Medieval Dress

1. Medieval Dress By Sarah Becker and Elizabeth White

2. Upper Class: Women • Clothes were often layered with tunics, overtunics, and cloaks • Women would wear kirtles, or tunics that went to the ankles, and over their shirts • The elaborate gowns worn by queens were made by attaching tubes of fabric at the shoulders. • Wimples, which are cloth headdresses, covered the head and neck • False Hair was used in order to make braids longer

3. Kirtle Wimple

4. Upper Class: Men • Because of the short tunics, men wore hose in order to be modest • A gipon, which is shaped closely to the body, has no collar, a round neckline, buttons or lacing down the front, and ends above the knees, replaced the tunic in the later years. • A pourpoint was worn as an outer garment that tight fitted in the chest and waist. • Later, a collar that reached to the ears was added to the pourpoint called a carcaille • Wide balloon-shaped or sack-shaped sleeves were also very popular

5. Gipon Pourpoint

6. Lower Class • The style of clothing worn was greatly influenced on the person’s status • The lower class wore fabric of broadcloth and wool instead of the velvet and satin worn by the upper class • Most of the clothing worn by both men and women were simple tunics and dresses that were loose fitting in order to allow room to grow in • Fashion of the lower class rarely changed since most clothes were handed down through the family

8. Children: Girls • Children of wealthier families were often dressed like adults • Like women, girls wore a kirtle as underwear • A cote-hardie, which is tight fitting, has a low neckline, and long sleeves with attachments called tippets or streamers. • Coifs and veils were worn as hats • Hair was similar to boys and sometimes was curled above the ears

9. Cote-hardie

10. Children: Boys • Boys wore loose fitted pants with belts • Like men, boys wore giponswith three-quarter length sleeves and hose • Cloaks and thigh length capes with hoods were worn as outer wear • Shoes had ankle straps with a cut out design on the top of the shoe and were pointed • Gloves and swords were worn as accessories