Fashion at the European Conquest

Published: July 28, 2026 · Updated: July 28, 2026

At the European conquest, Spanish and Indigenous dress clashed: the conquerors in armour and doublets, the Inca people keeping their traditional textile dress, as conquest and disease gravely damaged that world.

Fashion at the European Conquest — Author: Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala — Atahualpa and Pizarro (c. 1615) Public domain Source

Overview

In the conquest from the 1520s, two worlds of dress met and clashed violently.

Key garments and style

The Spanish conquerors brought Western clothing — armour, the doublet, the brimmed hat. Andean people still kept the traditional tunic and mantle, but the textile wealth of the ruling class was plundered, and dress suffered with the collapse of society.

Transition

In the colonial era, under Spanish caste society, dress became a mark of rule and resistance.

History of this period

European conquest 1524–1572