Tudor Costume

Tudor Costuming 1509 – 1558
Some great research into Tudor (by Tudor I am generally speaking of the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I 1509 – 1558) clothing has been done in the last few years.  The most notably has been from Ninya Mikhaila & Jane Malcom-Davies and their books The Tudor Tailor & The King’s Servants. This is what I have put together, but I always suggest doing your own research and looking at other websites and books. Of course if you have access to period garments that is ideal, but most of us do not so a lot of it is conjecture from portraits and statues along with trial and error.

I will be discussing Noble or Upper Class garments. You can see a prime example of Tudor style gown to the right in Master John’s portrait of Catherine Parr. She has the smooth conical bodice and the split bell shaped skirt complete with forepart. The things that identify this look from the Elizabethan, are the very wide square neckline, the classic turned back bell sleeves and the large stiffened foresleeves with fabric poufs.

Much like Elizabethan women’s clothing, there were several layers. For the upper class with a shilouette such as Catherine Parr to the right, this is the basic skin out layering:

Look at this close up image below of Margaret (Henry VIII’s oldest sister who became Queen of Scotland) Tudor’s bodice. You can see the sheer line of the smock, a red bodice, a open brown bodice then the bodice of her gown. This supports the theory posed by the Tudor Tailor that the petticoat had a bodice as well. The Tudor Tailor suggests that most petticoats had bodices of some sort that they were attached to, even if it was little more than shoulder straps.  A kirtle is basically a fitted and sometimes stiffened bodice that has an attached skirt. This is probably the pre-cursor to the separate piece that we today call a corset (in period they would have been called a pair of bodies, later stays, and then a corset).

Now there seems to be several differences in opinion on whether Tudor women had separate corsets (or any stiffened upper undergarment) or even if they wore no corsets at all. From the portraits I’ve seen, I do believe there to be some sort of stiffened upper garment. Now if this was a boned or buckram stiffened kirtle, or a separate corset, I can’t tell. If you look at the evolution of the women’s fashion from the medieval era, the look changed from looser, natural look, into the very smooth and conical shapes of the Tudor and Elizabethan eras (See the great research and images from  Kimko Small). From my own experience and others, it is very difficult to get the top layer to sit completely flat like we see in this Holbein portrait of Lady Mary Guildford to the upper left, without some sort of stiffening (see Jen’s Florentine Dress Diary to see her trials with a corded corset to eliminate wrinkles while keeping a more natural Italian line, which I believe shows that to get the really straight Tudor line, even more stiffening is required.).

The very early Tudor line didn’t appear to have very much stiffening to the skirt (see Holbein Sketch right), but later on, the Spanish Farthingale, which was very bell shaped (See Catherine Parr above right & Mary Dudley Sidney left), was adopted and was used through until the end of Elizabeth’s reign. Tudor farthingales (hoop skirts) are a bell shape, that is smaller than even the later Elizabethan styles, and no where near as large as civil war (see ad left) and modern hoop skirts. See the civil war fashions next to the tudor portrait on the left. The Tudor gown is about 1/2 the size of the 19th century dress. So more than likely you will have to make your own or buy a farthingale made for early period costume. A slightly later (1580s) period pattern for a farthingale exists from Juan de Alcega. Instructions for it can be found on the Renaissance Tailor website & on the Elizabethan Costuming website.

The Tudor smock is a square necked thin linen smock which really is a t-tunic with side gores. The smock didn’t change shape from the Tudor through the late 18th century. A great smock pattern is at the Elizabethan Costume website. There are several smocks in Patterns of Fashion 4, 2 are for women from the mid to late 16th century, Drea’s is a good pattern to make ones like the ones in PoF4.

Two major hats women wore in the Tudor era were the Gable Hood and the French Hood. The gable hood completely covered the head and had 3 angles like a gable of a house. You can see the rolls at the front edge are of a overlapping fabric, that is not hair. With the French Hood however, you can see parted hair down either side of the head, and the jeweled hood behind it. French Hoods are not quite as simple as they appear and should never be made with a sun visor. I’m not going to go into them here, but there are two very good websites explaining the layers that go into a French Hood, Lynn McMaster’s website and Sarah Lorraine Goodman’s website.

I will be discussing Noble or Upper Class garments. Now I have not done much research on Tudor Men’s clothing, but here is a basic rundown. Men’s garments appeared to be:

During the Tudor Era, the emphasis was on the manly, muscular, shape. Broad shoulders, a barrel chest, large biceps and great sculpted calves. During the height of King Henry VIII’s reign men wore a large, almost obscene codpiece which evolved from a triangular flap in the medieval era. By the end of the Elizabethan era, the button fly had almost completely replaced the codpiece.

During Edward VI’s reign, men’s fashion changed very little from his father’s era, as he wanted to portray the look and image that he was his father’s son, and as such could wield power as he did. Of course, Edward was only 9 years old when his father died and he became King of England. He died 7 years later at the very young age of 16 before his regency was over, leaving the country to his cousin Jane Grey, who was overthrown by the rightful Queen, Edward’s oldest sister, Mary.

Brocades, embroidery & jewels were not reserved for the women. Many men wore multiple rings. Puffing and slashing (as you can see extensive use on Henry’s doublet top left) gave great visual texture. Most of the coats I could see in paintings were lined in a sumptuous fur, both a warmth factor and a symbol of wealth. Hats were a great piece to showcase 1 nice pin, or cover with jewels. Most had the same kind of flat cap (?) and almost all that I could find were black. And to emphasize the square, broad look of the Tudor man, even the shoes were not pointed or rounded as we have seen in earlier periods, and could be slashed with fabric puffs pulled through, or just decoratively pinked.

Patterns

Here are some of the best patterns that I know of for Tudor (as opposed to Elizabethan) garb. Each has it’s plusses and minuses.

	Tudor Tailor Book (plus you can order the patterns from the company if you don’t want to scale them up from the book) and the King’s Servant’s (awesome new book by the same company focusing on 1500-10) These books are awesome.
	Margo Anderson’s Historic Costume Patterns The Tudor Lady’s WardrobeThe most excellent pattern with great sizing and all the pieces you need, except a farthingale. The instruction manual is a BOOK, with great historical notes by Kimiko Small.
	Simplicity 2621 & 2589 The pattern isn’t half bad, but I don’t know how much “ease” it adds for the modern person, which really shouldn’t be there for period pieces.
	Reconstructing History 601, 602 & 604, 605 Use with extreme caution. The sizing is horrible on these patterns, and I have the original 601 & 602 which have little to no instructions.

Tudor Worthwhile Links

The Tudor Costume Page
Book: The Tudor Tailor
A Gentlewoman’s Tudor Research
Tudor Dress: A portfolio of images
Elizabethan and Tudor Portraits
Clair’s 1530′s Dress Diary