At the marked this weekend a very sweet woman complimented my new dress and the beautiful mustard yellow colour. She when went on to say that not all markeds would allow it as it yellow was a sign of a woman being a prostitude. I was of course not trilled to hear this but I was also sceptical. Was yellow dresses really a sign of prostitution?
It has come time to look at what the men of the city were wearing in the medieval period. As usual I am interested in the period between 1000 and 1550. I will look both at workmen’s clothing, merchant and artisans’ clothing in the period. The post is structured into these three categories and the pictures is arranged chronologically. This is a work in progress and I will note the date here when it was last edited.
Last edited: 17/5 2017
An overview of medieval female fashion from 1000 to 1300 (11th and 12th century) with lots of images from the source material as well as a short description of each type of garment. This post is focused on the upper classes.
The early medieval period does not have as much variation in the female dress as the later periods, but it does have some beautiful garments. It is interesting to see the female dress go from simple cotes and mantles over the elaborerte wide sleeved bliaut in the 1100’s and back to simpler cotes and cyclas in the 1200’s.
My personal favourite is the 1200’s fashion. If I didn’t have any restriction on which period to create a dress for that is the style I would go for. It just seem so comfortable and lovely.
Early in the 1400’s, the (liripipe) hood remained a common component of dress for all classes, although it was frequently worn around the neck as a cowl or twisted into the fantastical shapes of the chaperon. Hats of various styles—tall-crowned with small brims or no brims at all, hats with brims turned up on one side for variations of the coif, or low-crowned with wider brims pulled to a point in front—began to compete with the draped chaperon, especially in Italy. A brimless scarlet cap became nearly universal for young Florentines in particular, and was widely worn by older men and those in other cities.1
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
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.