Are there any surviving Tudor gowns or men’s clothing? For Italian Renaissance Fashion, Elenor of Toledo’s burial gown and one of her red dresses are in museums, but I have seen nothing else.
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The Mary Rose museum has a few shoes that were found in the wreck, there are various pieces of clothing once worn by Elizabeth I held in private collections, the Tower of London has armour from the Tudor period, including pieces belonging to Henry VIII, Sudeley Castle has a christening gown said to have been worn by Elizabeth I and the V&A museum have a woman's jacket from the 1620s - http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/textiles/features/embroidery/objects/object.php?id=13&id2=2&action=&hits=&page=&pages=&object_type=&country=&start_year=&end_year=&object=&artist=&maker= - which is obviously Stuart, not Tudor.
2 Responses to “Are there any surviving Tudor gowns or men’s clothing? For Italian Renaissance Fashion, Elenor of Toledo’s burial gown and one of her red dresses are in museums, but I have seen nothing else.”
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It seems only fair that anyone owning any clothing of Queen Elizabeth the First should donate them to a museum so others could have a chance to see them. Have any of these clothes ever been photographed for the public at least ? for books ?
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It is rare for items from the early C16th to survive (most documented survivals are continental grave clothing – see various books and articles by Janet Arnold) as much clothing was passed on or remodelled to keep up with fashions. In addition, one must always treat with caution items said to belong to significant people – some are genuine with good provenance, others are plainly spurious or wishful thinking on the part of someone some years after the event. However, there are a reasonable number of survivals from the latter part of the C16th scattered across various museums and stately homes in the UK and the Met in New York has a small number of non-clerical items of C16th clothing in their collection. A research appointment made with the V&A in London to view some of their archived costumes and textiles can prove extremely interesting!
I can think of a pair of shoes in a museum said to belong to ERI – they could not have done as the design is late C17th/early C18th! There is also a very obvious C17th smock in a collection, said to have belonged to Mary Queen of Scots. As she was executed in 1587, it couldn’t have been hers! There is also the embroidered coif said to belong to Anne Boleyn as well – again wishful thinking on someone’s part, as the design and embroidered decoration is early C17th!
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