Elizabethan Menswear

Elizabethan Hats were an essential part of clothing for men in the 'Peacock Age' and played an important part in the fashion of the day. Hat brims were often turned up and fastened to the crown with a jeweled brooch or other ornament. Hat bands using scarves made of expensive fabric, such as silk, were often used as a form of decoration.

 

The Upper Classes used a variety of materials in their hats but it is fascinating to note that in 1571 a law was passed which ordered everyone over the age of six to wear a woolen cap on Sundays and holidays in order to help England's wool trade. The Upper Classes were excused from obeying this law.

 

Notes on hats:

-The materials that hats were made of were silk, velvet, taffeta and wool
-Older men covered their heads with a coif (commonly referred to as the 'biggin') under their hats

-The taller the hat the more important the man - lower classes wore woolen flat caps

-Tall Crown hat worn by the Upper Class - made with expensive fabrics

-The Muffin cap - worn by the lower classes in cheap linen (similar to a cooks hat)

-The Flat cap worn by the Upper and Lower Class

-The Toque - similar to a flat cap

-Hat decorations - All classes and ages wore feathers in their hats. Hats worn by the Upper Class were expensively decorated with jeweled bands (called bilaments), broaches, badges and ribbons

-A Fool's Cap featured hornes, eares, ill faces and other such fopperies and were worn by court jesters, or fools