English Culture

ENGLISH CULTURE

Women's Clothing in the Time of William the Conqueror

The ancient English women costume during the reign of William – I was simple plain and homely.  The costume consisted of a gown, chemise, girdle

The gown was well fitted around the shoulder but was loose below. It had wide sleeves which came just below the elbows. The neck had a short opening. The border of neck and sleeves was well embroidered. Through the neck opening the white chemise could be seen. Sometimes openings of both chemise and gown were held together with the help of brooch 

Below the gown chemise was worn which was a plain white garment with tight full sleeves wrinkling at the wrists.

The girdle is a belt like thing, tied simply round the waist with short ends, which did not show. With the help of girdle the English women would gather the gown at the waist The girdle was, perhaps, the richest portion of their attire.. The girdle was mostly made up of  wool, cloth, silk or cloth of gold web The girdle showed the financial status of the women wearing it. The rich women wore a girdle of silk interwoven with gold thread. The poor wore a girdle made of wool

. When the gown was girded up the border of it fell only to the knees revealing  the long chemise below.

Towards the end of the reign of William the Conqueror there was improvement in the dressing style of the English. The gown which was worn loose before was made tight from the neck to the waist. This enhanced the beauty of English women. Over all was a cloak of the semicircular shape, very voluminous-about three feet in diameter-which was brooched in the centre or on the shoulder.

The English women mostly didn’t show their hairs. They tied their hairs closely coiled with a few curls at the forehead, a wimple was worn, which was wound about the head and thrown over the shoulder. These wimples were sometimes so broad that they fell over the shoulders below the breast. Tied round the wimple they sometimes had a snood, or band of silk.