Going clothes shopping with a medieval lady

Of the 14th century

Where and When clothes were bought

Wearing the correct clothing proved essential in the medieval ages. There were laws regarding what fabrics, furs and embellishments you could wear based on your stature. In the 14th century, diamonds became quite popular and laws were made to restrict the wearing of them. Women did not just purchase ready-made clothing. They had to buy fabric and embellishments to make their own clothing, or they made the fabric themselves. If they were wealthy, their servants would assist them. If not, they had to do it themselves. Women made new articles of clothing for several reasons. Including; Marriage, Parties, and church occasions. When a woman had given birth, she had to wait for an amount of time before returning to church. When she was allowed to return, it was a cause of celebration and so most women had new clothes made. Fabrics could be purchased through trade or shopping at markets.

Fabric, Fur and Jewels

If you were a Monarch, the most expensive cloth was cloth of gold. Cloth of gold was indeed made of gold, and was VERY expensive. There were laws restricting who could wear cloth of gold. Another expensive fabric is Scarlet. Scarlet was an expensive woolen cloth, and it’s name can be deceiving. Scarlet cloth could be red, white, blue, green, and brown. The most expensive types of fabric were almost always red, because red color was hard to attain. Silk, taffeta (taf-i-tuh), velvet and damask (dam-uh’sk) were some of the more expensive fabrics for the extra time and care it took to make them. Furs were worn by nobles and Monarchs. However, only a monarch could wear ermine (ur-min). Lower classes wore clothes made of cotton, wool and linen.

The Dresses, Gowns and other garments

The following Presentation is made to inform you about style of clothing in the 14th century. Take note of the fabric, décor, and headdresses, because they will help you determine the rank of the lady wearing them.

The Dresses

Dresses in the 14th century have a very distinct look. They usually have a belt high on the waist and many folds or creases on the skirt. Near the end of this period and long open sleeves. Sometimes the sleeve was tight, in such cases, there was a bigger overhanging sleeve or covering.*

*This is an example

Kirtle (pronunciations for you Ms. Hickey)

pronunciation; kur-tl

The kirtle was considered the under gown, but many peasants wore it alone with a belt or sash.

Chemise or Smockpronunciation; shuh-meez

The Chemise was the

layer underneath everything. They were usually fairly plain, and were worn by all classes. Higher ranking ladies wore Chemises of smooth linen, whereas peasants wore chemises of rough wool or other material

Houppelande;pronunciation “hoop-lahnd”

The Houppelande was a garment worn by both men and women. The garments varried in length, and sleeve size. The two variants can be seen in the blue, and pink ladies Houppelandes

Peasants garb

This is late 14th century garb, the dolls gown resembles the lady with the pink skirt

Doll Version;

Burgundian gown pronounciation; ber-guhn-dee-uh‘n

This was a very fashionable dress. The later variations had a more curvy neckline, (referring to the blue silk on gown) it was usually fur or silk.

Additional style of the Burgundian gown

In this variation, the neckline is rounded off higher, and does not have the the V necked strip of cloth appearing to be another layer

Doll Version;

Various forms of the cotehardie pronunciation; koht-ahr-dee

The Cotehardie was only worn for a brief period of time before in went out of style. It was a gown worn by many classes, and had a belt typically worn on the hips. There were almost always butons running up the front or back

Doll Version;

Sideless surcoat pronunciation; sur-koht

The sideless surcoat was a dress worn by Monarchs and nobility. You would determine the stature based on; the headdress, quality and color of fabric, and type of fur

Doll Version;

Headdresses

Hennin is pronounced hen-in, I thought I’d tell you now instead of on every slide…

Butterfly henin

Only worn by nobility, the butterfly hennin was a very popular choice of headwear, and as you can see, the under cap was usually very decorated

Conical Hennin & Truncated Henin-

The higher the hennin, the more fashionable the wearer. This was the most popular style of hennin. Hennin height could exceed 1 foot at times, they usually had a veil

The Flemish Hood-

worn by all levels of society; High ranking Nobles to Lower class, worn with or without a veil, it was usually valvet, or silk

Heart shaped hennin-

Worn by upper and middle classes, there was the padded, v shaped roll, which extended up, they were made from colored silks, velvets or linen. It became decorated in jewels, pearls and plaques of enamels. Over these were veils all of which were hemmed with precious gold thread

Doll Version;

Attor de Gibetpronunciation; who knows?

the middle classes wore this headdress. Burgundian-French in origin. the Templette is the horned part, complicated starched white veils would be attached to them using pins Sometimes Jewels, Gold or Silver decorated the Templettes.

Halo bonnet (with reticulated caul underneath)

The halo bonnet was a decorated hat that was tilted to the side. Then a reticulated caul was used to hold a single braid down the back.

Reticulated Caulpronunciation; kawl

The reticulated caul was made to hold the hair (or braids) you could wear one or two.

Kruseler

Middle classes wore this linnen and lace covering, it was worn with two “horns” on the side of the head

Frontlet and cap

This was worn at the very end of the 14th century, it had 3 separate layers, and there was usually a decorative beading in the front.

Doll Version;

Crispinette

The crispinette was worn over the ears either in two coiled plaits or coiled into two gold cauls held by a fillet (a narrow bar of metal in gold or silver or embroidery according to the position of the wearer)

The Jeweled or Passement Coifpronunciation; pas-muh’nt koif

It consisted of a close fitting Cap of some rich material, criss-crossed mostly, with Gold and Jewels with Pearls or drop ornaments, frequently used to decorate along its edge to frame the face. These jeweled edges were called "Passement."

Doll Version;

The Nebule or Goffered Headdress

It was used when hunting or hawking and was considered by medieval women to be a "convenient fashion to keep the hair in order."The "Goffered Headdress had a lattice which formed a frame around the face and was held on place by a narrow fillet, across the forehead. It could also have many layers of pleated or ruffled linen. Sometimes the back of the veil was ruffled as well.

Templars

Templars had two “cones” to hold the hair. The cones were attached to a circlet worn around the head, and a veil was usually attached to the ensemble.