Preview

The Role Of Clothing In The Elizabethan Era

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
308 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Role Of Clothing In The Elizabethan Era
During the Elizabethan Age, there were social classes that consisted of the upper, middle, and lower class. Each social class’ wardrobe depended on the Sumptuary Laws. The Sumptuary Laws were a set of restrictions that were placed, depending on the social class, to regulate luxury and extravagance. As a result of the Sumptuary Laws in the Elizabethan Age, each social class had a limit on what type of clothing could be worn. Due to the Sumptuary Laws, the women of the Elizabethan Age had a wider range of clothing options. “The upper class and royals were permitted to wear clothing made out of different types of expensive and rare materials, such as fur, velvet, silk, lace, etc” (“Fashion and Classes”). Thus, the upper class had more availability

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Women of the time were expected to be pretty all the time and stay at home and knit or crochet. They wore beautiful dresses, elaborate gowns with puffy skirts and petty coat underneath them. They wore…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The first reason Governor Bellingham should have employed Hester Prynne to fashion embroidered gloves for a state occasion was that Elizabethan style deafeningly dominated the era. During the time, clothes carried great weight, indicating social status and wealth. Even after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Sumptuary Laws put in place during her reign remained strictly obeyed. Since…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine living in a society where your social and economic rank determined the type of clothing you could wear. Quite frankly, I would not have survived in a society that dictated what I can or cannot wear. I would feel suppressed, as if someone was taking away my freedom. I strongly believe that what we wear defines us more than we think. In other words, fashion is an expression of who we are as an individual. However, this was not the case during the medieval period. The clothing in medieval Europe was dictated by the Pyramid of Power or a feudal system. Fashion during the medieval period was not just only about clothing, rather it dealt with economic…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Why Is Louis Xiv Important

    • 2335 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Before the mid-seventeenth century, and Louis XIV's influence, fashion was exclusive to only the wealthiest nobles. Only a small portion of the elite had stylist garments and outfits, which they replaced very rarely. Outfits were more a display of wealth and social status than of fashion personality; the vast majority of the population had only simple clothing made from coarse homespun fabrics. As soon as Paris became the…

    • 2335 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Social classes in the Elizabethan era were quite different than those we have today. These days we have a few generic classes that everyone gets grouped into. Back then, there were many diverse classes that you were basically born into. During this period, the main classes that people were separated into were The Monarch, Nobility, Gentry, Merchant, Yeomanry, and Laborers.…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sumptuary laws script Sumptuary laws are laws that are made for luxury and extravagance in the matter of appearance, food, furniture, but only for certain items. The laws were justified on religious and moral grounds. English merchants had a history of choosing what people could buy and could not buy. The Role of the Lord Chancellor: The Lord Chancellor was essentially a secretary, as he was responsible for supervising the King’s correspondence, and was in charge of the King’s Great Seal, which could use at the King’s permission.…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These were used as decoration inside or outside of their best hats. Women wore linen garments called loose shifts. Over the shifts they wore long dresses. The dresses had two parts; the bodice and the skirt. Women in the 17th century did not wear pants. All clothing was homemade, and made by the women. Most women only owned about 2-4 outfits. The clothing was all hand-sewn and made of either wool or linen. Women’s clothing had to cover the woman's knees and elbows. Because of the belief that bathing was dangerous, clothing wasn’t washed. Often clothes such as a gown, might never be washed! Most colonists from New England wore simple attire except for the rich. Rich wore fancy clothing and anyone that wasn’t rich and dressed in fancy clothes would be fined and put in jail. Even simple decorations like buttons were considered to fancy and instead Pilgrims and Puritans used strings. Women and girls wore aprons and it was considered inappropriate for a woman or girl to wear anything…

    • 971 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the pictures above, mourning dresses have been depicted as another form of Fashion of that period. Taylor says that, “the wealthiest and the most fashionable women had their mourning clothes made up by Court or private dressmakers, according to the usual instructions still issued by the Lord Chamberlain on the occasion of a royal death or that of a national leader” (2010, p- 124) 5. The royal women would wear expensive fabrics with lavishly embroidered, fine details with trimmed crape with statement hats which generously boasted…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Of the many rules that members of a social group had to follow, clothing played an important part in displaying one’s social status. The King and high-ranking nobility used bright colors and fancy decorations with precious stones, while common soldiers were allowed to wear plain mantles.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Clothing for women usually consisted of gowns, underclothing, corsets, hats, ruffs, collars and shoes. Men wore doublets, underclothing, breeches, ruffs, collars, hats and shoes. Rich women also wore thick petticoats and on top of this came the corset and skirts. Their skirts really long often touching the ground and were girded tightly arounf the waist with bands or ribbons and were often padded at the hips.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever wondered what it was like back in the Elizabethan Era? Have you ever wondered what armor came to be and what weapons were made of? If you read this text you’ll see that it’s full of interesting facts. You will find that in many ways the rich gets more than the poor. You will also learn who makes the weapons and how .…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Finally, as many people look at the Middle Ages as a time in which many great and barbaric things took place, not only of people really noticed any other things. One thing that many people tend to skip by would be the different types of clothing that the era showed off. And that very type of clothing would be the Farthingale. A farthingale was a bell-shaped hoopskirt worn under the skirts of well-to-do women, in which first originated in Spain. It was only worn by the wealthy class, as the commoners would wear only gowns. And because of that, it proves itself to be quite recognizable toward most of queens back then as they were the ones who worn it. However, it wasn’t just a sense of fashion at the time; it served itself as an important part…

    • 145 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the many things that are different now from when Shakespeare was around is fashion. People dressed different. They dressed weird but to them that was the way it was. If you had layers of clothing it showed how wealthy, you were. Color described what class you were. Purple for example was very expensive so only people like the queen would wear it. Now we just put some jeans and a shirt on and call it good, though there is a way to classify someone from a lower class to a higher class. Now we have brands like Michal Kors, Versace, or Channel to show how…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1930s Women

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The government had the power to ration materials and dictate what companies could make. This narrowed the variety of fashion significantly. People also lacked money due to the Great Depression in the 1930s, so it was difficult to buy fancy clothes. Even though women limited their spending on clothing, fashion was still a prominent aspect of being a woman in the 1940s. During this time, “utility” dresses, plain dresses with natural waistline and an A line skirt, became very popular. Women wore these dresses anywhere: for errands, going to the movies, and other daily activities. The “utility” dress acknowledged that women had more responsibilities and greater importance in society. In fact, women started to have more choices in fashion as seen by the acceptance of slacks on women. Up until the 1940s women were discouraged from wearing pants because it was seen as unfeminine. Because of the rationed materials in the country, corsets for women were discouraged. Not only did women gain freedom in society by wearing pants and no corsets, but they also gained physical freedom. Women were no longer constrained by tight undergarments or by having to be modest and careful with their skirts. However, when the men returned after the war and during the 1950s, women’s fashion changed to a dramatic, feminine…

    • 761 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Fashion Vs Shakespeare

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page

    When comparing Shakespeare in Love and the 21st century fashion, many differences arehighlighted. The overall clothing garments are unique to each century and very few of them canmake an acceptable transition to the current fashion period because they are attention seekingpieces. Men in the Shakespeare in Love film wore clothes that were not very body flattering, theclothes in general was bulky and body widening. Men wore breeches, which are pants that arewide at the top and very fitted when it comes to the legs. In 2017, this type of pants would not bevery popular because people want comfort and versatility, this is offered by jeans which come indifferent styles. Styles that vary in cut; teenagers prefer skinny jeans while older males like…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays