Medieval Dress

Medieval Dress and Clothing are an area of interest for many medievalists, but finding information can often be difficult. Research can be done from archaeological finds, artistic works, and other sources. This section offers some of the information available online related to what people wore in the Middle Ages, including medieval dresses, jewelry and other fashion, as well as about the clothing-making industry in the medieval world.

Medieval Dress Articles

What Was Cross Dressing in the Middle Ages?, by Shunichi Akasaka

A Study of Cross-Hatched Gold Foils in Anglo-Saxon Jewellery, by Richard Avent and David Leigh

Female Dress and “Slavic” Bow Fibulae in Greece, by Florin Curta

Archaeological Textiles – A Need for New Methods of Analysis and Reconstruction, by Maria Cybulska and Jerzy Maik

The Garb of Medieval Satire, by Borçin Erol

Viking and medieval amulets in Scandinavia, by Signe Horn Fuglesang

Dressing the Dead: Gender, Identity, and Adornment in Viking-Age Iceland, by Michèle Hayeur-Smith

A Study on the Earliest Representation of Garment & Accessories in the Figure Illustrations of ‘Nushi zhen’, by Yue Hu

Medieval vernicle finger rings in Finland, by Visa Immonen

Culture and Gender In the Danelaw: Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian Brooches, by Jane F. Kershaw

‘The Hangings about the Hall”: An Overview of Textile Wall Hangings in Late Medieval York, 1394-1505, by Charles Kightly

Almeria Silk and the French Feudal Imaginary: Toward a “Material” History of the  Medieval Mediterranean, by Sharon Kinoshita

Clothes Make the Monk: The Rhetoric of Clothing in Late Antique Monasticism, by Rebecca Krawiec

East and west: textiles and fashion in Eurasia in the early modern period, by Beverly Lemire and Giorgio Riello

Underwear in the Maciejowski Bible, by Constanza de Mendoza

Luxury and ultra-luxury consumption in later Medieval and Early Modern Dress: relative values of woollen textiles in the Low Countries and England, 1350-1550, by John Munro

Attire in Ammianus and Gregory of Tours, by Ron F. Newbold

Coin in Jewellery from Bukhara, by Makshuma I. Niyazova

The Origins of Knitted Fabrics, by Braham Norwick

Byzantine Gold Coins and Jewellery: A Study of Gold Contents, by Andrew Oddy and Susan La Niece

The world upside down. Secular badges and the iconography of the Late Medieval Period: ordinary pins with multiple meanings, by Sebastiaan Ostkamp

Anglo-Saxon costume: a study of secular civilian clothing and jewellery fashions, by Gale R. Owen-Crocker

The Wool Trade In English Medieval History, by Eileen Power

The codpiece: social fashion or medical need?, by C.S. Reed

From Chaperones to Chaplets: Aspects of Men’s Headdress, 1400-1519, by Susan Downs Reed

Women’s Clothing in Kievan Rus, by Sofya La Rus anf Mka Lisa Kies

Poverty and richly decorated garments : a re-evaluation of their significance in the Vita Christi of Isabel de Villena, by Lesley K. Twomey

Constructing the Headdresses of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, by Marie Vibbert

Pictures of the clergy in the Theodore Psalter, by Christopher Walter

Medieval News: Dress and Clothing

Conference to expose the hidden history of underwear in the Middle Ages

Article examines the Dress Accessories of Medieval Peasants in England

Medieval Scottish soldiers fought wearing bright yellow war shirts

Retired couple find 600-year-old Medieval silver broach in farm field

Videos on Medieval Dress

Medieval Textiles Study Group

This organization offers research on medieval dress information helpful to create your own clothing. Articles they have posted online include:

Weaving Fabric for a 14th Century Dress

On Weaving a Handspun Plaid Shawl

Weaving an 11th Century Irish Brat

Some Medieval Linen Weaves

Click here to see their website