Home > Workshops & Articles > Costuming Myths: Busted

The following info was updated again, and presented at the Renaissance Symposium in Modesto, CA on February 20-21, 2010. It has been presented at RenSymp San Jose 2007, and The Tudor Rose Fresno workshop in 2006. I am providing this information on the Internet so that others can learn from this workshop as well.

There are various costuming myths I have heard about over the years I've been involved in the Renaissance Faire community (since 1987). I have since learned that such costuming myths are often perpetuated because people didn't know any better, or it was simply handed down as an easy way to do things. Perhaps people didn't want to learn better, or maybe they didn't have the time to research, or perhaps they knew the historical reality, but made specific choices for theatrical reasons. Sometimes in the renaissance community we make costume decisions because that is what the audience expects us to wear, or the theatrical or costume director has chosen a specific look for their event. The information I provide here is not intended to replace any decisions of faire boards or renaissance guilds in their costuming decisions. It is hoped that there will be an understanding of the reality of historical garment information, vs. the theatrical decisions an organization may make for their own reasons.

For my workshop, I chose the costuming myths I felt were common to deal with as I had limited time of an hour to present my research. There are a few more myths on my list that will be dealt with in the future, and I am sure there are more myths out there. If you have a costume myth you don't see here that you would like to see clarified, please contact me and tell me about it.

This is not intended to be a final word on any of the myths. Research is ongoing, both personally and in the world of costuming. New information can illuminate and explain these myths better over time, and may even bust some of my own conclusions. The best thing you can do is do some research yourself, ask questions, look at the images of the period, and learn from the mistakes of others, and your own... that is how I learned.

The confirming information is info I have learned over the years from various sources, including just looking at a number of images of the time, or reading from various books and even online sites. I have listed a few books for you to start from on this page, as well as links to various web sites that have provided the bulk of the images I have used. Some images were scanned from books I own, and if they are not already cited, they will be as soon as I can update the info.

WARNING: Some images are large in file size, and may take a while to load if you are on a dial-up modem.

Bibliography:

Arnold, Janet. Patterns of Fashion. The cut and construction of clothes for men and women c1560-1620. New York, NY: Drama Book, 1985. ISBN 0333382846.

Buck, Stephanie. Masters of German Art: Hans Holbein. Cologne, Germany: Könemann, 1999. ISBN 3829025831.

Cunnington, C. Willet & Phillis Cunnington. Handbook of English Costume in the 16th Century. Boston: Plays, Inc., 1970. ISBN 0823800814.

Hearn, Karen Ed. Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England 1530-1630. New York, NY: Rizzoli, 1995. ISBN 084781940x.

Roberts-Jones, Philippe and Françoise. Pieter Bruegel. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0810935317

Strong, Roy. Artists of the Tudor Court. The Portrait Miniature Rediscovered 1520-1620. Great Britain, The Victoria & Albert Museum, 1983. ISBN 0905209346.

Williams, Neville. All the Queen's Men, Elizabeth I and Her Courtiers. New York, NY: The MacMillan Company, 1972. ISBN not given. Library of Congress Catalog Card number: 72-84882.

Other Image Sources:

The Morgan Library. http://www.morganlibrary.org.

• Bening, Simon. The DeCosta Hours. (last accessed March 22, 2006).
• Poyet, Jean. The Hours of Henry VIII Illuminated. (accessed March 6, 2006; updated March 4, 2007).

Tudor and Elizabeth Portraits. http://www.elizabethan-portraits.com (last accessed Feb 22, 2010).

The Web Gallery of Art. http://www.wga.hu (last accessed March 23, 2006).

Wikimedia Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (last accessed March 23, 2006).

• Category:Pieter Bruegel d. Ä.
• Hans Holbein der Jüngere

Other Online Sites of Interest:

Elizabethan Costume Page: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/

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