On their legs, Tudor men would wear hose which were tight trousers that covered the feet. Tudor doublets were cut to show off men's legs dressed in their colourful hose. Modern hosiery is typically held up by elastane, but in the past, garters were used to keep the hose in place by tying them around the leg. The girdle finished off the body. It went around the waist and could be like a ribbon or made of precious stones strung together. Just like all Tudor men, Henry wore hose. His were typically made of velvet or silk and were dyed a variety of colours like white, crimson and green. He would also like to have them match his shoes too. The Tudors Word Mat– A lovely Tudors Word Mat featuring lots of Tudor related images including different types of clothes with the correct terminology underneath. This resource is great for use as a visual aid during individual writing exercises. As much of what historians know about Tudor clothes has come from portraits from the period less is known about what poor people wore as they were less likely to have paintings of themselves. As Tudor clothes were made of only natural fibres those that were not cared for or became buried over time will have biodegraded leaving no clues about how they were made or how they were worn.

At Fashion-Era.com we analyse two centuries of women’s costume history and fashion history silhouettes in detail. Regency, Romantic, Victorian, Edwardian, Flapper,1940’s Utility Rationing, Dior’s New Look, 1960’s Mini dress, 1970’s Disco, 1980’s New Romantics, Power Dressing, Haute Couture, Royal Robes, Fashion Semiotics, and Body Adornment, each retro fashion era, and future fashion trends are all defined.In all this I am taking no account of the German fashions, which I must describe separately. Look at the drawings I have made of the German fashion. I find that they leave me dumb - mere man has but a limited vocabulary when the talk comes to clothes - and these dresses that look like silk pumpkins, blistered and puffed and slashed, sewn in ribs, swollen, and altogether so queer, are beyond the furious dashes that my pen makes at truth and millinery. Henry VIII, one of England’s most famous monarchs, was a member of the Tudor dynasty that ruled England from 1485 to 1603. A padded hoop worn around the waist to widen the skirts at the hip area, causing the skirt to drape.

One of the women brings forward a number of attires of false hair, golden and red, and from these the Queen chooses one. It is a close periwig of tight red curls, among which pearls and pieces of burnished metal shine. With great care this wig is fastened on to the Queen's head, and she watches the process with her bright eyes and still features in the great mirror.

Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits

Zips, press-studs, velcro and even buttons didn't exist in England in the sixteenth century, so the Tudors clothes were held together by strings which were tied together. Some items of Tudor clothing even required stitching or pinning every day. This provided a good, secure hold which couldn't be seen but which could be undone at the end of each day. This is the origin of the word pinafore, as maid's would keep the pins used to fasten their lady's clothes in the front of their apron. What Materials Were Used to Make Tudor Clothes? The colours of Tudor clothes were subject to laws which said who could wear which colours. Sumptuary laws dictated that only the royal family could wear purple (which remains a colour associated with royalty today). Helpful Teaching Resources The final item of clothing was the hood. All women covered their hair first with a linen cap and then the rich would place a decorative hood on top of this. Hood shapes changed with fashion and were usually dictated by what the Queen was wearing. Take a look at the different women who married Henry VIII to see how hood fashions came and went. Styles included the French hood, the English hood (also known as the gable because of its shape). Catherine of Aragon (left) wore an English hood, and Anne Boleyn (right) wore a French hood.

Men and women dressed very differently - though there were some similarities between male and female Tudor clothes.The farthingale was followed by the kirtle. The kirtle was a dress made up of a skirt and bodice - another dress with arms would go over this. Both the skirt and bodice were decorative as they were parts of the clothing that would be seen. The kirtle would include a front panel of fabulous material in a colour which complemented the main fabric. Famous for his furious temper and tendency to execute anyone and everyone that angered him, including his own wives, it’s clear it was important to him that he made an impression. He had the privy council, a gang that were around him, and he created that because he wanted to remove himself from the privy chamber, which was a lot more advisors. He saw them as threats because they were all landed gentry. So he created this gang, and because they were all traders’ sons, they didn't own land, which meant they couldn't take his crown. And they literally wiped his ass. They looked after him, they washed him, they fed him, they cleaned him. They did everything. So we cast a group of actors I'd worked with before on stage. So I knew them all very, very, very well. And we had this immediate gang, so we went everywhere together on set. Heavily starched and elaborately pleated ruffs were fashionable throughout the period. A specialist laundress was employed to clean the ruff daily. These laws dictated who was allowed to wear which materials and styles during Tudor time. This was nothing new - there were laws just as strict during the Medieval period in England. For example, only Henry VIII was allowed to wear certain furs, and only the monarch was allowed to wear purple. This is because clothes were such a status symbol during Tudor times. What were Henry VIII’s clothes like?