Part I: Underwear

This is Part I of a series on the various layers in Renaissance clothing. The focus is on European clothing, specifically English, French and Spanish dress.

Why all the layers?
What's the point in wearing the correct undergarments? Why not just wear the outer garments? Nobody will know, or will they? These are good questions. After all, most of us spend significantly less time in historic clothing than did our predecessors. So why bother with something that won't even be seen and just add more layers to an already multi-tiered ensemble?

The above argument is compelling from a certain point of view. If you are recreating historic clothing as the means to another end, then this aspect of living research probably won't interest you. If, however, you want to be historically accurate, underwear is an essential.

Frankly, I fall somewhere into the middle of both sides. I wear period underwear because of the following reasons. First, a smock under a corset significantly decreases chafing. Second, corsets are a pain to wash and a smock will cut down on the number of times you will need to wash an important piece of late period underwear. It's also a real chore to launder historic clothing on a frequent basis, which you will do, if you don't wear your underwear. The proper underwear not only protects your outerwear, but it also protects your accessories. Shirts and partlets perform the same service for ruffs and smocks as shirts do for corsets, gowns and doublets.

And last, the function of underwear or underpinnings during the Tudor through Cavalier periods was to emphasize the wearers social and financial status. Only the very wealthy could afford such amenities as a farthingale, several shirts or many pairs of stockings.

What people were really wearing

Unlike other aspects of historic costuming, period underwear (for both sexes) is probably the most difficult to document. Portraits show only tantalizing glimpses of smocks, peaking over the front line of the bodice. If we are lucky, we find portraits or actual patterns, but sources are fairly sparse.

Observations of extant pieces show that underwear for the nether regions was quite similar for both men and women. It consisted of a garment (similar to long boxer shorts), held closed with a drawstring or laced to the outer clothes, and trimmed with lace or embroidered at the cuffs. Janet Arnold's, Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlocked contains a great picture of two extant pieces of underwear.

A smock or shirt then came next. Smocks were worn by both men and women (although older men tended to wear smocks more). Both the smock and the shirt were essentially long sleeved, minimally tailored, 'T' shaped garments. Most, especially during the early 16th century, had a square neckline or a high neckline complete with collar. Shirts could be worn over the smock, especially in cold weather.

At this point, the well-dressed gentleman was ready for the outer garments. For ladies, however, there were a few more layers.

Coming next issue - Part II: Corsets!

About Author
Laurellen de Brandevin, also known as Tammie L. Dupuis, has been sewing since she was six years old. She holds a degree in Archaeology from Montana State University in Bozeman, MT., where she discovered the S.C.A. Laurellen's first love is Elizabethan clothing, but current projects include a survey of rectangular construction methods encompassing the Eurasian continent and writing her magnum opus, The Renaissance Tailor; Recreating Clothing from the 16th and 17th Centuries. She lives in Seattle, WA with her son (who is already showing an interest in fine clothing) and works mundanely as a graphic designer for a downtown advertising firm.

Laurellen's website, www.vertetsable.com is an ongoing project connected to her book. She can be contacted at laurellen@vertetsable.com.

Bibliography

Costume in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, M. Channing Linthicum. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1936.

Lost from Her Majesties Back, Janet Arnold. Costume Society Extra Series No. 7, 1980.

Patterns of Fashion: c. 1560 -1620, Janet Arnold. MacMillan London Limited, England. 1985

Queen Elizabeths Wardrobe Unlocked, Janet Arnold. W.S. Maney and Son, Ltd., Leeds, England. 1988 Rich and Fantastical and Queen Elizabeth Lectures by Janet Arnold. Vancouver University lecture notes, Sept. 1993

Clothes and the Child: A Handbook of Childrens Dress in England 1500-1900, Anne Buck. Holmes & Meier, N.Y., 1996