ruff

The ruff is defined in Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style simply as: “A detachable pleated collar in linen and/or lace starched into shape and sometimes supported underneath” (Brown 455).

Of the ruff, Ruth Turner Wilcox of The Dictionary of Costume writes:

“A kind of stiffly starched collar completely encircling the neck, wider than a ruche, late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. By the 1580s the ruff was a large cartwheel, starched and wired. The width of the fashionable ruff was about a quarter of a yard wide and the length eighteen to nineteen yards of fine linen lawn or Holland cambric. A frame of wire covered with silk thread was worn under it, the edge of the ruff was also wired. Ruffs were starched in various colors, blue and green, with yellow a favorite and worn all over Europe.” (296)

The Dictionary of Fashion History defines the ruff as:

“A circular collar of cambric, lawn or similar fabric, in the form of a starched and goffered frill radiating from the neck; at first attached to the shirt collar band but by 1570 it had become a separate article. It was usually closed all round for men, but also worn by both sexes with a gap under the chin.

The tubular folds were known as sets and formed by moulding them by means of setting sticks. Ruffs were tied with tasselled band-strings.

Named varieties included the falling ruff worn ca. 1615 to 1640. This was gathered without being set into formal pleats, and was sewn to a high neckband from which it fell down to the shoulders. The short ruff was a small version favoured by Puritans during the early 17th century. The oval ruff, worn ca.1625 to 1650 was a female fashion only. It comprised a ‘large closed Ruff set in formal tubular pleats spreading laterally over the shoulders’; it was often worn with a beaver hat with a spreading brim. During the 17th century women’s ruffs sometimes had a small neck-frill of gauze or lace added to the inner border of the ruff.”