At the start of the sixteenth century, women dressed as they had for much of the fifteenth century, though changes were slowly introduced. The foundation of a woman’s outfit was her smock/shift/chemise, which was made of linen and easily washed. Blackwork or other colored embroidery was commonly applied to chemise necks, fronts, and wrists. Next a woman would wear a kirtle (later called a petticoat), which could be a joined bodice and skirt, or just the skirt; sleeves, when present, were close-fitting to the wrist and likely made of finer fabric—as indeed any part of the kirtle that was visible tended to be.

Atop her kirtle a woman of fashion would wear a gown. This upper robe, worn over the kirtle and chemise, was often voluminous with ample skirt and train. Its sleeves often had a large opening at the wrist and the cuffs were often turned back with a contrasting color or fur lining. Girdles or belts were almost always worn, as were stockings (or hose), held up with garters.

In Spain

Joanna of Castile, Queen of Castile from 1504, reflects these late 15th- and early 16th-century trends in a donor portrait on the Last Judgement Triptych of Zierikzee (Fig. 1). She wears a gown with a square neckline, as well as an ample skirt and train. Her large gold brocade gown sleeves have a large opening at the wrist and appear to be fur-lined. She wears a hood headdress with elaborate edge decoration (later termed a French hood) in the donor portrait and a contemporaneous half-length portrait (Fig. 2). In the standalone portrait, her black kirtle with gold lace trim is visible beneath her red gown and the kirtle’s narrow sleeves, also edged in gold, emerge from her gown’s fur-lined cuffs (her white chemise cuffs are also visible).

Neither image reveals the presence of a Spanish farthingale, or hooped underskirt, that will come to dominate the feminine silhouette in later decades. A description of Katherine of Aragon upon her marriage to Prince Arthur in 1501 mentions the farthingale’s traditional hoops:

“her gown was very large, bothe the slevys and also the body with many plightes, much litche unto menys clothyng, and aftir the same fourme the remenant of the ladies of Hispanyne were arayed; and beneath her wastes certayn rownde hopys beryng owte ther gownes from the bodies aftir their countray maner.” (Elizabethan Costume)

[“her gown was very large, both the sleeves and also the body with many pleats, much like unto men’s clothing, and after the same form the raiment of the ladies of Spain were arrayed; and beneath their waists certain round hoops bearing out their gowns from the bodies after their country’s manner.”]

Katherine, who later married Henry VIII, is traditionally said to have brought the Spanish farthingale to England upon her marriage to Arthur at the start of the 16th century, but they were not extensively adopted in England until the 1540s (Reynolds 41).

In Italy

In Italy, women girded their gowns slightly above the natural waistline. Lacing was used prominently to attach sleeves to the bodice of the gown, with the white of the chemise visible and sometimes puffed out. Bernardina Zaganelli da Cotignola’s Portrait of a Lady (Fig. 4), shows a young woman in a red gown with lacing at the sleeves left slightly open to reveal her white chemise below. She wears a fine hairnet or caul, along with a delicate circlet around her forehead and an impressive pearl necklace with a pendant jewel. Open necklines offered an obvious showcase for rich necklaces and jewelry began to be worn more now that the wimples, veils, and high collars favored in the 15th century were being discarded.

Raphael’s portrait of Maddalena Doni (Fig. 5) includes a similarly impressive pendant pearl necklace. Her chemise is visible along the low bustline and at the laced openings joining her sleeves to her bodice. She also wears a delicate black circlet in her hair. The large blue silk damask sleeves reflect the broader, more masculine silhouette that was becoming fashionable for men and women. Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (Fig. 6) is more simply dressed, without the elaborate fabrics or jewels of Maddalena Doni, though her gown does seem to have gold embroidery at the neckline. The low neckline and broader silhouette are similar to Doni’s and her sleeves also seem to be laced to her bodice, though they are narrower than Doni’s. She wears a delicate dark veil rather than a circlet.

German artist Albrecht Dürer visited Venice in 1505 and his portrait of an unknown Venetian woman (Fig. 7) confirms these trends, with its low neckline, laced sleeves, and delicate caul (hair net).

In France

Women in France dressed as they had in the 15th century, but with greater richness in material and decoration, as well as Italian influences. In Jean Bourdichon’s Wealthy Man (Fig. 12) the wife figure wears a blue brocade gown with a low, square neckline and ermine-lined sleeves. This is paired with a kirtle with gold sleeves, a golden girdle (belt) and a French hood.

For further discussion of French fashions, see the “Fashion Icon” section on Anne of Brittany below. For discussion of the children’s dress seen in the Wealthy Man, see the “Children’s wear” section.

At the start of the sixteenth century, the first layer a man would put on would be his linen shirt or chemise, which in this period was nearly always visible and gathered at an often-ornamented neckband. Doublets were collarless, cut square and low. Sleeves were often of a finer fabric than the body as they were more visible when wearing a gown. Jerkins, often skirted, were worn over the doublet (it is often difficult to distinguish the two in portraits). Gowns, worn over doublets/jerkins, were broad-shouldered and loose, open down the front, with a large turned back collar that broadened over the shoulders and was usually fur lined. Legs were covered in hose ending at the knee, with the two legs joined by a codpiece; netherhose or stockings were worn below, supported by garters. Men were typically clean shaven, often with medium-length bobbed hair. Davenport describes variations in hair styling in the period, writing:

“Hair is worn in a long bob, often with bangs; typically of shoulder length and natural, but varying from lank and unkempt to exquisitely trimmed and tended, especially in Italy.” (344)

Soft bonnets with upturned brims, often ornamented with a medallion, were frequently worn. Duckbill shoes, which replaced the 15th-century pointy-toed poulaine, were square with rounded corners.

Lucas Cranach the Elder’s Portrait of a Man with a Rosary (Fig. 1) captures many of these trends: from the highly visible, finely gathered white chemise with ornamented neckband to the low, square black doublet/jerkin neckline and the broad-shouldered, loose gown with ample turned back fur revers. He is clean shaven and has a shoulder-length bob.

Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy and husband of Joanna of Castile (Figs. 1 & 2 above), demonstrates many of the same trends, but, unsurprisingly given his rank, in much finer fabrics (Fig. 2).

Maria Hayward describes the types of furs that were commonly worn (by men and women) in Rich Apparel: Clothing and the Law in Henry VIII’s England (2009):

“In the early sixteenth century, dark and light furs were very popular instead of the bright red/brown furs favoured in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Dark furs included sable and the darker the fur, the more highly they were prized, so making black coney, black lamb or budge and black genettes all in demand. These would be used either with black gowns to indicate understated wealth or to form a strong contrast with paler fabrics. Equally, pale furs, such as mink, ermine, lettice (a pale white or grey fur from the snow-weasel), lynx and the light coloured belly fur of the leopard or libbard, were also popular and used to striking effect on dark fabrics.” (102)

As we saw above, Anne of Brittany was a tremendous consumer of sable fur, as all fashionable men and women who were permitted to wear such furs were.

In France

Charles d’Amboise, French governor of Milan, (Fig. 10) resembles other noblemen we’ve seen thus far, with the addition of a medallion on his black bonnet as well as the collar of the Order of Saint Michael. His gown with its gold brocade sleeves, extensive fur revers and jeweled trim is particularly elaborate.

Murals at Issogne from ca. 1502 (Figs. 11-12) reveal the strong Italian influence on French fashion and a look at non-elite dress of the day.

Of particular interest in the market scene (Fig. 11), where men wear Italian-style bonnets with cut and laced together brims. Their doublets have loose, full sleeves, worn with pleated skirts. Particolored hose continues to be worn. The tailor’s shop mural (Fig. 12) contains even more elaborate parti-colored hose, both on the men and hanging at the rear of the shop, where hose with codpieces attached are visible. The abundance of particoloring makes sense given the murals earlier start date and perhaps the tendency of trends to live on longer in non-elite circles. Their vertically striped jerkins or doublets have the square open neck typical of the early 16th century.

In the early 16th century, infants were swaddled, and toddlers were dressed in simple linen smocks or chemises. Jean Hey gives a sense of what this looked like among the elite in his slightly earlier portrait of the Dauphin Charles-Orlant (Fig. 1). For practical reasons, boys and girls were dressed in dresses from the age of 2 until they were 5 or 6, when they began to wear miniature versions of adult dress. In Quentin Massys’ St. Anne altarpiece (Fig. 2), we can see children in both stages; the youngest child is in a green dress with crucifix bib, while the older boys are in simple versions of adult dress. Cranach’s portrait of Johann Friedrich the Magnanimous (Fig. 3) is, however, not at all simply dressed; his doublet/jerkin has elaborately paned sleeves cinched with red and white ribbons, which also decorate the deliberately slashed torso portion of the garment. He wears a heavy gold chain as was fashionable in Germany and his soft bonnet is decorated with medallions and a profusion of feathers. 

Figures 9 & 12 in the womenswear section above show children in smaller versions of adult dress of the day. Cranach (Fig. 9) shows the young boy with the characteristic puffed Germanic sleeves and a red velvet gown. Bourdichon (Fig. 12) includes a young girl dressed identically to her mother—even including the ermine lining of her gown—whereas the youngest child wears a skirted doublet with red stockings, but no gown.