Elizabethan Era Lower Class Clothing and Fashion

Brightly colored strips of cloth swoosh by in the hustle and bustle of today, and fashionably cut leather fits the perfect form of an otherwise bare and homely foot. Rough denim with holes, patches, and splattered substances consume the wardrobes of men and women, adults and adolescents alike; while the competitive, esteemed, sassy and some-what risky market of fashion has its hold on the people, young and old, of America and the world, for that matter.

Throughout high schools, busy streets, and even that of small book and coffee shops, fashion thrives.  It is the initial analysis of a person’s character, mindset, and interests available to any passerby who cares to observe.  From a black t-shirt that reads “I'm with stupid” to the small pink poka dotted blouse with a thin lace cami underneath, clothes are the first impression that many take great measures to impact, or for the less self-aware to discard.

However, this cohesion of tastes, or this epidemic (as some would refer to it) is not a newly habitual phenomena.  Fashion, or the lack there of, has survived many hundreds of years and will continue to  persuade. 

The Elizabethan era was one time period in particular with a greatly developed system of rules and regulations that governed the accomplished man or woman and their styles.  Imagine being covered with long stiff strips of brightly colored cloth and elaborately decorated with jewels, stones, precious metals, lace, and anything remotely associated with worth that would put your best outfit to a lifetime of shame.  Imagine this and then one might have a glimpse of the expected extravagance of the elite men and women of the Elizabethan era.  The lower classes usually did not partake in these luxuries, settling on a great deal less.

One goal for women was to accentuate the flattering parts of the body usually to a questionable extent, thus the establishment of corsets and the likes. The underwear was simply a type of nightgown called a chemise that was covered with either a kirtle, for the less fortunate, or a secession of petticoats and a corset for individuals with a great deal more money.  The kirtle consisted of a dress with no sleeves and was engulfed in a gown that was the extent of a lower class woman's wardrobe.  The sleeves would then be pinned on to the gown and would complete the look.

However, the upper classes may have had other pieces of clothing like the bumroll, which allowed the gown to protrude further out around the hips; their gowns were also exceedingly more elegant than that of lower classes, with invisible seams, lace, puffy sleeves, and inventive folds such as the opening at the front of the gown to reveal petticoats.   A popular style was the farthingale, where upper class women would have a structure that resembled a large plate around their hips, and the dress would cover this, falling straight down.  Under the several layers of skirts and gowns were knee high stockings and perhaps some drawers.  Collars were exaggerated to comical extents, and hair was always pulled back and rarely uncovered.  These fashions would consume the minds of lady’s in the eighteenth century and would create a long and vicious cycle of consecutive battles between the best dressed.

Though the thought of undertaking such a challenge as to get dressed as a woman in the sixteenth century may set your mind to endless spinning, a man in this age was spared the mind boggling experience.  Usually dressed in a doublet, or stuffed and quilted garment, jerkin, a sleeveless   knee length outer wear, and hose, tight pants resembling stockings,  men were much better off than women when it came to comfort.  Puffed sleeves were quite the trend and collars like the women were preferred high.  The variations of doublet, jerkins, and hose were varied according to class and location but all maintained the basic structure.