540.
7. Eleanora of Toledo, wife of Cosimo de' Medici, wears a gown of a boldly patterned silk with matching sleeves. She wears a gold lattice-work partlet studded with pearls and a matching snood or caul. The blackwork embroidery at the edges of her square-necked chemise can be seen beneath the parlet, 1545.
8. Isabella of Portugal wears a gown with wide bands of trim. Her bodice is slightly arched over the breast and slightly pointed at the waist, and her long, wide sleeves are open down the front and caught together with jeweled clasps or pins. She wears a high-neck partlet with a small ruff, 1548.

Style gallery - England and France 1500s-1520s

• 
  c. 1500
• 
  1502
• 
  1500-10
• 
  c. 1516
• 
  c. 1525
• 
  1527
• 
  1527-28
• 
  1527-28

1. Elizabeth of York wears an early gable hood and a front-closing red gown with a fur lining or trim and fur cuffs, c. 1500.
2. Newly widowed Catherine of Aragon wears a round hood over a linen cap and a dark gown over a kirtle. Her square-necked smock has a narrow row of embroidery at the neck, and she wears a jeweled collar or carcanet and a long, heavy gold chain, 1502.
3. Anne of Brittany wears a round hood and linen cap and a jeweled collar similar to those worn by Catherine of Aragon, with a gold-colored gown, 1500-10.
4. Henry VIII's sister Mary Tudor's marriage portrait (with Charles Brandon) shows the cuffs of her gown sleeves turned back to display a lining decorated with pearls. She wears a French hood. Her undersleeves have an open seam caught with jeweled clasps or pins and her chemise sleeves are pulled through the openings in small puffs, 1516.
5. Catherine of Aragon, c.1525, wears a gable hood with the lappets folded up and pinned in place, and the veil hanging loosely in back. Her gown has a pattern of jewels at the neckline, and her wide sleeves are turned up to show the lining.
6. Mary Wotton, Lady Guildenford wears a gable hood with a loose veil. The bodice of her gown (presumably laced at the side-back or back) is decorated with draped chains, and her smock sleeves are pulled through the open outer seam of her undersleeves in neat puffs, 1527.
7. Two ladies of Thomas More's family wear dark gowns laced over colored kirtles with contrasting undersleeves. 1527-28.
8. Holbein's unknown lady wears a fur cap shaped like a gable hood. She wears a linen kerchief or capelet draped over her shoulders, and a sheer parlet, 1527-28.

Style gallery - England and France 1530s-1540s

• 
  1536-37
• 
  1536-37
• 
  1535-40
• 
  1540-41
• 
  1543
• 1546
  1546
• 1540s
  1540s

1. Jane Seymour wears a gable hood and a chemise with geometric blackwork embroidery, 1536-37.
2. Detail of the embroidery on Jane Seymour's cuff.
3. Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee wears a patterned brown or mulberry-colored gown with full sleeves and a matching partlet lined in white, 1540 (perhaps after an earlier drawing).
4. Elizabeth Seymour wears a black satin gown with full sleeves and black velvet partlet. Her cuffs have floral blackwork embroidery, 1540-41.
5. Lady Margaret Butts wears a high-necked chemise with a band of blackwork at the neck. The lappets on her ganle hood are solid black, and she has a fur piece draped around her shoulders, 1543.
6. Elizabeth Tudor at age 13 wears a rose-colored gown over a partlet and undersleeves of cloth of silver with patterns in looped pile. Her French hood matches her gown, 1546.
7. Katherine Parr wears a red loose gown with wide bands of applied trim. She wears a white cap with pearls and a pleated forehead cloth under a hat with an upturned brim and a feather. The collar of her gown is lined with patterned (woven or possibly embroidered) silk, 1540s.

Men's fashion

Overview

Ludwig, Count von Löwenstein wears a fur-lined gown in the German fashion and a red barett with a jewel in the form of a pair of compasses, 1513.

Henry VIII wears a fur-trimmed red gown with split hanging sleeves over a jerkin and an embroidered and slashed doublet and sleeves.Hans Holbein the Younger, 1537

Early in this period, men's silhouette was long and narrow, but gradually it grew wider until by the later reign of Henry the VIII the silhouette was almost square, with shoulder emphasis achieved through wide revers and collars and large sleeves.

By the 1540s, the silhouette was again growing narrower, with a higher collar. Doublet sleeves became fuller rather than tight, and jerkins were shorter and displayed more of the hose.

Throughout this period, fashionable men's clothing consisted of:

• A linen shirt or chemise, originally low-necked but with a higher neckline by mid-century. The neckline was adjusted by means of a drawstring; the tiny ruffle formed by pulling up the drawstring became wider over time, and then evolved into the ruff of the next period.
• A doublet with matching sleeves, often slashed or cut to allow the fabric of the shirt beneath to show through.
• A jerkin, usually cut low to the waist in front to reveal the doublet beneath, with full skirts to the knee.
• Hose ending above the knee with a prominent codpiece (both sometimes hidden under the skirts of the jerkin).
• Stockings held up with garters.
• A front-opening gown, often fur-lined for warmth and slashed, with sleeves. The gown was ankle length early in the period, but knee-length gowns were fashionable in the 1530s and '40s. Scholars, judges, doctors, and other professionals retained the ankle length gown throughout the period.

Lower class men wore a one-piece garment called a cote, tight to the waist with knee-length skirts and long sleeves over their hose.

Bright colors (reds, yellows, purples, pinks, and greens) were popular.

Hairstyles and headgear

Hair was worn chin-length early in the century, and grew shorter along with the wide silhouette.

A variety of hats were worn in the period. The German 'barett, with its turned-up brim, was fashionable through out the period, and a similar hat with a turned-up round or "halo" brim was popular in the court of Henry VIII. The flat hat combined a low, gathered crown with a circular brim and was worn in mid-century.

Shoes and accessories

Shoes were shaped to the foot early; by mid century they were square-toed and often slashed.

Those who could afford to decorated their clothes and hats with rich furs, embroidery, and jeweled clasps and brooches.

Style gallery 1500-1520

• 
  1 - 1502-03
• 
  2 - 1506
• 3 - 1509
  3 - 1509
• 
  4 -1512-15
• 
  5 - 1514
• 
  6 - 1519
• 
  7 - 1519
• 
  8 - 1519

1. Johannes Cuspinian wears a fur-lined brocade gown over a front-laced red doublet and a low-necked shirt or chemise. He wears a red hat with an upturned brim, 1502-03.
2. Angelo Doni wears Italian fashion: a dark doublet with pink sleeves, loose hair, and a hat with a turned-up brim, 1506.
3. Henry VII's hair is worn chin length. The gown has wide revers and is worn with a jeweled collar, 1509.
4. Unknown man wears a doublet with slashed sleeves and a gown with a gray fur collar.
5. German fashion includes a multitude of slashes in rows on doublet, hose and gown, 1514.
6. The Emperor Maximilian I wears a gown with a very wide fur collar and a broad-brimmed hat, 1519.
7. Georg Zelle wears a brocade rgown with a fur lining and slashed sleeves. The neck of his shirt is open, 1519.
8. Bonifazius Amerbach wears a high-necked shirt and a high-necked doublet under a dark gown. His hat is rounded and soft, rather than angular, 1519.

Style gallery 1520-1535

• 
  1 - 1520-25
• 
  2 - 1521
• 
  3 - 1525
• 
  4 - 1527
• 
  5 - 1532-33
• 
  6 - 1533
• 
  7 - 1534-35
• 
  8 - c. 1535

1. Francis I of France wears a wide-necked doublet with paned sleeves under dark gold jerkin and a satin gown with turned-back sleeves. His shirt has a tiny frill edged in black at the neck and wide ruffles at the wrist. Jean Clouet, c. 1520-25.
2. Lucas Cranach the Elder's Young Man wears the later style of barett, wide and flat with a slashed brim. His high neckline is accented by parallel rows of slashes, and he wears a brown gown, 1521.
3. Frederico II Gonzaga wears a doublet with full skirts to mide thigh, soft "loops" at the shoulder, and gold emboridered bands at the border over bright red hose and a prominent codpiece, Italy, 1525,
4. Sir Henry Guildford wears a wide necked brocade doublet, a jerkin, and a fur-lined gown. His wide-necked shirt is bare visible under his doublet the the left shoulder. 1527.
5. Emperor Charles V wears slashed hose and sleeves in the German fashion. His gown has puffed upper sleeves and a black (probably fur) lining. His shoes have squarish toes and reach high over his instep, 1532-33.
6. Jean de Dinteville, French ambassador to England, wears a fur-lined calf-length gown over a black jerkin and a slashed doublet of rose-colored silk. His shoes are very square at the toes, 1533.
7. Charles de Solier, Sieur de Morette wears a high-necked doublet under darker jerkin and a gown. His sleeves are paned (made in strips) and fastened with jewels. The square beard was very popular with the broad silhouette of 1534-5.
8. Holbein's Man with a Lute wears a transitional costume - a wide-necked doublet with a high, banded-neckline shirt, c. 1535.

Style gallery 1535-1550

• 1 - 1541
  1 - 1541
• 
  2 - 1542
• 3 - 1546
  3 - 1546
• 
  4 - 1548

1. Unknown man in a modest costume of 1541. He wears a brown satin doublet with full, unslashed "round" sleeves under a dark gown. His shirt has a standing band with embroidery and a ruffle.
2. Henry VIII in 1542 wears a closed red ermine-lined gown with narrower shoulders and a high collar.
3. Edward VI wears the leaner, narrow fashions of 1546. The shoulders are no longer wide, and the jerkin's skirts are flared but not gathered, and are shorter than the hose.
4. Emperor Charles V wears a black, fur-lined gown over a black doublet, hose, stockings and shoes. His shoes have slightly rounded rather than square toes, 1548.

Children's fashion

Toddler boys wore gowns or skirts and doublets until they were breeched.

• 
  German, 1517
• 
  Probably French, 1520-35
• 
  Dutch, 1531
• 
  England, 1538
• 
  German, 1530-45
• 
  Italy, 1545
• 
  Italy, 1545

See also

• Chemise
• Doublet (clothing)
• Farthingale
• French hood
• Gable hood
• Hose (clothing)
• Jerkin (garment)

External links

• Tudor Dress: A portfolio of images (includes a discussion of the mysterious "white band")
• Venu's Wardrobe (Venetian cosume of the 16th century)
• Shirts and Camicia of the 1500s

References

• Arnold, Janet: Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd, W S Maney and Son Ltd, Leeds 1988. ISBN 0-901286-20-6 (Arnold comments in detail on the clothing in several portraits of the 1530s and '40s referenced in this article.)

• Ashelford, Jane: The Art of Dress: Clothing and Society 1500-1914, Abrams, 1996. ISBN 0-8109-6317-5

• Ashelford, Jane. The Visual History of Costume: The Sixteenth Century. 1983 edition (ISBN 0-89676-076-6), 1994 reprint (ISBN 0-7134-6828-9).

• Hearn, Karen, ed. Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630. New York: Rizzoli, 1995. ISBN 0-8478-1940-X.