The fashionable world of the Tudors and Stuarts

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Gill Turney explores the ‘fine style’ of Tudor and Stuart fashions

From sumptuous gowns embroidered with gold and silver thread to the forerunner of the modern man’s three-piece-suit, and the wearing of to the largest pearl in the world, the style-conscious Tudors and Stuarts knew a thing or two about fashion….

Compared with her illustrious predecessors The Queen has it relatively easy when it comes to selecting her royal wardrobe. Her regal attire is still every bit as grand as previous sovereigns but it is of a more relaxed style in keeping with today’s simpler approach to fashion.   

In the 16th and 17th centuries a person’s wealth and status were judged by their sumptuous costumes and stunning pieces of jewellery, led by the fashion-conscious kings, queens, princes and princesses of the period. Their attire is the subject of a new exhibition at The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace.

In ‘Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion’ is on view until 3 October 2013 and provides a fascinating and beautiful insight into the fashionable world of the rich and famous in the 1500s and 1600s through paintings – including over 60 portraits from the Royal Collection – and rare surviving contemporary examples of clothing and accessories. Some of these have never been exhibited to the public before.

For the Tudors and Stuarts, jewellery was the ultimate in conspicuous consumption.  Although relatively little survives from the period, two important pieces are on display for the first time. Among the highlights of the exhibition are a gold and diamond signet ring given by Charles I to his 19-year-old wife, Henrietta Maria, in around 1628, and a pendant of gold, rubies and diamond, incorporating a miniature of Elizabeth I.  The pendant was possibly presented to a courtier by the queen as a sign of favour and worn as an earring.  (Earrings became an increasingly popular accessory for men towards the end of the 16th century, and it was fashionable to wear them in one ear only.) The ring bearing the royal coat of arms and the cypher of the young queen was given to her by Charles I about three years after their marriage. It can be seen in a portrait of Henrietta Maria by Anthony van Dyck, c.1632.

Other highlights include the ornate armour of a fashion-conscious 13-year-old boy who should have been king, and the diamond-encrusted box in which a queen kept her face patches.

In the 17th century black fabric patches were stuck to the face to emphasise the creamy white skin of the leisured class and to conceal blemishes. They came in a variety of shapes – crescents, flowers, animals – as many as seven were worn at a time, and were applied using saliva or adhesive.   A patch box of enamelled gold set with diamonds belonged to Mary II and dates from around the year of her death in 1694 from smallpox, which caused terrible scarring to the skin.

Portraits record some of the most important jewels of the period, including ‘La Peregrina’ (‘The Wanderer’), which, at 58.5 carats was the largest pearl in existence at the time of its discovery, and has a romantic history right up to the present day. This famous pear-shaped jewel can be seen in portraits of Mary I (c.1554–9), who received it as an engagement gift from Philip II of Spain, and of Margaret of Austria (c.1605), who was given the pearl when it reverted to the Spanish crown on Mary’s death.  ‘La Peregrina’ was presented to Elizabeth Taylor by Richard Burton on Valentine’s Day in 1969 (and after Taylor’s death sold for a record £7.1m at the Christie’s sale of her jewellery in New York in December 2011).

The many portraits of British and European royalty and their courtiers are fine and illuminating, from the young Princess Elizabeth, in her crimson gown with silver tissue and gold-looped sleeves, attributed to William Scrots (c.1546), to the craftsmanship of the red feathered cloak worn by James II’s daughter, Mary, Princess of Orange, painted by Adriaen Hanneman (c.1655).  Clothing dictated how someone appeared and moved.  In their shimmering silks, huge gemstones and complex hairstyles, these people were themselves works of art upon which enormous sums of money and hours of time were spent. 

Even armour followed fashion – an ornate set belonging to the 13-year-old Henry, Prince of Wales in 1607, echoes the full breeches and V-shaped doublets of the day. A gift from a French nobleman, it was also a statement of great extravagance as the adolescent Prince would soon outgrow it.   Heir to the English and Scottish thrones, Henry died of typhoid fever at the age of 18, and so James I was succeeded by Henry’s younger brother, the ill-fated Charles I.

Sitters were painted wearing impractical clothing that conveyed the message that they enjoyed a privileged lifestyle. One such fashion was the wearing of gloves with fingers that extended beyond the fingertips, particularly associated with Elizabeth I.  Hans Eworth’s Elizabeth I and the Three Goddesses, 1569, is the only known portrait of the queen wearing gloves. Elizabeth was particularly proud of her elegant hands and would remove a glove for a courtier to kiss her as a mark of favour, so it is no surprise that contemporary painters mostly chose to emphasize her un-gloved hands.

Just like people today, the fashion-conscious Tudors and Stuarts copied the styles of those they admired.  In 1666 Charles II announced he was to introduce a new English fashion for men: a long vest worn under a coat, instead of a short doublet and cloak.  The King is seen wearing this style of coat in the painting, also on display for the first time, Charles II Presented with a Pineapple (c.1675). Precursor to the modern male three-piece suit, the style spread so quickly that within three weeks the diarist Samuel Pepys was wearing his own version. Pepys also records how his wife avidly followed the fashions of the court favourites, visiting the same shops as Barbara Villiers, Charles II’s mistress.

Portraits allowed the sitter to express different aspects of their personality through clothing, a trait clearly shown in two paintings of the renowned court beauty, Frances Stuart, Duchess of Richmond.  Known as ‘La Belle Stuart’, she famously refused to become Charles II’s mistress.  In a portrait by Sir Peter Lely (c.1662), the Duchess wears a glamorous yellow silk gown, while in another painted two years later by Jacob Husymans (1664) – here also on display for the first time – she wears a masculine buff coat, her hair styled to resemble a male periwig, following the trend for women to dress in clothes inspired by male garments. How liberated – she was centuries ahead of her time!

But it caught on – a portrait by Simon Verelst (c.1675) shows Mary of Modena, the second wife of the Duke of York (later James II), when Duchess of York, in a riding habit. Although initially only worn on horseback, riding habits became a popular and practical alternative to the formal daywear of bodice and skirt.  Densely embroidered with gold and silver thread, the coat bears a striking resemblance to that worn by her husband at their wedding two years earlier in 1673.

The detail of the fabrics, and the richness of the colours, the embroidery and the lace in the paintings and exhibits of this exhibition are exquisite.  Many of the designs and patterns are inspired by nature and the natural world, as in a linen nightcap, embroidered in gold thread, the cutwork and lace worked in a pattern of thistle, honeysuckle, pansies and borage.  

Lace was often the most expensive part of an outfit, with hundreds of hours of work required to produce even a small trim. It denoted an elevated status.  Originating as a small decorative frill around the neckline and wrists of shirts and smocks, during the 16th century detachable collars and cuffs developed that could be washed separately and pinned or sewn into place. 

The exhibition documents how tastes changed in garments, colours and shapes during the 16th and 17th centuries. There are two galleries of magnificent portraits and priceless exhibits, among them a blue garter ribbon believed to have been worn by Charles I, as seen in his portrait by Anthony van Dyck, a querky gold thread and taffeta purse in the shape of a frog, and an extraordinarily life-like painted and gilded terracotta bust of a young child, Laughing Child, possibly Henry VIII, by Guido Mazzoni (c.1498). 

So many aspects of the royal court are portrayed in these paintings, from the full regalia of lively ballroom dancing scenes – Charles II Dancing at a Ball at Court, by Hieronymus Janssens in 1660 – with the King in cloak, doublet and full petticoat breeches trimmed with bunches of ribbons, then so fashionable for men but soon to be replaced by the coat and narrow breeches; to the bodice and skirt decorated with spangles (sequins punched from sheets of precious metal) in a portrait of Lady Bowes (attributed to an unknown artist of the British School, 1630); to William III dressed for battle in 1685.

The exhibition charts the influence that European royalty had on the fashions of the day, how relationships between the different courts allowed fashions to spread across the continent and England, and how this encouraged a sharing of fashionable raw materials. For example, there were silks from Italy, woollens from England, and linen from Flanders.

As the exhibition curator, Anna Reynolds, commented: 

Fashion was hugely important to court life and entry to the inner circle was largely driven by personal appearance. The rich and powerful were the trend-setters of the age, and used clothing to send out messages about their taste and status.