Elizabethan Clothes

Elizabethan clothes were patterned on the fashions and tastes of Queen Elizabeth herself. Elizabeth I became the first Queen to define an age alone instead of a family dynasty. Instead of the Stuart or Tudor dynasty age, Queen Elizabeth came to define her own age and other monarchs would follow such as the Georgian period of the 1700s, the Victorian period of the Victorian period and the Edwardian era of the early twentieth century. Some Elizabethan clothes transcended gender. For instance, the ruff which was a frilly color that was attachable at the back of the neck. In the spirit of renaissance style, slits were used on sleeves and dresses to show contrasting colors.

Pale skin and lighter hair became the Elizabethan ideal. Women would dye their hair blonde using cumin seed, celandine and saffron mixed with oil. Queen Elizabeth wore many wigs along with using face makeup to make her skin pale as possible. Elizabethan fashion was home to some of the most bombastic dress in European fashion history; however, there were rules. Dress codes were called the Sumptuary Laws. Your social station determined what you could wear and even what color was acceptable. Ermine was for royalty while lower nobles wore furs such as fox or otter. Gold cloth could be worn by female relatives of the Queen along with countesses, marquises and duchesses. However, baronesses and viscountesses were barred from wearing those colors. Elizabethan clothes for women were some of the most rigid and confining of any age.