Fashion of the Elizabethan Era

A “bob” hat advertisement similar to this one would be a familiar sight to many women during the 1920s. During this time period, the bob hat or cloche became a classic. The cloche was bell shaped at the top and had decorative additions such as feathers, geometric shapes, and flowers, which would showcase a woman’s demeanor. As said on vintagedancer.com, there were other accessories that women wore on their heads such as wrapped turbans, short crown straw hats, and an array of different headbands. These hair accessories became popular during the 1920s because of the way it worked with new hairstyles such as the bob. A cloche’s structure would frame the face of the women who wore them. In many cases women would not leave a store without ensuring

At a party, the way the speechmaker introduces the duchess is highly reflective of the pull she had on fashion throughout the film. “When she arrives, all eyes are upon her. When absent, she is the subject of universal conversation. And what we see her wearing tonight, I look forward to seeing the rest of you wearing tomorrow (Imdb.com)!” Costume designer Michael O’Connor does a great job of including elegantly designed picture hats on the duchess. Picture hats are the very wide and giant hats often adorned with flowers and other decorations. Georgiana popularizes this and many other fashions throughout the

They had no intention of going for a natural, modest, or conservative look; they strived for elaborate, artificial, stylized, and striking: “As Elizabeth's wardrobe became more opulent and elaborate, with a more exaggerated silhouette, so did that of her courtiers” (Royal Museums Greenwich). It was imperative to be fashion forward; meaning, if the Queen was wearing it, so should everyone else (who could afford it). Queen Elizabeth’s dress was similar to men’s style with broad shoulders, wide hips, and slim waists as she tried to appear more petite than she actually was. Many women during this time followed in her footsteps. Not only did the Queen have a great influence on women’s fashion, but she greatly influenced men’s fashion as well. Before the Elizabethan Era, “Men's fashion was much the same as it had been under her father and brother, favouring a broad, square silhouette with layers of garments made of rich fabrics” (Royal Museums Greenwich). After Elizabeth took the throne, the customary dress altered. Men began to wear corsets to obtain a cinched waist and stuffed 'peascod' doublets to make their stomachs pop out and have a pointed shape. On top of this, men’s dress consisted of underclothes such as a shirt, stockings or hose, codpiece, and corset and over clothes such as a doublet, separate sleeves, breeches, belt, ruff, cloak, shoes, and hat.

Have you ever wondered what people in the Elizabethan Era wore? Fashion was just as important in those days as it is to some people today. What people were wearing mattered to others, and even the government. During the Elizabethan Era clothing, accessories, and cosmetics were all a part of daily life.

Elizabethan fashion influenced the modern day fashion world in many aspects. In Elizabethan times, fashion was often used to show status in society, and was very important to women. Fashion today can be compared to the same aspects. Women wear different brands or types of clothing to show status or capital. Although women don’t wear as many layers of dress clothing, women often are

Cloche Hats. To show the short hair (a close fitting cloche is the only chose for hair that was short and flat.)—affected the body posture (“it was pulled well over the eyes which meant young women held their heads at a specific angle in order to see where they were going.”)

Hairstyles for the period 1750-1900 cover the Georgian era, Regency, and Romantic period hairstyles, as well as Victorian and Edwardian period hairstyles. These Era’s note not only hairstyles on men, women, and children, but also wigs and hats as part of the hairstyles of those times. When plays began being performed, even from Shakespearean times, there were never props, backdrops, or other decorations to show the audience where the play was taking place; the only visual concept was through costumes that helped the audience understand what type of stature the character had, what nationality and religion they were, and even the kind of personality they revealed. Various elements were highlighted via costumes, to include make- up, wigs, shoes, and accessories. Typically, costumes reflected what was fashionable at that time including hairstyles. Interestingly, there have been cases where theatre costumes had an effect on what people wore. Period hairstyles helped depict various times in history and wigs often help display the hairstyles of past eras for theatrical productions.

Her dress was that of 18th century garments. The frilled cap was probably a Bavolette which “was a ribbon frill at the back of the bonnet. Its purpose was covering the neck, which was considered an erogenous zone in the mid-19th century” (History of Hats for Women). The Bavolette

The ribbon would be seen at the bottom of the crown, a ribbon and a brooch would be placed in the middle at the front. The brooches would be seen on top of the ribbon. A veil would also be added in black and it was made from netting and covered in spots. At the start of the 1910s the hats would have very deep crowns and large brims till 1911 when the brims decreased in size. Feathers, flowers and ribbons continued to be seen as decoration. Later the hats became a lot less heavily decorated then the Edwardian hats. In 1912 hats decreased in size and the crown would fit the head size. The brim was now a regular size and small feathers were seen on the hats pointing upwards. Straw would be used to construct the hats and it would be seen in colours such as dark orange, navy blue, brown and grey. The hats seen for sports would be made from velvet or tweed. Some hats that were like helmets due to their rounded shape, would be decorated with hussar feathers which were influenced by the military. In 1914 the hats continued to have regular brims and veils could be seen attached to it with rounded crowns. Flower and ribbon would be seen as decoration. The shepherdess hat was seen again in

Boutonnieres became “a thing” when the King of France arrived in Italy. The people brought him a wreath of violets, which he very happily wore. Later in the 1940’s, flower gardens became popular, initiating floral patterns to be worn on men’s clothing. When painters began to portray other individuals wearing bouquets of flowers on the men’s “buttonhole,” the country’s men also started copying how the drawings were portrayed. However, as time progressed, just like the corsages changed places and meanings, so did the boutonniere. Around the 1830’s the frock coat became popular, but it wasn’t till about two decades later when the “Tweedside” coat came about. The fashion was similar to a turndown shirt collar with the coat buttons closed all the way to the top. This resulted in men leaving their top buttons undone. Consequently, the right side of the coat flapped over with the button facing the clavicle, allowing the left side to sow the boutonniere from the inside. This was how the notched lapel came into existence as it is

Since the Apostle Paul ordered females to cover their heads during worship, women have adorned their crowns with elaborate headpieces. Today, women wear these beautiful, symbolic hats to church, the derby, and formal events.

The people who lived during the Elizabethan Era were not allowed to wear whatever they like or desired. Their Fashion choices had to be followed by a strict law! The English people chose to establish social classes by the colors they wore and this had an affect on costumes used in theatre. Queen Elizabeth I followed the sumptuary laws, which was only certain classes were consent to wear specific fabric and colors. Therefore in plays the actors could only wear certain colors for their costumes that displayed what role and class their character was in. The clothes worn during this era was a result of Queen Elizabeth’s sumptuary laws, which had an affect on costumes used in plays, and each color a person wore had a significant meaning.

It hat was very fashionable but the style of it changed a lot over small periods of time

In the late 16th century when beaver hats became a fashion statement, establishments were created to exclusively deal in furs. Serving as emblems of social status and prestige for centuries, hats were worn to identify individuals by military statuses, social rank and position, political affiliations, professions, and religious following. Regarding the Catholic religion itself, the shape, style, and material of one’s hat was a visual indication of

The La Cage Improvisée was an example of a highly stylized design of two sinuous women wearing dresses inspired by the stories of Arabian Nights. The dresses are depicted from the side to highlight and exaggerate the fullness of the skirt. The colour, setting and styling of the illustration indicate that the dresses were evening dresses. Evening dresses were typically made of very fine materials, such as silk, chiffon or taffeta. They were often sleeveless or had short sleeves, and featured a waist with layers of fabric to create fullness in the skirt. The hair was often accessorized with a hat or a headband. The classic hat of the 1920s was the cloche hat. Other common styles were the wrapped turban, the straw summer hat and a variety of different headbands. Hats displayed fewer decorations than previously seen but they were still very expressive with either a bow or an art deco shape. Beaded dresses were also very