Ye Olde Medieval Times - Fashion

[MRPolo13]

I decided that I will run a series of threads that will detail different aspects of Medieval and Early Renaissance times. These threads do not have to be followed at all, but merely provide a sort of "interesting bits and bobs" from the Medieval Era which can easily be applied. I decided to start off with clothing, which a lot of people seem to really misunderstand.

Before I begin talking about clothing, there must be some things I must note;

• As much as we'd love Middle Ages to be all brown and disgusting, reality wasn't quuuite like that. Yes, road systems were rare. And by rare I mean; extremely rare and hardly ever existent, beyond a slightly more flattened grass which in Spring and Autumn turned into a proper swamp, which of course led to mud. However you have to remember that a muddy nobleman is no nobleman, if that makes sense. They would have their clothes cleaned. Even peasants weren't as dirty as you'd wish to imagine. In fact, they were probably healthier than the lords and ladies, since the fashion of "water kills" didn't really strike them as much.

• COLOURS! Colours for God's sakes. This is what my post will be mostly about, actually - colours. There were dyes in Middle Ages. Moreover, you cannot imagine how huge the market on dyes was; the fancier, the better. They were expensive, which is also what my post will be about.
• Furs and leathers. They look awesome, however weigh tonnes. Thing is that I do admit, especially in the low Medieval times, furs were popular. Why? Because they looked good and, more importantly, kept you damn warm. And remember that winters were far colder back then than they are now. Castles didn't have any form of insulation either... However, as I said, they weigh a lot, and if the area is hot and you're desperate to have something hanging off your back, you might as well wear a nice cloak (which were extremely popular. They're very good all-rounders.) And if you still want furs, fur-lined clothes were also a thing, so not to worry.

Right. Let's get this party going.

Because referring to "Middle Ages" as such is hard, since we're talking of most of the globe within a huge space of time (just under 1000 years is quite a lot), and I want to throw in some early Renaissance for good measure, I'll just go through certain bits and bobs, as I just said.

First thing's first, is what was centre, and probably will come as an emphasis at the end. Colours.
An average peasant wore clothes made almost always of either leather or, more commonly, cloth, strapped by a leather belt. They then would wear woollen coat of some sort or a vest. As for legs, they'd have trousers made of similar materials as top and usually shoes or large boots.

But I'm not here to talk about peasants. I'm here to point out the more important, to me and to Role Play, side of Medieval life; nobility. They loved colours, and very much so. We can say that since around 11th century dyes were pumped all over Europe. Reason being was the expansion of chivalry and nobility. A nobleman would want to show how rich he is or how great his coat of arms was by the amount of colours it had. Yellows, blues, reds, golds... All of it. This was represented in, as I said, coat of arms; their banners and especially their clothing. It'd quite often be an explosion of colours and jewellery. Rings and necklaces; golden threads; beautiful patterns; puffy clothes to show that you can afford the material, which themselves weren't cheap; you name it. If you want to be seen as rich, you have to SHOW you're rich. Just as now people wear suits from different brands, back then they'd show impressiveness through the amount of colours and quality of materials. Here are some images to have a break, and have a KitKat.

This was a very brief overview... I did it because people have been dressing too gloomily, and I heard them commenting as to why my characters wear brightly (yes, there is a more historically accurate reason than "it looks fanshy :3")

This is a fun page though;
http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-clothing/medieval-noble-clothing.htm

 

[Valonyx]

Arcturus~ wearing bright and shinies since 2012!

 

[MRPolo13]

One thing I liked about Arcturus is the colours, actually.

 

[Michcat]

+1 to Polo

 

[Faelin]

Yes.

 

[Kvothe]

More of this~.

 

[MRPolo13]

I was tired, not as much details as I wanted to throw in... Might update this before moving on

 

[bodejodel]

You've probably seen these:

Bad clothes:

 

[The_Sultan]

There where many class's in medieval times than peasant and a noblemen, peasants where the lowest they where like slaves, but there where also burghers, freemen, yeomen, and gentry etc.

 

[MRPolo13]

You've probably seen these:

Bad clothes:

I have indeed, but remember that what he shows here is battle equipment, and what I present are every day clothes. Furs were worn, and worn a lot. That can be supported by the amount of historical sources that contain furs in them. However, it's stupid to assume that anyone would wear furs in a battle environment for looks, or anything at all (though, for instance, Polish Hussars often wore carnivore pelts. However, they were a heavy cavalry formation, not foot infantry). Same applies for cloaks. There were couple of (usually cavalry or elite) units throughout history which wore cloaks into battle, such as Praetorians of Ancient Rome. However, these were rare, because as I said, cloaks are also pretty impractical for warfare.

There where many class's in medieval times than peasant and a noblemen, peasants where the lowest they where like slaves, but there where also burghers, freemen, yeomen, and gentry etc.

I fully agree. There were many, maaany classes in Medieval society. However, I generalised this post greatly. If you think about it though, as far as clothing is concerned, you can really break it up into "Peasant's" and "Noble's". That's because as soon as a member of the middle class society got rich enough to afford clothing, they would buy clothing that would resemble that of nobility, even if made of far cheaper materials. Consider the richest dukes and princes sort of celebrities. If you can afford it, you'll try to dress as them (I mean, I won't, because I'm a hipster... You get the point though ).