Tudor clothes

1. Tudor clothes

2. How do we know what the Tudors wore? • There are many paintings of Tudors especially the Tudor king and queens. By studying these paintings we can see what clothes were worn by the Tudors, especially rich Tudor people.

3. Tudor England is famous for its beautiful and ornate clothing, particularly during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. • She was very fond of clothes and is said to have left over 2,000 decorated dresses hanging in her wardrobe when she died. • Why do you think clothes were important to her? What do they say about her?

4. Women’s clothes • Head dress • Corset - stiffened with wood to flatten all lumps and bumps. • Gown - split at the front to reveal the kirtle. Sleeves were either sewn in or tied on. • Kirtle - the main underskirt, coloured at the front.

5. Men’s clothes • Hat • Doublet – tight-fitting jacket that was stuffed and then quilted. • Coat • Breeches – tied at the knee with laces.

6. Did everyone wear the same clothes? • The clothes of the wealthy were decorated with jewels and embroidered with gold thread. • Middle class people like traders and craftsmen wore plainer versions of these outfits. • Poor people wore simple, loose-fitting clothes made from woolen cloth.

7. Life in Wales • Many of the Welsh people were sheep farmers. • They turned the sheep’s wool into clothes for themselves and also sold cloth to English merchants. • Sometimes the English treated the Welsh badly, making them sell their cloth to English merchants at very low prices.

8. Your task • Design yourself a Tudor costume.