European men’s fashion in 1400-1500

Fashion in 15th-century Europe was characterized by a series of extremes and extravagances, from the voluminous gowns called houppelandes with their sweeping floor-length sleeves to the revealing doublets and hose of Renaissance Italy. Hats, hoods, and other headdresses assumed increasing importance, and were swagged, draped, jewelled, and feathered.

As Europe continued to grow more prosperous, the urban middle classes, skilled workers, began to wear more complex clothes that followed, at a distance, the fashions set by the elites. It is in this time period that we begin to see fashion take on a temporal aspect. People could now be dated by their clothes, and being in "out of date" clothing became a new social concern. National variations in clothing seem on the whole to have increased over the 15th century.

Men's fashion

In this era, grand clothes reminiscent of medieval buildings are prosperous, and at the same time, open and light clothing born in the flow of renaissance starting from Italy is beginning to become popular.

Common people
The farmers tightened the waist of the knee-length knick length, called Gonel, throughout the 15th century, with long bags called Bra caé, a huge long shoe, fashion called hose, leather shoes, dress that remained largely unchanged from the early Middle Ages.

Among the people living in the town, the old man wore a relatively loose upper jacket over the knee as a perisson that was wearing well in the last century. Besides the elderly, lawyers, scholars, writers, physicians and other professionals who respect priests preferred long-length garments and liked long robes that dragged them to the floor of Shaube.

Young citizens wore dipons and pool poens that fit perfectly in waist-length bodies. There is no big difference except for the side opening and the front opening of dipons and pool poens, but Jipon was almost unable to wear in the first half of the 15th century. I often wore a very short gown with a wide collar on the fur from above the boulpoan. The trendy poolspoons included pads on their chest and shoulders, trying to make a contrast with the lumpy legs and torn upper body wrapped in a perfect hose. Poolpoan and Hawes are connected by a ribbon called Ejyette and this ribbon was chosen with a lot of enthusiasm as a youngster as a part of fashionable and the gorgeous hoes of the men's knight Jeanne d'Arc are tied with as many as 20 ribbons It was.

The kind of mantle was short enough not to reach the waist. Shoes liked the long long stretched thing called Poulene which was popular over the 15th century. When going out with these shoes, I went under a shoelace called Trippen. The hat became popular in the last century and the cowl (a kind of the hood ) became slightly lowered, and it was popular to wind a silk belt called a sandal ribbon like a turban on a wide hat.

In the case of France civil war, the Bourgogne faction tied to the right side, Armagnacism tied to the left side, and those not belonging to either side were summarized on the head.

Upstream citizen
Uppland who appeared at the end of the 14th century was liked by the merchants. The sleeves were wearing various things such as a tight long-sleeved or fluttering funnel type, a bulky bag type underneath, a club-like type like a nodded one. The sleeves and skirt were popular in the scalloped shape, wavy shape, lightning bolt, castle wall type, etc. Dugging was popular.

In the mid-15th century, young siblings of influential citizens are recorded as wearing costumes of all kinds of colors and patterns, such as checkered patterns, scales, polka dots, spirals and stripes. Their young stylists quickly adopted Italian light fashion, and they gladly adopted Italian-style costumes such as deep-drilling de- corte and opening wide-open V neck. The wide open collar space was decoratively tightened with a string and I was peeping into the chemise that applied the large embroidery which was also big around the neck. I imitated Italian Dateman, sleeves liked the fancy sleeve which made a slit in the middle, peeped under undergarments, completely cut off at the shoulders and elbows and glued with strings. Beaver cap ( felt cap covered with Beaver 's fur), which was a privileged object of wealthy upper class only, was to be widely used. Hats decorating the turtle of white and red ostrichs popular in Italy were too popular at any time because they were so popular.

In the early 15th century, hairstyles that looked like wearing a wig were prevalent because they were cutting the nape under the ears with a hairstyle like a bowl fell. From the middle of the 15th century natural long hair became popular, after styling the hair with resin, fixed the hairstyle with egg whites. Especially young people who care about looks not only wearing irons but curly hair, but also decorate ribbons and ornaments on hair.

Upper class
In the beginning of the 15th century, it was fashionable to imitate Hungarian costumes in Germany and to attach a bell around the clothes. Epidemics also spread to countries around Germany, hanging metallic pomegranate bells on hoods, shoes, cloaks, belts, etc. For French people saw the appearance of walking bells funny from Germany It hardly spread to the west. This epidemic continued until the low grade fire around 1460, after which traces left in the clown costumes.

On the other hand, France was exhausted by the long war with England, the rich and peaceful Burgundy region became the center of fashion. Uppland became shorter to the upper knee length, more open designs became mainstream, such as tailoring it to a V neck with a fur collar. As costumes were perfect, the belt became unnecessary, and it became possible to attach a decorative band to be hung obliquely from the shoulder called "horn of horn". Since wearing a medal in these days was prevalent, "Bands of the horn" provided a right place for decorating the medal. The most refreshing color at the Court of Burgundy was black, and a calm fashion popularized with pearls and the like in black clothes which became glossy with new technology became popular. Costumes have come to wear a variety of diplomatic events, such as extravagant silk fabrics decorated with plenty of embroidery and jewelry that were worn at the time of a major ceremony and so on. As a luxury trend of Burgundy, he sewed a hat decorating plenty of ornamental jewels on the tip of a thin silk on his shoulder.

Shirt, doublet, and hose
The basic costume of men in this period consisted of a shirt, doublet, and hose, with some sort of overgown (robe worn over clothing).

Linen shirts were worn next to the skin. Toward the end of the period, shirts (French chemise, Italian camicia, Spanish camisa) began to be full through the body and sleeves with wide, low necklines; the sleeves were pulled through the slashings or piecing of the doublet sleeves to make puffs, especially at the elbow and the back of the arm. As the cut of doublets revealed more fabric, wealthy men's shirts were often decorated with embroidery or applied braid.

Over the shirt was worn a doublet. From around the mid-15th century very tight-fitting doublets, belted or tailored to be tight at the waist, giving in effect a short skirt below, were fashionable, at least for the young. Sleeves were generally full, even puffy, and when worn with a large chaperon, the look was extremely stylish, but very top-heavy. Very tight hose, and long pointed shoes or thigh-boots gave a long attenuated appearance below the waist, and a chunky, solid one above. The doublet was often elaborately pleated, especially at the back, the pleats being achieved by various means. In Italy both shirt and doublet were often high, tight and collarless at the front of the neck; sometimes they are shown higher at the front than the back.

Men of all classes wore short braies or breeches, a loose undergarment, usually made of linen, which was held up by a belt. Hose or chausses made out of wool were used to cover the legs, and were generally brightly colored. Early hose sometimes had leather soles and were worn without shoes or boots. Hose were generally tied to the breech belt, or to the breeches themselves, or to a doublet.

As doublets became shorter, hose reached to the waist rather than the hips, and were sewn together into a single garment with a pouch or flap to cover the front opening; this evolved into the codpiece.

The hose exposed by short tops were, especially in Italy late in the 15th century, often strikingly patterned, parti-coloured (different colours for each leg, or vertically divided), or embroidered. Hose were cut on the cross-grain or bias for stretch.

Overgowns and outerwear
The Houppelande, in Italy called the cioppa, is the characteristic overgarment of the wealthy in the first half of the 15th century. It was essentially a robe with fullness falling from the shoulders in organ pleats and very full sleeves often reaching to the floor with, at the start of the 16th century, a high collar. The houppelande could be lined in fur, and the hem and sleeves might be dagged or cut into scallops. It was initially often worn belted, but later mostly hanging straight. The length of the garment shortened from around the ankle to above the knee over this period. The floor-length sleeves were later wrist-length but very full, forming a bag or sack sleeve, or were worn off the arm, hanging ornamentally behind.

A sideless overgown or tabard, called a giornea in Italy and a journade in France, was popular. It was usually pleated and was worn hanging loose or belted. Young men wore them short and older men wore them calf- or ankle-length.

The middle of the 15th century in Burgundy saw what seems to have been the earliest occurrence of the male fashion for dressing all in black, which was to reappear so strongly in the "Spanish" style of the mid-16th–17th century and again in the 19th–20th centuries. This was apparently begun by Duke Philip the Good.

In Venice, the patrician class, after the age of joining the Great Council, wore their long red robes as a uniform virtually unchanged throughout the 15th century. In contrast, the young men and the famous courtesans of the city dressed very extravagantly.

In the last decades of the 15th century, a new style of overgown appeared; this was of various lengths, generally worn unbelted, and featured wide turned back revers and collar.

Short or long cloaks or mantles were worn overall for ceremonial occasions and in bad weather; these typically fastened on one shoulder.

Headgear

Young Italian men wear brimless caps, The Betrothal, c. 1470
Early in the 15th century, the hood remained a common component of dress for all classes, although it was frequently worn around the neck as a cowl or twisted into the fantastical shapes of the chaperon. Hats of various styles—tall-crowned with small brims or no brims at all, hats with brims turned up on one side for variations of the coif, or low-crowned with wider brims pulled to a point in front—began to compete with the draped chaperon, especially in Italy. A brimless scarlet cap became nearly universal for young Florentines in particular, and was widely worn by older men and those in other cities.

In mid-15th century, a bowl haircut with the hair shaved at the back of the neck was stylish. In Germany, and briefly in Venice, a wide shock of frizzy blond hair was often seen on images of lovers (and angels) in the later part of the 15th century—less often in portraits. By the end of the 15th century, shoulder-length hair became fashionable, a trend that would continue into the early 16th century.

Style gallery 1400–1450

1 – 1405–10	2 – 1400–19	3 – c. 1425	4 – 1433	5 – c.1435
6 – c.1435	7 – 1440	8 – 1442	9 – 1447–8

1.The lord on the left wears a long figured houppelande with full sleeves lined in fur, while the men of his household wear short solid-coloured overgowns with parti-coloured or matching hose. Several of the men wear hoods around their necks, and some wear hats. France, Livre de Chasse, 1405–10.
2.John the Fearless (d. 1419), Duke of Burgundy and father of Philip the Good, wears a fur-lined black houppelande with high neck and dagged sleeves over a red doublet. His bag-shaped hat has a rolled brim and is decorated with a jewel. Early 15th century.
3.Young man wears a draped chaperon and a dark overgown over a reddish doublet. Note the characteristic high front neckline compared to the back neckline, Florence, 1425.
4.A chaperon worn in elaborate twists, 1433.
5.John of Happy Memory (d. 1433), King of Portugal, wears a red fur-lined houppelande over a patterned doublet and a black bonnet.
6.Chancellor Rolin wears a bold floral patterned overgown with fur trim and bag sleeves. The "bowl" haircut with the back of the neck shaved was popular in mid-15th century.
7.Hose or chausses worn with braies and tied to a belt, 1440.
8.Back view of a knee-length Italian cioppa or houppelande of figured silk. One sleeve is turned back to the shoulder to reveal the lining and the doublet sleeve beneath. Sienna, 1442.
9.Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, wears an elaborately draped chaperon with a black-on-black figured silk short overgown with width at the shoulder, 1447–48.

Style gallery 1450–1500

1 – 1460s	2 – late 1460s	3 – 1467–70	4 – 1468–70	5 – c. 1470
6 – 1478	7 – 1487	8 – 1498

1.Back view of the conjoined hose of the 15th century. The man on the right has slashed undersleeves. Note V-shaped back neckline, 1460s.
2.France, late 1460s Short doublet, heavily pleated, with chaperon and thigh boots.
3.Antoine, Bastard of Burgundy, all in black, wears a soft "sugarloaf" hat and a doublet laced at the neck with a collar. 4.He wears the emblem of the Order of the Golden Fleece around his neck, 1467–70.
4.A prince (right) wears a long floral patterned overgown, while his attendants wear very short doublets with hose. All wear long pointed shoes, France, 1468–70.
5.Parti-coloured hose are worn with a sideless overgown belted at the waist. Italy, c. 1470.
6.Giuliano de' Medici wears the high collarless Italian style at the neck, 1478.
7.Maarten van Nieuvenhove wears an open overgown fastened across his chest with pairs of ribbon ties. Beneath the overgown he wears a brown velvet doublet with sleeves buttoned to the wrist. Bruges, 1487.
8.At the very end of the 15th century, Albrecht Dürer's self-portrait shows the influence of Italian fashion: His low-necked shirt or chemise of fine linen, gathered and trimmed with a band of gold braid or embroidery, is worn under an open-fronted doublet and a cloak tied over one shoulder. His hair is worn long, under a draped pointed hat with a tassel, 1498.

Source from Wikipedia