Medieval clothing offers a whole range of charming, ornate and magnificent styles which can be imagined only in fairy tales and legends. Renaissance period is the most widely remembered and celebrated era in the world. In United States of America, there is an unusual Renaissance festival where the period is recreated with men and women wearing medieval dresses and costumes, armory, helmets, veils and swords. American Renaissance clothes were not restricted to costumes of King and Queen but also common people like peasants, knights, workers, musicians, dancers and jugglers. Pirates were also famous for their notoriety in the seven seas in those times. Pirate clothing is high in fashion nowadays and covers a range of shirts, waist coats, jackets, sashes, belts, breeches and accessories like gold hoop earrings, precious stone embedded rings, bracelets, and not to forget the distinct yet trendy leather and latex pirate boots. Pirates called themselves swaggers of the sea and threatened everyone who crossed the waters while they were around. Pirate clothing was a symbol of pitiless and unforgiving seamen who stripped ordinary sailors and voyagers to the last penny.
Pirate shirts are made with wide and laced full sleeves with broad ends while some have full length sleeves with a tapered end with flounce and frill. Their shirts and pants were loose fitted because pirate seamen had to undergo grueling tasks at the Captain’s orders. European medieval clothing for women consisted of different types of gowns, skirts and dresses like Florentine gowns, Roman gowns, Isabelle gowns and Renaissance wedding gowns were very popular then and even now.
Other accessories and cloth pieces were worn to accentuate the shape of the body and reflect feminine beauty. These were bodices, head hoops, gloves, underskirts, waist bands with or without laces, collars etc. Women from upper class were fond of wearing fancy hats to parties and public functions. While rich women spent extravagantly on costly dresses and accessories; the commoners wore peasant dresses, highland gowns, maiden skirts and dresses which were made out of run of the mill fabric.It is believed that it was with the birth of medieval clothing, that modern fashion was introduced to the world for the first time. There is no other fashion or style of clothing that was followed before the medieval fashion came into vogue. Certain cuts, designs and fabric were used to make these clothes which were never seen by people before. For further beautifying or enhancing the dress use of laces, buttons, frill, broaches, fur and gemstones were used.
Today many contemporary dresses and clothes are based on the designs of the medieval dresses. The clothes from the ancient times were also symbolic of the wealth and prosperity of a person and his ability to make investments. The nobility had exclusive right to wear silk fabric in dazzling and rich colors like red, green, gold, orange, royal blue, crimson etc while the poor wore wool and linen in dull colors. It will not be wrong to say that present day trendy clothes have their roots somewhere in medieval clothes and this fashion will never fade.
