The Tudor and Elizabethan era spanned many decades, in fact it touched across three centuries from 1485 through to 1603. During the Tudor and Elizabethan era there were certain stipulations when it came to dress and fashion that were put in place so as to ensure that the class structure remained intact and overspending on luxury items was monitored. For the very wealthy, fabrics like silk, damask, satin, velvet and taffeta were popular. For the extremely wealthy garments made out of gold and silver thread were used or decorated with gems as seen for example in an image of Queen Elizabeth I in the year 1590.
The choice of colour of fabric in the Tudor and Elizabethan times was a way of letting others know about your social status and financial situation. During the Tudor and Elizabethan eras bright colours were favoured as these were the most expensive. For example, one way to dye an item of clothing a purple colour was by extracting the colour from an ant. As you can imagine it would take a lot of ants to extract enough of the colour and therefore it became an expensive colour to be seen in! During the Tudor and Elizabethan eras colours also came to take on meaning and represented certain attributes - for example white came to symbolise something pure and red came to symbolise power whereas black was a symbol for darkness and sadness. During the Tudor and Elizabethan era, no matter your social status or financial situation, all dresses were worn long to the floor or to at least the ankles and it was considered very beautiful to have a small waist. Skirts were full and placed under the skirt would be a piece of padded material to create an even fuller look behind.
The Tudor and Elizabethan people did truly love to create an impact through their dress and fashions and today there are many who have taken up a great passion in learning more about this fascinating era with a focus on Tudor and Elizabethan costumes. Weston Super Mare based Farthingale Costumes have been established as a family run business since the year 1988 specialising in the creation of authentic and true to life historical costumes including Tudor and Elizabethan costumes. Weston Super Mare based we supply to museums, re-enactors and television and have a large number of private clients and collectors. Are you interested in Tudor and Elizabethan costumes? Western Super Mare based Farthingale Costumes would be very glad to hear from you. We are on hand to answer any questions you might have and encourage you to also take a look at our website where you will find a wealth of information on all of our costumes including Tudor and Elizabethan costumes. Weston Super Mare based Farthingale Costumes look forward to hearing from you. Details of how to best get in touch along with our location details near Weston Super Mare can be found on our website.
