Middle Class - Women

Gentlewomen

Head

A common phrase heard at ren faire is “Cover thy head, woman.” While this is obnoxious, it bears an essential truth. A hat, always have a hat! On your head or in your hand, always have a hat. Don’t be caught without one.

Hats

The upper end of our echelon would never be so déclassé as to wear a laborer’s straw hat! Such things are for the laborers in our fields! Be that as it may, they are frightfully comfortable in the August heat and can be made to look amazing with some attention to detail. The middle class woman is looking for more style, something that befits the station she and her family have attained.

The ubiquitous flat cap is still the uniform of the time even for women. Make it from finer fabrics (Wool or velvet) and it is quite serviceable. But a mere flat cap would not do to show off the wealth and prestige of your station! Nay! A black or brown riding hat or even the “tall hat” (sort of like a top hat or a flat-topped fedora, only with a narrower brim) are much less practical and therefore all the rage in Edinburgh.

Of course, the Italian bonnet, French Hood and Spanish Toque are favored by the lovely Queen Mary, who has brought the light of the continental fashions to her benighted northern kingdom!

Regardless of the hat, the hair must be retained in a caul, a biggin hat or a net (sometimes referred to as a 'snood') in addition to the hat. (Leaving your tresses dangling may be sexy as hell, but it’s about as period as bellbottoms... unless you’re a certain kind of lady and therefore not middle class.) These small caps or coifs were a favorite place to show off one’s embroidery skills.

Torso

Chemise

A white long-sleeved 'shirt' worn with or without a collar. Just like the men, except usually long enough to reach at least the knees and split all the way down the front. The sleeves should be a little billowy without attaining piratical dimensions and a box-pleated frill should adorn the garment at the neck and the wrist. A “black work” edging (essentially a black buttonhole stitch along the edges of the cuff or collar or frill) is a great look and more embroidery along the sleeves and front of the smock is perfectly acceptable as well. Keep in mind, though that the look is a high-falutin’ one so keep your character’s means in mind as embroidery denotes leisure time or the wealth to pay someone else to do it for you.

For ease, many seamstresses combine the partlet and the chemise. So far as we know, these were almost always separate garments in period. However, if you must... at least make it look good.

Note: Bleaching fabric was done by either soaking in urine (and how much would you pay to have that done?) or by laying it out on the grass to bleach naturally in the sun, hence the term “lawn” which was the name for such fabric. Whether the lawn lent its name to the fabric or the fabric to the grass is somewhat muddy but rather beside the point at the moment. The point is, that the more trouble the manufacturer goes to, the more expensive the item, so the off-white or ‘natural’ fabrics denote lower class station and should be shunned by those with aspirations toward higher things.

Corsetry

Edit 2021 This part of the site is inaccurate. Newer scholarship has shown that boned corsets were not prevalent in our period until very late in Elizabeth's reign and even then restricted to the haute couture of the courtier. This whole section really needs rewriting to make it more accurate to history and less accurate to ren faire. Middle class costume for women would have consisted of a linen smock, a kirtle (perhaps with the bodice stiffened with canvas), sleeves (pinned on) and an apron. In cooler weather or frosty mornings, a gown could be worn over all.

I'll get to cleaning this up eventually. Apologies. - Scott

This is where we begin to separate the woman of means from the average milkmaid. The 16th century silhouette was a matter of exaggerated forms for men and women. For men this took the form of padded bellies and wide pants. For women, it was a matter of flattening out that which God graced you with upon your birth. Find a pattern for a boned corset that gives you that flat, crazy silhouette (as opposed to the exaggerated hourglass curvy silhouette of the Victorian corsets) and make yourself one.

Bodices