Overview
Court dress grew stiff and architectural, shaped with buckram, boning and the farthingale; sumptuary laws reserved fabrics and colours such as purple and cloth of gold for the highest ranks.
Key garments and style
Men wore a doublet, a jerkin, padded trunk hose and, later, the tall ruff; women wore a boned bodice over a farthingale-shaped skirt, with a ruff and often a French hood. Black — from costly dye — and rich embroidery signalled status, and the Elizabethan silhouette was the style’s peak.
Transition
Under the Stuarts the stiff ruff gave way to softer collars and the looser Cavalier style.