1590s dresses Part 2 💎💎 || Renaissance || Elizabethan era || 16th century || #shorts #history

Details

Description

“Clothing was, as ever, central to daily life—and a great concern of moralists. In 1592, a German visitor to England observed,

“The women…go dressed out in exceedingly fine clothes, and give all their attention to their ruffs and stuffs to such a degree indeed, that, as I am informed, many a one does not hesitate to wear velvet in the streets, which is common with them, whilst at home perhaps they have not a piece of dry bread.” (Ashelford 12)
These worries echoed William Harrison’s 1577 Description of England:

“Oh, how much cost is bestowed nowadays upon our bodies and how little upon our souls! How many suits of apparel hath the one, and how little furniture hath the other! How long time is asked in decking up of the first, and how little space left wherein to feed the latter!” (Ashelford 12)
There was a perpetual concern with the men and women who delighted in dressing, or wielded its power. Yet this moralistic, conservative opinion does not necessarily reflect reality. Throughout the 1590s, monarchs and subjects alike continued to cultivate a densely iconographical style, crafting public and private identities to reflect their political, social, and familial obligations and aspirations.”

Subscribe to learn more about fashion history!

https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1590-1599/