Plymouth+colonists


 * Return to Clothing ||

Men did not generally part their hair, but swept it back. The headgear for men showed a great variation. Some men wore the soft flat cap, the knitted Monmouth cap, or large straw or felt hats with medium-sized crowns (flat, round or indented) with a wide brim, which might be turned up at the front, back or side. For the common men and apprentices the flat cap was most common. The cap was either knitted or cut from sturdy woolen fabric and stitched together. For the higher class citizen, an elegant hat of silk was made over a wire frame and decorated with braid, cords and tassels, etc. The English women had a basic undergarment much like the shirt, which was called a shift. Over this she wore her stays (corset) and petticoats. The outermost clothing was either a gown or a waistcoat (fitted jacket) and skirt. Most adult women wore a linen cap called a coif covering their hair. Their shoes and stockings, capes, coats and hats were much the same as the men’s. Aprons protected the skirts from the myriad chores of the day. The overall silhouette of the woman's dress was shaped by wearing a huge padded roll (or "bolster"), which was tied around the hips under an immensely gathered skirt. Occasionally, the full, gathered skirt was left open down the front, exposing a heavy petticoat made of a contrasting fabric and color. The petticoat could be plain or quilted or embroidered for decorative effect. The woman's hair was parted in the center and pulled back to puffs at the sides unless a coif (or cap) were to be worn, at which time the hair was tucked neatly under the coif all around. For the most part, hats for women were copies of the men's hats. Children, both boys and girls, were dressed in similar fashion until approximately seven years of age. At that time a boy would be "breeched," that is, dressed for the first time as a young man in scaled-down versions of adult clothing. Until that time, both boys and girls were dressed with shirts/shifts, an ankle-length gown, generally fastened in the back, a biggin (a close-fitting cap tied under the chin) and an apron, sometimes with bib. Their shoes and stockings were virtually the same as the adult’s, and they also wore capes, coats and hats as outerwear. The point is not as clear-cut for the transferring of girls from a child’s gown to a young woman’s clothing, but it was probably by the early teens. Popular footwear for men in the northern countries was either high-topped boots with turnovers or low-heeled, round-toed shoes. The shoes came well over the instep and were generally secured by a thong or ribbon. ** There were no shoe buckles during this period. The same was true of hat buckles. ** They did not come into fashion until much later in the 17th century. ||
 * [[image:Pilgrim Man.JPG width="276" height="280" align="left"]]The clothing for a typical English man of the early 17th century consisted of a number of garments, mostly still recognizable today. The basic garment was the linen shirt, which was considerably longer and looser than its modern counterpart. Breeches were designed in a variety of styles and fabrics, from elaborate trunk hose to plain knee-length. Stockings were tailored of cloth or could have been the relatively new knit type. Shoes were the most common sort of footwear, but boots had become fashionable as a result of Charles I’s fondness for them. A doublet, close-fitting and padded, was the usual upper garment. Capes and loose-fitting coats were the usual outer-wear for men and women. There were many styles of hats and caps which were worn inside and outdoors.