1. Renaissance Clothing
By: Sarah Hawk

2. Sumptuary laws
The idea of the sumptuary laws was the notion that people should dress according to their position or status in life. These laws limited the extravagance of lower working orders.
The main restrictions were that no one except the royal family was aloud to wear purple silk, gold cloth, or fur stables.
Dukes wore similar material but only in prescribed clothing for example linings of cloaks. However they must not spend more than £100 per annum on these items of clothing, £100 in Elizabethan times would have been a considerable sum of money.
Also if you carried a sword it could on be a certain length and if it was to long it was to be broken in half.
If someone was caught dressing above their lot in life they usually didn’t go to prison they were just fined.

3. Characteristics
Around the 1490’s costumes became the new kind of style and that is when the Renaissance began.
Upper class fashion was rich, sumptuous materials and elegant styles, and clothes worn by the lower classes were limited and they used only basic materials.
Elizabethans were not allowed to wear what clothes they liked. Their clothing and items of apparel were dictated by the Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws which governed the style and materials worn.

4. Jewelry and Makeup
Queen Elizabeth I set the fashions and as she grew older she more wore elaborate make-up. At one time Queen Elizabeth had contracted small pox which had left some scarring on her face. The heavy white make-up also helped to hide this and maintain her illusion of beauty.
Lower class women were expected to work outside and therefore acquired a tanner complexton.The pale complexion was therefore a sign of wealth and nobility; an immediate identification for a person from the upper classes.
The favored application of the upper classes was a make-up called ceruse, a mixture of white lead and vinegar.
Upper Classes used gold, silver, copper and copper-gilded metals, ivory, jet together with precious and semi-precious stones were used in Elizabethan jewelry. Lower Classes used cheaper alternatives made of glass, bone, horn and even wood were also used.

5. Clothing for Women Under Clothing: Smock Corset Both from clip art
Smock or shift
Hose
Corset or bodice
Farthingale
Stomacher
Petticoat
Forepart
Smock
Corset
Both from clip art

6. Over Clothing:
Gown
Separate sleeves
Ruff
Cloak
Shoes
Hat

7. Clothing for men Under Clothing: Shirt Hose Codpiece Hose Corset Shirt
Both from clip art

8. Over Clothing:
Doublet
Separate sleeves
Breeches
Belt
Ruff
Cloak
Shoes
Hat

9. Bibliography
Elizabethan Era. N/A. March 20, Web. January 16, 2012
R. Scott. Renaissance. N/A Web. January 16, 2012
Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws. N/A. Web. January 17,2012