Tudor Costume

1. Tudor clothes showed how rich and important you were.

2. Sumptuary laws, introduced by Henry VIII, ruled what materials, colours and decoration people could use for their clothes.

3. The rich could wear cloth of gold, brocade or velvet, whereas the poor had to wear linen or wool.

4. The only exceptions to these rules were in the case of royal servants and theatre groups.

5. Tudor fashion for men included, shirts, doublets, jerkins and breeches, which were often filled with bran, or horsehair.

6. Hose were worn under the breeches and men wore hats at all times, only removing them in the presence of a lady.

7. The men wore soft caps, decorated with jewels and feathers at the beginning of the period, but taller hats at the end.

8. Tudor fashion for women included chemises, kirtles, full length under-gowns, and gowns.

9. Poor people wore simple, loose-fitting trousers, tunics, dresses, aprons and bonnets.

10. The farthingale, a frame worn under the gowns which made them stick out, became fashionable in Elizabethan times.

11. Tudor women never displayed their arms or legs and always wore a head-dress.

12. Early Tudor fashion saw women wearing heavy gabled head-dresses with long side-pieces

13. Small crescent-shaped caps with veils were also popular.

14. Elizabethan women gave these up in favour of small caps, hats or jewelled hair nets.

15. Sleeves were pinned on to the clothes separately, and slashed sleeves were particularly popular.

16. Ruffs, worn at the neck and the wrists became very fashionable in Tudor times for both men and women.

17. The rich had embroidered gloves made out of perfumed leather

18. The poor wore gloves made from sheep or deerskin.

19. Tudor women wore a variety of cosmetics, many of which were dangerous.

20. They used white paste, made from lead, on their faces which was poisonous and burned away the surface of their skin.

21. The blusher and lipstick they used was made from mercury sulphide, which was dangerous if swallowed.

22. Tudor hair dye contained sulphuric acid.

23. Tudor men and women wore necklaces, earrings and rings, as jewellery showed how wealthy you were.