Medieval Wedding Garb - Fashions of the 1400s

15th-Century Fashion


Burgundian court costume significantly influenced 15th-century fashion.

There was an immense variety of styles in vogue during the late 15th-century (c. 1450-1490). Distinctive fashions for men and women are discussed below, but for both sexes, fashions were elaborate, and were characterized by:

• exaggeration (very broad padded shoulders, very long pointed shoes, very high hats, etc.)
• stiffness of fabric arrangements and lines
• rich colors (main: gold, black, deep blue, green, red, russet; accent: white, grey) 
• wool fabrics with bold prints - pomegranates and artichoke motifs were popular
• fur linings and trimmings
• gathering and pleating, especially the use of cartridge pleats
• slashing (a decorative technique that involved making small cuts on the outer fabric of a garment in order to reveal the inner garment or lining)

Ladies' Fashion

The essential garb for women of the late 15th century consisted of modest dresses with immensely long and full skirts which trailed on the ground both in front and in back. The silhouette of these dresses (shown above) was quite uniform: they were seamed at the waist, with the skirt gathered onto the bodice, had tight sleeves with fur cuffs, V-shaped or heart-shaped necklines filled with a small stomacher or inset chemisette, turn-over collars, and wide belts.

Popular artichoke motif.

The diversity of women's fashion largely consisted in the variety of headdresses that were worn:

• butterfly head-dress, consisting of a veil covering a truncated steeple. The "butterfly" effect was achieved by using stiffened fabric supported by wires.

           

• forked head-dress, a development of the earlier heart-shaped head-dress in which the points of the padded roll are drawn closer together at the top

           

• steeple head-dress (or hennin) with veils of varying lengths, sometimes worn with frontlets (caps made of wire netting which passed over the head and allowed a small loop to show on the forehead), as shown in two left-hand figures below.

         

         
         Truncated steeple hennin with rich embroidery.

• horned head-dress

         

In England and France, women hid their hair under these head-dresses (even scraping it off the forehead and neck!) until the end of the century, when it became popular to wear hair loosely down the back, or in a jeweled net, styles that had been in vogue earlier in Italy. More information about hairstyles is available here.


Florentine noblewoman with loosely flowing hair in first half of 15th century.

Women of this period accessorized with elaborate and heavy necklaces.

Lords' Fashion




Essential garb for men in the late 15th century included:

• jaunty hats, which appeared in an "infinite variety of shapes" (Houston, 1939), including turbans
• the paltock (or pourpoint): an exceptionally short tunic, often reaching no more than a few inches below the waist, with extremely broad padded shoulders and a slim waist. The pomegranate pattern (shown at right, above) was characteristic of the period, as was the high collar with broad opening.

  

• long coats and tunics, worn by all ages, but especially popular among middle-aged and older men

         
          
          Two men in paltocks greet a distinguished man in a long tunic; Bold colors and designs in paltocks and tunics.

• very short circular cloaks fastened on one shoulder
• hose (or chausses): what we would call "a pair of tights"
• crakows (or poulaines, poleyns): very long and pointed shoes

Men sported waved hair, and commonly wore a dagger (or anelace) hanging from their belt.


Details from metal ornaments.

References

• Houston, Mary G. 1939. Medieval costume in England & France, the 13th, and 14th and 15th centuries. Relevant chapter