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Preparation

Our knowledge of dress and its construction in the medieval period is scarce sińce there are so few surviving garments. Attempts at reconstruction have to rely on interpreting visual sources that can be studied at first hand, or in reproduction, and on scholarly books about the period. Readers can enhance their knowledge and understanding of the subject, and often have fun in doing so, by looking closely at the sources they can find for themselves.

Sources of information

Good visual sources include illuminated manuscripts, paintings, memoriał brasses and effigies. Some may be dated fairly accurately, but there are also pitfalls to consider.

Many of the manuscripts and paintings of the period in British collections are from other European countries. Historical characters shown in manuscripts might be clothed in garments of the illustrator's times rather than their own. Also, medieval painters often put religious figures into 'antiąue' dress, which might include turbans and other exotic head-wear, or long, flowing sleeves emerging from short tight ones; while the minor figures - soldiers, peasants and onlookers - were usually dressed in current styles, as were the 'donors' who paid for the painting, sometimes seen kneeling in the foreground.

Memoriał brasses and effigies offer useful and accessible records of British dress, but may be stylised and misleading in datę. Lack of colour and detail, particularly on brasses, can make it difficult to distinguish between layers of clothing.

Paintings, manuscripts and monuments may not always be readily accessible without prior arrangement, but many can be seen in publications. The most helpful books on costume history will indicate their sources, including countries of origin. The Bibliography lists titles I have found helpful.

Art gallery and library collections are increasingly accessible for study on the internet.

Collecting information

Besides the morę obvious items such as a postcards, slides and guidebooks, which you can gather during visits to country houses, churches, museums and galleries, you may find it useful to draw objects of particular interest. Drawing will make you look morę closely and may reveal significant detail such as a seam linę.

Establishing the period for your outfit

This is a key decision. Don't be tempted to wear something out of period just because you like it or it is morę convenient! It is safer to go for an earlier style: garments for best would probably be worn by at least two generations and even working clothes might be passed on. There was a lively trade in used clothing.

Some basie garments were virtually unchanged over the three centuries covered in this book: others, especially head-dresses and outer garments, changed morę freąuently; but who wore what depended on status. Styles for working dress changed slowly, so they should be possible to datę within about fifty years. Morę fashionable styles may be morę closely dated.

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