TUDOR AND STEWART FASHION

The Tudor dynasty ruled the Kingdom of England from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry VII, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised branch of the English royal House of Lancaster. The Tudor family rose to power in the wake of the Wars of the Roses. Then Stewart monarchs ruled England until 1714.

LADIES

Formal dress about 1610

The bodice was very long, pointed and stiff, and the wide skirt was supported by hip 'boulsters' of the 'drum farthingale'.

The sleeves were wide and the neckline low, with ruff open to frame the face. It was trimmed with lace newly introduced from Flanders and Spain. Fashionable ladies no longer wore a cap and her uncovered hair was dressed high with ribbons and feathers.

Day dress about 1634

Ladies wore soft satin walking dresses with the short waist and full flowing skirts fashionable from around 1620. Bodices were cut almost like a man's doublet and equally masculine were wide-plumed hat and long 'lovelock' on short hair. They wore fine wide Flemish lace collars veiling the gold braids on bodice. For formal occasions the neck would be left bare, and the hair dressed with jewels.

Formal dress about 1674

- low and stiffened bodices

- short sleeves

- the skirt was made to wear open, displaying the elaborately trimmed petticoat

- false curls were sometimes added to the wide-dressed hair

Formal Dress about 1690

The dress became an over-gown pinned over the stiff corset to gathered back at the hips to show the embroidered petticoat. Lace frills on the shift showed at the neck and sleeves.

hair - beginning to be dressed high in the 1680's. This tall headress was formed of several rows of folded lace and ribbons, rising one above the other and supported on wires.

The fashion of wearing on the face black patches of various shapes was still in fashion, small circular patch-boxes being carried so that any that fell off could be replaced.



MEN

Formal Clothes about 1548

- over-gowns with full upper sleeves adding breadth to shoulders

- doublet was loose with a seam at the waist and skirts

- upper stocks (breeches) were separate from hose for greater comfort

- shirt was embroidered in black silk with small frills at the neck

- cap was softer and wider

- shoes were less broad in the toe

Formal Clothes about 1600

- a padded doublet with pointed waist and short padded breeches, with tapering 'canion' at the knee, over which the stocking is pulled

- 'Spanish' cloak was heavily embroidered

- a starched and gathered ruff, developed from the shirt neck frill after about 1560

conical hat

Day Clothes about 1629

- The short-waisted doublet with long skirts had slits on the chest and sleeve, allowing for movement.

- The knee-length breeches, full but not padded, were supported by hooks inside the waistline.

- The ribbon 'points' at waist and knee were decorative survivors of the lacing hose The lace-trimmed ruff falls to the shoulders and the hair is long with a 'lovelock'.

- Boots and gloves were of soft leather.

Day Clothes about 1650

- suits based on the Dutch fashions

- short unstiffened jackets and wide breeches hanging loose to the knee

- Dark colours were generally worn and not confined to followers of Parliament.

- ribbons became popular trimmings and hundreds of metres could be used on a suit at shoulder, waist and knee, and for the bows on the square-toed shoes

- fine square lace collars, cloaks and narrow-brimmed conical hats

WIGS

Over the course of history, the wig, a man made head covering of real or artificial hair, has come and gone from fashion time and time again. There are also a practical purpose: the unclean or insanitary conditions of the time meant that hair attracted head lice, a problem that could be much reduced if natural hair were shaved and replaced with a more easily de-loused artificial hairpieces. The first famous woman who is fond of wig from royal is Queen Elizabeth I. Elizabeth was Queen of England. This was also the age of William Shakespeare’s plays and France Bacon’s philosophy. Under their influence, so many official begin to copy them, finally, wearing wig become a society fashion from official to common people. With the increase of cost of wig, wig comes to become one way of showing off wealth.

Price of common wig is 50 shilling. This is the one week salary for a resident who live in London at that time. But elaborate wig worth 800 shilling, such wigs were expensive to produce. The best examples were made from natural human hair. The hair of horses and goats was often used as a cheaper alternative.