Tudor Costume
ROOMS 2 & 3
In the Tudor and Jacobean period the type of clothes a person wore was seen as a
true reflection of his or her position in life. By the 1550s England became known
as the place where a man’s clothes, rather than his birth, defined the status of a
‘gentleman’. Textiles were extremely expensive and were probably a person’s most
costly and prized possessions. The majority of the portraits in the Long Gallery
and its side rooms depict sitters associated with the court and demonstrate the
changing fashions worn by wealthier members of society.
The Court of Henry VIII
(Room 2)
In this period men’s costume was characterised
by an exaggerated masculinity, with wide
shoulders tapering to narrow hips and a
padded codpiece. The portrait of Henry VIII
gives a good idea of the sense of width and
mass that was created. Portraits of statesmen
and professionals, such as Sir William Butts
and Sir William Petre, often appear dressed
in black. Black cloth was extremely expensive
due to the amount of dye needed to make a
true black. It was worn by such men both for
its sober qualities and, often trimmed with
expensive fur, as a way of displaying wealth
without appearing ostentatious.
Records of the royal wardrobe show that both
Henry VIII and Katherine Parr owned many
crimson, black and white items, as seen in
their portraits. Henry was particularly fond of
jewellery and owned more than any previous
king: the jewel-encrusted clothing in his
portrait features ruby and diamond clasps,
sleeves stitched with rubies, and a bonnet
ornamented with a number of jewelled hat
badges.
The basic components of women’s dress
consisted of a bodice, skirt (kirtle) and
gown. Katherine Parr’s bonnet borrows from
masculine fashions and is similar to that worn
by Henry VIII. The queen’s bodice and sleeves
are typical of the taste for embroidering
with gold braid or cord over a dark ground,
in this case of costly scarlet damask with
an embroidered design that includes a
Tudor rose.
Detail of Henry VIII (NPG 496) showing a gold clasp
with a ruby and diamonds – Room 2
Detail of Katherine Parr‘s (NPG 4618) bodice showing
the embroidered design of a Tudor rose – Room 2
Tudor Costume
Elizabethan England
(Room 3)
In the reign of Elizabeth I, courtly dress was
characterised by an overblown, dramatic
quality, which emphasised and distorted the
shape of the body. Both male and female dress
was subject to the same areas of exaggeration,
namely the neck, arms and hips. The ruff,
which had begun as a frilled edge to a shirt,
had become a separate accessory. With the
introduction of starch in the 1560s ruffs
began to assume enormous proportions, as
can be seen in the portrait of Elizabeth I
with its large, lace-trimmed example.
The queen also holds a feather fan. These
fashionable accessories had been introduced
to England from Italy in the early sixteenth
century. Fans were expensive and a sign of
high social status, but were also durable as
the feathers in their jewelled handles could
be replaced.
Above: Elizabeth I (NPG 2471) – Room 3
Right: Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester,
(NPG 247) and detail showing the ‘Greater George’
pendant of the Order of the Garter, with St George
of horseback – Room 3
For men the basic elements of dress consisted
of a shirt, doublet, hose (short trousers) and
cloak or gown. Male dress lost the assertive
shape it had acquired in the reign of Henry
VIII and became more effeminate and better
suited to dancing and the chivalric rituals of
courtly life. For example, in the portrait of
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, the
globe-like silhouette of his trunk hose gives
them a feminine, skirted appearance and the
doublet is close-fitting, like a woman’s bodice.
The doublet is shaped to the waist with an
artificially curved point known as a ‘peascod
belly’ (so-called as it resembled the shape of
a pea pod), also seen in the armour of Sir
Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex and
Sir Edward Hoby.
Robert Dudley demonstrates his allegiance to
Elizabeth I by wearing black and white, colours
associated with the queen. Other portraits
demonstrate the sitters’ loyalty to Elizabeth
through clothing and jewellery. William Cecil,
1st Baron Burghley, wears the robes, collar
and pendant of the Noble Order of the Garter
while Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex,
wears a Garter medal. There were (and still are)
only twenty five Garter knights, appointed by
the monarch as a mark of royal favour.