Fashion in the Time of William Shakespeare

Garments and accessories are prominent in almost all of William Shakespeare's plays, from Hamlet and Othello to A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. The statement 'Clothes maketh the man' was one that would have resonated with their audiences: the rise of England's merchant class had made issues of rank central to Elizabethan debate, and a rigid table of sumptuary laws carefully regulated the sorts of fabric and garment worn by the different classes. From the etiquette of courtly dress to the evolution of the Elizabethan ruff, in this vibrant introduction Sarah Jane Downing explores the sartorial world of the late-16th century, why people wore the clothes they did, and how the dizzyingly eclectic range of fashions (including ruffs, rebatos and French farthingales) transformed over time.

Sarah Jane Downing is a freelance writer. She has written widely about the arts, contributing to national and local magazines and newspapers.

Wool, Glorious Wool Queen and Court Indecent Bosoms and Bum Rolls An Insouciant Cloak and a Shapely Thigh Ruffs and Rebatos Pageantry, Masque and Theatre Further Reading Places to Visit Index