Sumptuary Law

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.

For many centuries clothing was used namely as a form of symbolising one’s ascribed class and social honour. A good example of this was evident in Feudal European times when sumptuary laws were created in order to regulate and specify

Over the course of the history of clothing styles and production, one thing has never changed: a person’s wealth directly influences

Clothing and How it Relates to the Affairs of the 1940’s Ever felt the burn of blisters left by shoes that don’t quite fit; or felt the humiliation of tattered and worn clothes that smell like the sweat of someone you do not even know? Throughout history the clothing people wear often has had an effect on how we view them. People of power usually wore extravagant clothing and servants, serfs, and peasants wore less than pristine garb. During this time World War II, inflation, and the Holocaust had a huge effect on the clothing we wore and vice versa.

Fashion is a big part of many people's lives, but it is constantly changing and growing. In the Elizabethan time fashion was very different than it is today. For example trends and materials used have changed. The colors people wore told a lot about who they were, unlike today. Some parts of fashion have stayed pretty constant throughout the years. For example today and then there are known designers around the world. Also fashion still impacts lives greatly. So when looking at fashion throughout the years it is evident that materials, trends, color usage, designers, and the impact on society has greatly changed and is still changing.

The richer class believed “Clothing was a sign of importance and power.” (Stevenson, par 1) Nobles believed the amount of money they spent on their clothes determined the amount of authority they had. The more rich you were, the more people looked up to you. Chaucer writes about the Summoner “The better he looks the more successful he will be.” (Prentice Hall 113) Nobles such as the Summoner had extra money to spend on things like clothing. These people in the second estate dressed to impress more than dressing for comfort. Comfort did not apply to the nobles, because they had less work than the other estates. The nobles wanted to show their riches, so the bigger and brighter their clothing the

Fashion reflects the attitudes of a society more than any other art form. Like art, fashion is a material record of the ideals that swayed the nations at the time of their creation. Through examining the styles, and tastes of a particular era, we can realize where the interests and priorities of a time lie. As Frank Parsons wrote in his 1920 study, The Psychology of Dress, "There is surly no better field in which to trace the devious paths of human thought than in that of clothes, where man has ever given free play to self expression, in a way which, thought not always a credit to his intelligence, is yet quite true to his innermost self, whether he will acknowledge it or

Clothing has existed for many centuries and has evolved over time. At one time, clothes were made very simple; over time the stages of developing clothes has drastically changed. The design and style of clothes changed as well.

The wealthy people had worn expensive fabrics such as satin, velvet and cotton. In my city the poor had worn flannel and many other cheap priced fabrics. For many people cotton was known for what many wealthy people would wear because it is not easy for someone to get there hands on it. Most men here in Florence had worn boots, pants, shirts, vests, and hats while most women would be seen walking around the streets wearing shoes, two skirts while one went under the other one, a shirt, a bodice, and a hat which would sometimes be replaced with a snood. Women had also braided their hair. On many women you would also see curls because it is a sign of beauty. Clothing was an important treasure to many people in the upper class of nobility and aristocracy who would spend a lot of money on the clothes they wore. Some women had made their dresses fancier by decorating

Often times throughout history clothes have been very important in equating social or occupational status. For example, on a construction site you see the hierarchy of power by the color of the hats worn by the employees. Sadly,

The people with the best clothes were the people with the most amount of money. “A fine cloth was only as good as its cut and decoration and a man or woman could make their fortune on the strength of these designs.” (“Tailoring”). Clothing was an important part of life, in showing wealth, in showing authority and in showing personal qualities. “Eventually political and social

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.

At the end of the 18th century there was one of the most significant events in the history of dress. Men gave up their right to all the bright, more elaborate, and more varied forms of clothing. They left all that to the women. Men abandoned their claim to be considered beautiful. They, instead, aimed at being useful in society.

People use to wear clothes that we would see in plays, wearing costumes practically. Kind of like the hunger games with less technology ha-ha. People wore colors that based off of their royalty or as we call it "classes" purples, reds, and golds were for the higher royalty and lower classes could not wear those colors. Men liked to wear clothes that made them look bigger because the bigger you were meant that you could afford to eat a lot of food "royalty." Now we like to wear clothes that make us look more skinny, black does that. Jeans and t-shirts are worn daily and we only wear fancy clothes for occasions, well for the most of us. We don't were costumes as regular clothes, that's only for plays or if your acting. We can wear any colors we want and it won't tell us if we have any kind of royalty.

Many people would not believe that there are so many similarities between modern day fashion and the fashion of the renaissance time period. Many differences may be seen between the two, but the similarities are remarkable. Throughout all of time, clothing has been the major representation of social classes. What people wear has always been the distinguishing factor between the wealthy and the poor classes of both the renaissance and current time period. The evolution from time period to time period has been vast, but the fact that what people wear represents what class they reside in is still very prevalent. From the fabrics, jewels, and accessories, you can still see many similarities from the renaissance time period to the current time