Rosalie's Medieval Woman - About Medieval Clothes

About Medieval Women's Clothes

These pages look at information about medieval women's clothing.

They cover what buying options were available and to whom, custom made clothing, the way clothes were cleaned and stored, what the clothes were called, a look at interpreting costume when depicted in historical art and the laws made by royalty which governed what the rest of the population could and couldn't wear, down to the fabric and furs which could and couldn't be used and by whom. These laws were known as Sumptuary Laws.

The pages which look at aspects of women's clothing generally are as follows:

acquiring clothes
Clothes for the classes: Peasant, Working Class, Merchant Class and Noblewomen. New or secondhand? Custom made or off the rack?

clothes from historical art
Interpreting contemporary artworks to make medieval clothes today.

sumptuary laws
Clothing regulations for different classes.

glossary of clothing names
What's that clothing or accessory called?

clothing care
Care, storage and laundering techniques of medieval clothes.

Copyright © Rosalie Gilbert
All text & photographs within this site are the property of Rosalie Gilbert unless stated.
Art & artifact images remain the property of the owner.
Images and text may not be copied and used without permission.