Unlike in later periods men in the early middle ages don’t seem to have had any problem walking around bare headed but hats and coif win popularity as the period goes on. Men are shown both clean shaven and with full beards and the hair is either short or to the chin.
Headwear
Female headgear in the 1300’s
An overivew of the fashion of medieval female headgear 1300’s (14th century). Hats, veils and hair styles though images from source material.
In the 1300’s woman would wear anything from uncovered braids, to veils over barbet and fillet, caul and crespine, depending on rank, wealth and time.
Last edited: 17/5 2017
Female headgear in the 1400’s
A number of different styles were worn throughout the century. Any of these styles could be topped by a padded roll, sometimes arranged in a heart-shape, or a veil, or both. Veils were supported by wire frames that exaggerated the shape and were variously draped from the back of the headdress or covered the forehead.
Female headgear in the middle ages
Nobel headgear became quite elaborate during the period – we have all see the “princess hats” which were actually worn for a period of time. Some are very high, other very wide and some gives really different head shapes. Married women would generally always wear something on their heads when out in public. Women are almost always shown to have their hair styled in some way even in pictures of them dressing or bathing. Both men and women would wear hoods with long tails called a liripipe (studshætte).
Medieval commoners’ clothing 1000-1550
What did medieval commoners wear?
An overview of medieval fashion for common people in the 11th to 16th century.
While the fashion of the nobles changed quite a lot between 1000 and 1550, the clothing of the common people, particularly the peasants, changed but slowly. There were however changes both the the male and female dress. This post is mostly peasants and workmen and other country dwellers. I think I will do a separate post on artisans, craftsmen, merchants and other city dwellers. My focus here is on Northern Europe.