IIRC, virgins and queens* could have unbound hair. Married women had to cover their hair.

Un married women were allowed to have thier hair falling free which was one of the things trhat Anne was noted for. THe length of her hair and the fact she draped jewels in it. KoA allowed her to wear her French hoods which displayed Anne's hair.

*Queens for their coronation procession and when they wore thier crowns.

Sophie1536 said

I thought Mary Tudor’s clothes were really lovely in the series
I loved all the clothes inaccurate as they were, lol!……I would have loved to have worn any of them

I agree. But equally so the clothes seemed to be too lightweight if that makes sence. Woman and especially KOA wore heavy fathingales to make there skirts more round in shape, and also because a lot of ladies like to have lapdogs who used to walk with their mistress hidden under their skirts. I think it was also perhaps to make easier for ladies to urinate, they couldn’t just run into a corner and stand with their hands in the approriate postion for a few secs, but they could back up into the corner a squat without losing any dignity. as their fathingales would have to be lifted to prevent getting wee’d on. Anne Boleyn I believe wore a farthingale at her coronation banquet and sat on a chair with a bucket underneath it so she could relieve herself without having to leave her seat, again that wouldn’t be possible if she hadn’t of been wearing a farthingale. Also the bodices seem to movable, if that again makes sence. Woman, married or not wore Corsets made of either wood or whalebone or should I say bone of some sort, there would have been none of this quite yank bodice off boobs exposed lark. Only very young girls wore movable bodices. Also seeing young Edward in men’s clothes wouldn’t have beeen right as boys up till a certain age wore dresses I think this was perhaps easier for them to be able to urinate, until the got the hang of getting used to undoing their breeches and moving aside their flat codpieces to wee. I think Anne perhaps used a smaller size farhingale but she still wore one, it was also a way of keeping the hems of their skirts from trailing in the muck and debris that was on the ground, dress material was costly and unless you were extremely rich or married to Royality it simply wasn’t on to expect to buy dress material every week to make a new dress just because the one you were wearing had got mucky. Even so I enjoy watching The Tudors despite the inaccurcies and the bad acting.

Firstly Women would have worn a smock, which was an undergarment made of cotton I believe. They changed this everyday as it was considered hygienic to do so. A corset may have been worn over this, called ‘bodies’. These were not as tightly boned as Victorian style corsets. They would have also worn stockings, which came to just above the knee, being kept up with a garter and thin ribbon. A Partlet was worn over this which was a shirt and had pattens sown into them around the collar in black or brown thread. This is because these areas could be seen under the dress depending on the style of dress worn. They would have worn a farthingale which puffed out the skirt giving it an A-line shape. If they wanted their dresses to puff out even more they would of worn a Bumroll which was a padded crescent tied around the hips. Over this they would have worn a Kirtle which was an entire gown, minus the sleeves. Over this was the gown and sleeves which was the dress everyone saw. The sleeves were pinned on. Gowns were usually richly embroidered and a stomacher was often pinned on, as seen in Jane Seymour’s portrait. They then wore a girdle which was a jewelled belt which often had a pomander on the end to hide bad smells. These were made from oranges stuffed with cloves. They often had books attached too. Headwear was quite varied, although the most popular styles were the English hood or French hood. Only virgins and the un-married could show their hair, although a Queen during her coronation could show her hair as tradition and obviously because the crown would not fit over a headdress. There were other types of headdress, such as a coif which was a net, which Anne wore when she played ‘Perseverance’.

Elliemarianna said

Firstly Women would have worn a smock, which was an undergarment made of cotton I believe. They changed this everyday as it was considered hygienic to do so. A corset may have been worn over this, called ‘bodies’. These were not as tightly boned as Victorian style corsets. They would have also worn stockings, which came to just above the knee, being kept up with a garter and thin ribbon. A Partlet was worn over this which was a shirt and had pattens sown into them around the collar in black or brown thread. This is because these areas could be seen under the dress depending on the style of dress worn. They would have worn a farthingale which puffed out the skirt giving it an A-line shape. If they wanted their dresses to puff out even more they would of worn a Bumroll which was a padded crescent tied around the hips. Over this they would have worn a Kirtle which was an entire gown, minus the sleeves. Over this was the gown and sleeves which was the dress everyone saw. The sleeves were pinned on. Gowns were usually richly embroidered and a stomacher was often pinned on, as seen in Jane Seymour’s portrait. They then wore a girdle which was a jewelled belt which often had a pomander on the end to hide bad smells. These were made from oranges stuffed with cloves. They often had books attached too. Headwear was quite varied, although the most popular styles were the English hood or French hood. Only virgins and the un-married could show their hair, although a Queen during her coronation could show her hair as tradition and obviously because the crown would not fit over a headdress. There were other types of headdress, such as a coif which was a net, which Anne wore when she played ‘Perseverance’.

Ellie, However I think up until Anne, came back from France, that the French hood became more popular, yes it was worn by some ladies of the court but it wasn’t seen as any thing spectacular. The Gable hood was the excepted norm of woman’s head dresses. I couldn’t imagine wearing anything like that. It must have been very uncomfortable to wear, makes my hair itch just thing about it. The headress that really got me was the conical shaped one in the reign of Edward 4th, you could spear food with it 2 tables over and it seems that the higher the headdress the higher you were in class or so I believe.. One false move with one of those on your head and your’ll topple sideways. Still I suppose it was a good way of keeping the cobwebs down as you would sweep the ceiling every time you walked past..

Sharon said

Or how about the headpieces that looked like a pair of bull horns? Where was the beauty in them? They were awful.
I think Anne popularised the french hood when she was queen, and when Jane became queen, she demanded her women go back to wearing those gable hoods. They look like a box on their heads.

Yeah I agree. the Gable hoods did look like a roof end on your head, actually that’s exactly what they were wasn’t it? The Bull horns head dress was weird.

I really loved Anne’s dress when she came to Henry as he was dying, think it was black and white. Anne looked beautiful in that and she should have worn it earlier

The ‘A’ line shape came in later in Henry’s reign, Kathryn Howard and Katherine Parr’s time, earlier dresses had a more natural shape. Oh, and a coif is not a net, it’s a fabric cap that completely covers the hair, and would have been worn under most headdresses (with the exception of a French Hood) and also when no headdress was being worn. They were worn for centuries. They were sometimes richly embroidered, and sometimes plain white linen. Apparently one exists at Hever that was supposedly embroidered by Anne herself.

This is a coif of Henry’s time, possibly modelled by the lady herself…

I also think to a large extent it was just tradition – people did it because they had always done it. Even unmarried women usually wore something on their heads even though it was acceptable not to. Also, of course, in the days before central heating, much of the time it was just too darn cold to wander around with your head uncovered.

The talk about farthingales earlier in the thread reminded me of a book I read when I was in my late teens/early 20’s, Mills and Boon/Harlequin type book.

The heroine spent several long, and tedious, passages describing her heavy crinoloine hoops and multiple petticoats. And then danced the waltz with her beau “thigh to thigh”….