Renaissance Fashion

Historical Costumes and Clothing of Renaissance Women

© Lorri Brown

May 18, 2007

The Sixteenth Century (1500s) was a time of great change for women’s Renaissance fashion. While Renaissance fashion tends varied in different countries (just like today’s fashion trends) there are some commonalities between all areas of Western Europe.

Early Sixteenth Century Fashion

Early Sixteenth Century women’s fashions were very similar to that of medieval dress. The styling of a typical outfit of an early Renaissance woman consisted of a kirtle and gown with a cone shaped skirt and long train. Bodices had square necklines, decorated with edgings of fine laces and jewels. Sleeves were very wide, often edged in fur. Waistlines dipped slightly, and overskirts were split to show the decorative kirtle underneath. A kirtle is a simple a frock with a tight fitting bodice and sleeves and full skirt, similar to a petticoat. A typical noblewoman’s gown was made from finely woven wool or linen. The very wealthy may have some garments made of silk and velvet, though sumptuary laws prohibited lower classes from wearing such fine fabrics.

Beneath her gown, along with a kirtle, a renaissance woman would wear a linen chemise. This may seem like many layers of clothing, but remember, central heating is several centuries away, and even the finest castles and manor houses were drafty. Around 1525, Renaissance women began wearing a kirtle in its own right. When worn without a gown it would be paired with a decorated girdle. Unlike the latex undergarment of today, a Renaissance girdle was similar to a belt, worn about the waist and adorned with tassels or gold chains and precious stones. A lady could hang a pompadour or her keys from her girdle for safe keeping.

Mid Sixteenth Century Fashion

As the Spanish House of Hapsburg grew in power, Spanish fashions became popular all across Western Europe, beginning in the 1550s. Spanish fashions look cumbersome on women, to say the least. The clothing was mounted on intricate cages of wire, whalebone and cloth, called farthingales, and Renaissance women were trapped inside. At this time, renaissance women discarded their chemises, and the bodice and skirt became separate pieces, rather than one garment. Skirts were often parted or gathered up at the sides to show off elaborately decorated underskirts. Trains became less fashionable and sleeves became tight fitting from the wrist to the elbow, with large poofed shoulders, slashed to show colorful insets. This style is sometimes referred to as Leg of Mutton Sleeve. It was popular in both men and women’s fashion.

It took hours, literally, to get dressed, for so elaborate was the clothing. The predominant color of the day was black. This is not to say that clothing of the day was simple. Quite the contrary. Black velvets, brocades and silks made a perfect backdrop for the elaborate jeweled decorations that bedecked the clothing of the upper class. Women’s dresses were encrusted with pearls, rubies, diamonds, and any other precious stones that made their way across the Atlantic to Western Europe, like a beautiful suit of armor.

Late Sixteenth Century Fashion

The ruff grew in popularity and size since the mid 1500s.With the discovery of starch by a Dutch woman, ruffs could be made to stand up several inches high. By the late 1500s large standing ruffs, called cartwheel ruffs, became popular and needed to be wired for support. Spanish fashions gave way to French dominance (again). Elizabeth I preferred the French farthingale above the Spanish Farthingale. For an example of a French farthingale, check out the portrait of Elizabeth I below. Note how her skirt looks like it is falling over a wheel. Other trademarks of late sixteenth century fashions were plunging necklines, and deep, v-shaped waists, sometimes called wasp waists. Hems no longer brushed the floor, but hovered at the ankle, showing off pretty slippers and shoes bedecked with jewels and embroidery.

For more information on Renaissance Fashion check out Renaissance Fashion Accessories.

More on Life in The Renaissance

Early Renaissance Gown

Jane Seymour in Typical English Gown, 1536

Anne of Cleves, in a typical German Gown, 1539

Typical Italian Renaissance Gown,1557

Elizabeth I in a late Renaissance Gown, 1592

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