Clothing has changed so much over the past couple centuries. It has gotten more casual. The men and women both wore several layers of clothing for all occasions. Women wore corsets at all times during the day, and always wore floor length dresses. Men typically wore bloomer-like pants and shoes called mules. But, Elizabethan era clothing had different styles for different occasions and for different social classes.
Several different styles remained mostly the same for all social classes. There were some, however, that were quite different. The party styles, for instance, the royal social classes were much more elaborate (than the common classes) when it came to balls and celebratory events. One of the big differences was the ruffs they would wear. Ruffs were “…perhaps the defining item of Elizabethan Clothing” (Lucy Moore, n.pag.). They were made of lace and silk, finely pleated and highly starched. “A gentlewoman,” says Lucy Moore, “would bring her ironed ruff to the party in a special box; her maid would pin it on her when they arrived.” (n.pag.) Another style that varied greatly was the casual appearance. The royal classes would still be quite formal when they were up to nothing, where as the more common classes would wear more ragged clothing. But they still had one thing in common, “Even working men and women,” writes Lucy Moore, “wore ruffs…more modest in size and…less maintained.” (n.pag.)
Certain social classes were forbidden to wear certain types or colors of clothing. For example, Lucy Moore states that “A Courtier might wear two or three ruffs, one on top of the other…thickly decorated with lace, embroidery, and jewels.” (n.pag.) Lucy Moore says that ruffs are “…a mark of vanity….” (n.pag.). The common social classes were the most limited as to what they could wear, for “Long cloaks were frowned on, and velvet coats were forbidden to those below the rank of a Knight; only women above the rank of Viscountess were allowed to wear cloth of gold or...