Elizabethan England Fashions

Styles of this time were strongly enforced by the Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws, which were laws used to govern the styles, materials and colors worn by the different classes. The laws were also used to control the behavior of the classes and to make sure class structure was maintained. If a law was broken that person could be charged fines, lose their property, lose their title or even lose their life. The women wore gowns, hats, corsets, underclothing, collars, ruffs or ruffles and shoes. Clothes worn by men were doublets, breeches, underclothing, collars, ruffs, hats and shoes. Only royalty could wear clothes trimmed with ermine. Cloth of gold and gold tissue was to be worn only by the Queen, the Queen’s mother, children, sisters and aunts of the Queen. Also the Duchesses, Marquises and Countesses. The clothes also designed based off of geometric shapes and in a layered look which at times required the help of dressing service of a dressing servant. They show off a small waist, even for the men. Men would sometimes wear girdles to give them the effect of a small waist. A style that was created during this time was called slashing. This means that the people would cut parts of the top layer of their clothes to show the lining through them. Sometimes the under fabric would be pulled through the cut and puffed out to show a contrast between the colors. This fashion era was also known as the Peacock Age because the men were at times dressed more elaborately than the women, just as a male peacock has brighter feathers than the female peacock. The clothes also provided information about the person wearing them. You could tell the wealth and status of a person based solely on what they were wearing.

Alchin, L.K. "Elizabethan England Fashions." Elizabethan England. Online. Internet. 16
July, 2005. Available: http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/