Dress Historian Explains Elizabethan Fashion || 16th Century Fashion Timeline 1550s-1590s

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  • Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024

Комментарии • 159

  • @bernadettebanner
    @bernadettebanner 3 года назад +335

    Yess bestow this knowledge upon us ✨

  • @Lornicopia
    @Lornicopia Год назад +1

    I was so excited to see Mary Hill! She is my 13th great grandmother! Sir John Cheke is my ancestor,her husband. She remarried and became Mary McWilliams,but was always referred to as Lady Cheke. She lived well into old age. I forget how old but about 90.

  • @ChrisSmith-fk3ru
    @ChrisSmith-fk3ru 3 года назад +7

    This is a wonderful video! Your knowledge on fashion during the time period is extraordinary! Your videos are always a joy and quite educational to watch! Thank you for sharing!

  • @Griiisetryne
    @Griiisetryne 3 года назад +1

    1560's is my JAM! Great video, thank you!

  • @myriamickx7969
    @myriamickx7969 Год назад

    Congratulations to Samantha Bullat for such an erudite video! It definitely shows that Elizabeth I was not the iconic image we know from her latest portraits ,but that she followed the fashion.

  • @lauraguglielmo
    @lauraguglielmo 3 года назад +1

    A fantastic video about an era of fashion I didn't know anything about! Thank you Samantha for breaking down the various elements in such a comprehensive and well structured way!

  • @rorygilmore2470
    @rorygilmore2470 2 года назад

    Queen Mary I’s fashion in particular is my absolute favourite 😍

  • @bulstrode1882
    @bulstrode1882 2 года назад

    I’m loving Mary tudors gowns-

  •  3 года назад +1

    Super informative and well explained, thank you!

  • @VioletLady07
    @VioletLady07 3 года назад +1

    Excellent video, ma'am! Impressive, as always. I very much appreciate your work.
    ETA: Forgot too mention that my favorite decades are the 1560s and 70s. I love the different influences, the silhouette, and the different gown styles. (I like the fitted ones the best, but the loose ones look so comfy!)
    (Also, I may have made a dolphin noise when I saw you used Mary Dudley Sidney's portrait.)

  • @mead343
    @mead343 3 года назад

    Terrific lecture with great illustrations. Thank you.

  • @clare5one
    @clare5one 3 года назад +2

    Your videos are excellent! Very well researched! Yes, I hate ER I's later fashions.

  • @alaskacosplay
    @alaskacosplay 2 года назад

    If I was dressed in Elizabethan dress, I'm gonna have my own table around my waist!

  • @ashleymichelle6061
    @ashleymichelle6061 2 года назад

    I just found my 9th great grandfather born in 1580 in London, Major John Hansford.

  • @Lornicopia
    @Lornicopia Год назад

    I have to say that the latter fashion of the big wheel of a skirt in the latter years just looks weird,as does the odd elongated torso. It's proportionally just odd. I am always thinking,where really is the waist? It also makes the legs look short. Definitely my least favorite style.

  •  3 года назад +190

    this is so useful, thanks! ❤️

  • @verynotreally
    @verynotreally 3 года назад +111

    First of all, you could spend hours on Elizabethan fashion and I'd watch! It's fascinating to me.
    Secondly, I love the portraits of Elizabeth from early in her reign, before she transformed into Gloriana. There's a vulnerability and humanity that is missing from her later portraits. It's interesting to see the contrast in fashion from the start of her reign to the end.

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +14

      Thank you! I agree, I love her early portraits!

    • @janehollander1934
      @janehollander1934 3 года назад +13

      Totally agree👍🏻. I think the later portraits of Elizabeth turned her into an unchanging Virginal icon & figurehead on purpose. Just as she wanted to be & was.
      Especially with her no longer "aging" in the later portraits.
      With the exception of the portrait of an aging Elizabeth. Which was painted around 1610 - 7 years after the Queen's death at Richmond.
      'That particular painting shows a "fading" Elizabeth flanked on either side by the only two enemies she could not defeat, Death and Old Father Time. They think it was painted by someone who knew, her clothing, her posture & the Queen well: from during those final years of her life.' - excerp from: onthetudortrail.com/Blog/2014/11/01/portrait-of-an-ageing-elizabeth-i-by-gareth-russell/
      (It's said she didn't pose for these later paintings, and artists were only allowed to depict The Queen as a younger/fresh looking Elizabeth I. So they we copying older paintings where the Queen still looked youthful and dressed Elizabeth I up in the fashions of the day).
      So yes, the early portraits probably show a more honest and vulnerable Elizabeth.
      Who had learned from a very early age: to fight and literally "survive" through very tumultuous & dangerous times.

    • @carag2567
      @carag2567 Год назад +2

      @@janehollander1934 I agree completely with the OP and your additional comments! Great info! I'm currently in the middle of Allison Weir's biography of Elizabeth I and this is discussed in extensive detail throughout. The Queen went to extraordinary lengths to cultivate and maintain her image during her reign and is sometimes described as being downright vain (I don't care for this framing but it comes up frequently so I digress...).
      In particular, Elizabeth was deeply concerned about the comparisons between her appearance and that of Mary, Queen of Scots, the biggest threat to her crown, her realm, and her life. Both women were strikingly tall and slender red heads with legitimate blood claims to the Tudor throne. And while most contemporary sources describe both of them as having been quite attractive for the beauty standards of the period, they do also tend to imply heavily or state outright that Mary was more beautiful than Elizabeth.
      I think this was a source of tremendous insecurity for her and because she viewed Mary as such an imminent and ever-present threat to her sovereignty, it motivated her to create the Gloriana image that still survives. To the point regarding her early vs later portraits, this would make perfect sense. Gloriana is a caricature of everything that Elizabeth wanted to portray to her people and on the global stage: larger than life, unquestionably powerful, self-aware and assured, and always virginal. These traits are absent from, for example, the Coronation Portrait but by the Armada Portrait are quite evident.
      My favorite portraits of Elizabeth are the Coronation and the Family Portrait of Henry VIII with Queen Katherine Parr when she's shown as a teenager. And I agree, there is a visible, palpable sense of humanity about her that disappears after her deliberate cultivation of Gloriana.

  • @alicialingle179
    @alicialingle179 3 года назад +73

    I absolutely love how accessible and clear this is, you've done an incredible job delineating the eras of Elizabethan fashion!

  • @GraciePattenSewing
    @GraciePattenSewing 3 года назад +67

    This video was excellent; I learned so much! I personally like the smaller ruffs, and I feel like they could be flattering today. If you ever do a similar video focusing on working women's clothing through the 16th century decade by decade, I would definitely watch that!

  • @InnateNobility
    @InnateNobility 3 года назад +45

    I've always preferred the 1560's fashions over the 1580's and 90's, it was a more flattering silhouette and had French and Italian influences.

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +7

      I agree! I think it's my favorite from the last half of the century.

  • @bruh666
    @bruh666 2 года назад +17

    the fashion era that starts off casual and just gets gradually more insane

  • @dsburd8944
    @dsburd8944 3 года назад +12

    Great video. Wish it were longer. I too prefer the earlier Elizabeth.

  • @sophia__1509
    @sophia__1509 3 года назад +19

    I've always been wanting to research elizabethan fashion, but I never did. Thank you!

    • @clare5one
      @clare5one 3 года назад

      THERE ARE MANY GREAT TEXTS AVAILABLE, ON THE SUBJECT!🌻

  • @ubertuber3d
    @ubertuber3d 3 года назад +16

    The lace and embroidery on the wear of the late Renaissance and early seventeenth century is mouthwatering stuff. I could ogle those portraits of nobility for hours!

  • @AudoricArt
    @AudoricArt 3 года назад +4

    Why does this not have a lot of views?? Come on youtube! Get to work!

  • @Lolibeth
    @Lolibeth 3 года назад +6

    This was really informative and useful. Thank. you!

  • @helenpalombella
    @helenpalombella 3 года назад +18

    This was great! I really enjoyed your use of visual sources to show comparisons. I hadn’t sent some of those paintings so it was lovely to see the clothing. X

  • @elizharber3564
    @elizharber3564 3 года назад +2

    The 1840s revived the long pointed torso. Do you think they were linking Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth?

  • @lucie4185
    @lucie4185 3 года назад +12

    Great use of extant images to show how much things changed in this era, I have been looking at blackwork recently and looking at how prevalent it is in all these images makes me want to make a smock! 😀 I love how Elizabethan taste goes "All the embroidery!"

  • @caincatto2473
    @caincatto2473 3 года назад +5

    Awesome video!! It's so hard to find videos about Elizabethan fashion, which is a shame--it's so cool!!

  • @katencat
    @katencat 3 года назад +10

    Your videos are so informative! I love your focus on Tudor history. I've been making an outfit from the Tudor Tailor and this video showed me how much I've mixed and matched the eras of my garments. Oops!

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +2

      Thank you! The most important thing is to make what brings you joy!

  • @Amanda-gg6kz
    @Amanda-gg6kz 3 года назад +2

    An interesting theory I just came up with, regarding the change in the fashions. During the reign of Henry VIII, the women wore clothing that had a lot more exposed bosoms, and after Mary became queen, it seems like the necklines became more modest, and then during Elizabeth's reign, the modesty continued, and then the women's dresses became slightly more masculine. I wonder how much of that is connected to who the monarch was at the time, ie when Henry was on the throne, women would want to catch his eye to hopefully become his mistress, or more, so the clothing was more seductive. But when a woman was on the throne, especially with Mary, who was a devout Roman Catholic, the fashion was to appear to be a modest, virtuous woman. Then, with Elizabeth, who oversaw her nation become an extremely strong nation, and expanded it past what her father was able to accomplish, her overpassing her father, the fashions changed further, and didn't constrain the waist as much, and then also added the buttons up the front, maybe as a subtle way of women asserting themselves on the same stage as men, since it was a Queen who did this, and not a King. Don't know if it has any validity to it, but it would make sense if that was the subconscious reason as to why fashions changed as they did.

  • @jennyp4934
    @jennyp4934 3 года назад +5

    Great information. I've never really liked Elizabethan fashion, but I do find it interesting. I much prefer the fashion during Henry VIII time, to me they complemented the female body much more.

  • @isw_1214
    @isw_1214 3 года назад +4

    As a Tudor era fan, thank you for this video! What I'm wondering is how all these heavy fabrics and layers were dealt with during the outdoor summer months?
    I wear a historically inspired alt-fashion and use lighter fabrics & shorter cuts as well as a crinoline instead of tulle petticoats to avoid overheating but it seems there's far less flexibility with Tudor fashion.

  • @Hair8Metal8Karen
    @Hair8Metal8Karen 3 года назад +1

    People forget that she ruled for 40 years, fashion changes dramatically over that kind of timeline!

  • @catherinejustcatherine1778
    @catherinejustcatherine1778 3 года назад +5

    Looks interesting. I have a big watch que. Boosting algorithms for now. 💙
    Thank you for putting together what I expect yo be another wonderfully edited & presented video.

  • @ThistlenStitches
    @ThistlenStitches 3 года назад +4

    Thank you for sharing all this well researched knowledge. This video set me straight on a couple misconceptions including one I had about when bumrolls came into play. Research is not my strong suit so thank you again!

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +1

      Thank you! I think there’s a lot we take for granted about this time period because of renaissance fairs and things like that; that certainly was the case for me before I really started researching!

  • @stace0712
    @stace0712 3 года назад +4

    Great video!

  • @amandastout1948
    @amandastout1948 3 года назад +3

    I would have thought the "bodies" would have started to come about when the jerkin bodices and closed-front skirts started to be in fashion. Which would cover up any sort of kirtle.

    • @lucie4185
      @lucie4185 3 года назад +1

      It's probably hard to know without definite evidence, likely the fashion was a slow transfer over this period.

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +3

      That's an interesting idea! Even though kirtles /could/ show under a gown, they didn't always. Gowns that don't show the kirtle at all had been around throughout the entire century. The kirtle's primary function was support and shaping, but it became yet another chance to show off some wealth.

  • @TheLostLost01
    @TheLostLost01 3 года назад +2

    Thank you so much. So informative.

  • @florenceyoung1246
    @florenceyoung1246 3 года назад +3

    So interesting and informative! Thank you!

  • @callumfootitt5366
    @callumfootitt5366 3 года назад +1

    *MEN ALSO WEAR GOWNS WOOOO*
    if only

  • @madpenguinina
    @madpenguinina 3 года назад +4

    Great video! I've been meaning to dive more into elizabethan fashion for a while now so this came at a great time. All your videos are super informative and well made. Also, I'm still waiting on a dedicated video on French Hoods!!!

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +2

      Thank you so much! French hoods are next, I promise! Hopefully in a few weeks, it will be ready...

  • @celiatais251
    @celiatais251 3 года назад +2

    I know I'll enjoy this video before it even started because I've always been fascinated by Elizabethan fashion but found it too intimidating. Thank you for packaging it so clearly. ALSO, your makeup here is so lovely. You look positively exquisite.

  • @rachiehasrabies9041
    @rachiehasrabies9041 2 года назад +2

    I am very impressed!! Why am I just now stumbling upon your videos? Subscribed ❤idk if you’ve got an in depth video about the late 15th through early 16th century difference regional fashion styles. Germanic, English, and Italic/Spanish. I’ve always wanted an in-depth dive into the different fashions.

  • @danceforlove12
    @danceforlove12 3 года назад +2

    I'm always partial to the 1570s but that's also the decade i reenact so maybe im biased ;-)

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +1

      The 1570s are lovely! That’s actually my next big project. I’ve done 1560s already, so maybe now I need to do every decade lol

    • @danceforlove12
      @danceforlove12 3 года назад

      @@TheCoutureCourtesan If you did, I personally would die of joy

  • @mattlittle1612
    @mattlittle1612 2 года назад +1

    I am a History teacher in England and this is brilliant for my students. Thank you so much Samantha! Cheers!

  • @DipityS
    @DipityS 3 года назад +3

    Fascinating - thank you! I know you asked which style we liked the most but think overall I love the embroidery of flowers the most - the work is so beautiful as represented in the paintings such as the one at 6:58. Sigh! So lovely.

  • @janehollander1934
    @janehollander1934 3 года назад +1

    Oh what a very informative/educational and detailed video👌🏻. Just lovely. Thank you so much for making it a mini lecture that was a joy to watch.
    I stopped and paused and even rewinded several times.
    If only 🇺🇸Hollywood & 🇬🇧Pinewood film makers would take some of the available historical information, that you shared, to heart and applied it to their Elizabethan works. I can name several costume dramas/films where they completely lost the plot🤦🏼‍♀️...making 1560 "sleeve-rolls" look instead like "backpack-straps" 🤣.
    I'm looking at you 2004's 'Gunpowder, Treason & Plot'🤨.
    My favourite Elizabethan look centers around 1560. Thank you again for the work you put into making this video. Bravo!!👏🏻.
    Spring🌷🌷greetings👋🏻from The Netherlands 🇳🇱

  • @astrogallus
    @astrogallus 3 года назад

    My favorite Elizabethan period? 1580s through 1603... Make it huge. Make it grand. Make it Gloriana!

  • @helenasnopek5431
    @helenasnopek5431 3 года назад +7

    Wow, this was a really excellent summary! Definitely more of an early 1500s person, but, as with much of fashion history, the more I learn about the details of an era the more I come to appreciate it, at least as art if not from an "I'd wear that" perspective.

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +2

      Thank you! I do love the early 16th century too and hope to do more of that in the future!

  • @miaokeefe7959
    @miaokeefe7959 8 месяцев назад

    Although most people hate 1590s silhouettes, i absolutely LOVE them. I would really want to recreate one of the dresses using secondhand fabrics.

  • @luciadilazzaro2285
    @luciadilazzaro2285 3 года назад +1

    You should do a costume Review of the second season of "A Discovery of Witches"

  • @danaglabeman6919
    @danaglabeman6919 Год назад +1

    I dress historical 17" dolls, and your dressing videos and info videos like this one are an invaluable resource for me! One of my favorite things about making fashion from this time is I feel like, more than any other period besides our own, it's all about separates! With the kirtles, frontparts, sleeves, outer gowns, doublets, partlets and ruffs all being their own pieces, it's so mix and match! Building a new outfit from the separate pieces of your wardrobe is such a connection to how we do it now.

  • @csmtcqueen
    @csmtcqueen 2 года назад

    My goodness this looks so inconvenient to wear. This was such an EXCELLENT video. Thank you for educating us.

  • @michaelamcnamara4879
    @michaelamcnamara4879 3 года назад +2

    Wonderful research clearly presented.

  • @Catherine-ty8ss
    @Catherine-ty8ss Месяц назад

    The older she became the more need to take up space to give appearance of power. She had neither husband or children to give sense of power so she relied on fashion to give it to her. The originator of dress for success!

  • @widowrumstrypze9705
    @widowrumstrypze9705 Год назад

    Have you ever collaborated with Bernadette Banner? You're like her brilliant, tasteful Goth cousin, lol!

  • @stakie1871
    @stakie1871 6 месяцев назад

    Do you have anything on the early 1500s? I didn't see anything but this was really good so would love to see another!

  • @jlbc1234
    @jlbc1234 2 года назад

    Wait, those were monkeys starching and ironing the ruffs?!?! What in the world?

  • @niccoarcadia4179
    @niccoarcadia4179 2 года назад

    Hey Sam' You look a lot like Queen Bess and could easily play her character in a movie. Just dye your hair strawberry blonde.

  • @danielledegeorge2129
    @danielledegeorge2129 5 месяцев назад

    That first dress is really super ugly, just my opinion. 😳

  • @JessieCochran37
    @JessieCochran37 3 года назад

    I like Elizabeth's early fashion from the first couple decades of her reign, lots more simpler and easier on the eyes vs. the exaggerated silhouettes, whale-boning, and big ruffs in the later decades.

  • @LynxSouth
    @LynxSouth 2 года назад

    5:58 I looked up this drawing, and it turns out there was a fad, more or less, of putting animals, especially monkeys, in scenes as though they were human. These images are called "singerie", which is French for "monkey trick", in case anyone else wants to find out more.

  • @123canadagirl
    @123canadagirl Месяц назад

    I like the earlier styles better. Those ruffs are ugly imho

  • @nancytestani1470
    @nancytestani1470 10 дней назад

    Very fascinating.

  • @kimberlyperrotis8962
    @kimberlyperrotis8962 2 года назад

    I love the red and green floral embroidery on the white sleeves and partlet. I love your videos!

  • @tamaragonzalez2227
    @tamaragonzalez2227 2 года назад

    Oh how absolutely uncomfortable those clothes must have been and heavy. I read the cost of making those clothes for the elites was enormous. Sad to think about how they engrossed on thier clothes while the average man was starving.

  • @wormlover3653
    @wormlover3653 2 года назад

    thank you so much for this video! I think this era is so full of wonderful marvels of what fashion can be!

  • @Crescend0ll
    @Crescend0ll 3 года назад +2

    Great video, as always! I'd love to see more about early 17th century fashion, I think it's quite interesting how it contrasts with late elizabethan.
    Take care!

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +1

      Thank you! That is absolutely on the list! I really love that period and get to research and make clothing from it for work, so I’m eager to share!

    • @Crescend0ll
      @Crescend0ll 3 года назад

      @@TheCoutureCourtesan can't wait! Thanks again for all the knowledge you put on the internet ❤️

  • @Sabatuar
    @Sabatuar 2 года назад +1

    My favorite Elizabethan gown is technically not an Elizabethan gown. It's that salmon gown in the portrait you showed early on, which I'm going to qualify as Elizabethan on the technicality that it's being worn by Elizabeth.

  • @kimberlyperrotis8962
    @kimberlyperrotis8962 2 года назад

    I hate that so many whales were killed for their products.

  • @victoriamyung7029
    @victoriamyung7029 2 года назад

    I have always wondered how they kept the long skirts clean since it is always dragging on the ground.

  • @taiikomochiyuurichin1459
    @taiikomochiyuurichin1459 Год назад

    Next time indicate this is women's dress so that those of us that do not wear dresses can bypass it. Thank you.

  • @flygirlfly
    @flygirlfly 3 года назад

    The clothing in late 1590's must have weighed a ton!

  • @monicacall7532
    @monicacall7532 2 года назад

    I learned so much from this video. Thank you!

  • @astrogallus
    @astrogallus 3 года назад

    Wonderful! We thinkest thou hast informed us well!

  • @giuliafontana891
    @giuliafontana891 2 года назад

    You know that this is top notch content when it's blessed by Bernadette Banner and meme mom as well

  • @sarahmwalsh
    @sarahmwalsh 3 года назад +2

    Thank you so much for this comprehensive look at the changing silhouette in the 16th century! I was of the mind that it was all pretty much the same but WOW! I really appreciate the decade-by-decade breakdown!

  • @xavierrodriguez1370
    @xavierrodriguez1370 2 года назад

    I am particularly in love with the pelican gown.

  • @xavierrodriguez1370
    @xavierrodriguez1370 2 года назад

    I am particularly in love with the pelican gown.

  • @deborahbrottmiller2948
    @deborahbrottmiller2948 9 месяцев назад

    So interesting. Thank you

  • @mirkivi3931
    @mirkivi3931 3 года назад +2

    This is a fantastic video! So well made and beautifully explained! I'd love to see more like it that go through periods of fashion history with visual references

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад

      Thank you! I was surprised there wasn’t something like this already on RUclips. There was one video claiming to talk about Elizabethan fashion but it was pretty bad... If you say they wore “corsets” and use modern images, I’m seriously doubting your scholarship...

  • @user-mary_hist
    @user-mary_hist 2 года назад

    You nailed it ! Congratulations!

  • @dismurrart6648
    @dismurrart6648 2 года назад

    I dig the 1590s and am also glad to not have to wear it

  • @aliceanne3952
    @aliceanne3952 3 года назад

    Can you do a 1500s to 1540s please???

  • @TOKYOGANG417
    @TOKYOGANG417 Год назад

    Do you have an Instagram?

  • @devikat
    @devikat 3 года назад +1

    OOoo! I love the portrait at 2:03! (I can't seem to find the link for it in the list though... Do you know who it's of?)

    • @TheCoutureCourtesan
      @TheCoutureCourtesan  3 года назад +1

      Here she is! commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hans_Holbein_d.J._-_Bildnis_einer_englischen_Dame_(ca.1540-43).jpg

  • @starwarssyl1177
    @starwarssyl1177 3 года назад +1

    This is AMAZING, thank you!

  • @mmcgartland2095
    @mmcgartland2095 3 года назад

    Finally thanks

  • @lieutenantlouise
    @lieutenantlouise 3 года назад

    Great video!

  • @Vo_d_kontra_o_norMAL
    @Vo_d_kontra_o_norMAL 11 месяцев назад +1

    Hey - Marry me

  • @billy123174
    @billy123174 2 года назад

    Love it

  • @felixortizmadamequeen7731
    @felixortizmadamequeen7731 3 года назад +1

    I LOVE IT♥️♥️

  • @egilhaggmann6666
    @egilhaggmann6666 Год назад

    How refreshing; an accurate, detailed presentation by someone who is obviously passionate about her field.
    I think this used to be called academia but I'll have to check. Brava, Ms. Bullat!

  • @TudorositiesbyMaureen
    @TudorositiesbyMaureen 3 года назад

    I enjoy 1550-1570, as you get to see the transition from late Henrician Fashion to the early Elizabethan styles. Well done video

  • @TheAstroWitchLux
    @TheAstroWitchLux 2 года назад

    It's amazing how even without visual media and mass communication, fashion still changed every few years!

  • @harrietlyall1991
    @harrietlyall1991 3 года назад

    Fabulous illustrations and first-rate explanations. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

  • @WhoIsCraig
    @WhoIsCraig 3 года назад

    Baleen is not whale bone, but the filter from inside its mouth. It's the same material as fingernails, plasticy and flexible, but strong.

  • @louiseogden1296
    @louiseogden1296 3 года назад

    I like the early portraits of Elizabeth before the couture got too extreme. I would have preferred middle class clothing myself but having been married in a lovely large dress, being all dolled up in heavy material that had been properly fitted and tailored to my shape was actually quite fun and made me feel goof, so wearing the 1590s dress may be more comfortable than it looks.