Overview
The migrating Germanic peoples brought their own dress; wool and linen were spun at home, and jewellery marked rank.
Key garments and style
Men wore a knee-length tunic, leg-coverings or bindings, and a cloak pinned at the shoulder. Women wore a long undergown and overgown — early on with paired shoulder brooches, later with a veil or headcloth — and the wealthy used embroidery and gold thread, Anglo-Saxon needlework already being prized.
Transition
The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought continental fashions and a new aristocratic style.