Warmth

While definitely the simplest layer, this was the garment inspired the outfit. Our inspirational pilgrim wears a short mantle with arm slits. The length is practical and the arm slits allow for either use of arms or to turtle in. After looking at the inspiration and playing around, I realized that this was basically a skirt, the neck opening is even approximately my waist measure, although the length is a little shorter than my skirt. I used a coating weight wool. I haven't found additional examples of short mantles in 15th century Tuscany, but it is certainly practical for travel. I found some earlier examples of short capelets and another fresco in the cycle showing working class woman wearing a shortened garment. In the real world I typically pair with a hood, but I have yet to find examples of hoods on women from my target time and place.