Clothing of 1200 - 1300

1200-1300 in fashion

13th century clothing features long, belted tunics with surcoats or mantles in various styles. The man on the right wears a gardcorps, and the one on the left a Jewish hat. Women wear linen headdresses or wimples and veils, c. 1250

Costume during the thirteenth century in Europe was very simple for both men and women, and quite uniform across the subcontinent. Male and female clothing were relatively similar, and changed very slowly, if at all. Most clothing, especially outside the wealthier classes, remained little changed from three or four centuries earlier. The century saw great progress in the dyeing and working of wool, which was by far the most important material for outer wear. For the rich, colour was very important. Blue was introduced for the first time, and became very fashionable, being adopted by the Kings of France as their heraldic colour.

Men's clothing

Men wore a tunic, cote or cotte with a surcoat over a linen shirt. One of these surcoats was the cyclas, which began as a rectangular piece of cloth with a hole in it for the head. Over time the sides were sewn together to make a long, sleeveless tunic. When sleeves and sometimes hood were added, the cyclas became a ganache (a cap-sleeved surcoat, usually shown with hood of matching color) or a gardcorps (a long, generous-sleeved traveling robe, somewhat resembling a modern academic robe). A mantle was worn as a formal wrap. Men also wore hose, shoes, and headdress. The clothing of royalty was set apart by its rich fabric and luxurious furs. Hair and beard were moderate in length, and men generally wore their hair in a "pageboy" style, curling under at necklength. Shoes were slightly pointed, and embroidered for royalty and higher clergy.

Working men's clothing

Working men wore a short cotte, or tunic, with a belt. It was slit up the center of the front so that they could tuck the corners into their belt to create more freedom of movement. They wore long braies or leggings with legs of varying length, often visible as they worked with their cotte tucked into their belt. Hose could be worn over this, attached to the drawstring or belt at the waist. Hats included a round cap with a slight brim, the beret (just like modern French ones, complete with a little tab at the top), the coif (a little tight white hood with strings that tied under the chin), the straw hat (in widespread use among farmworkers), and the chaperon, then still a hood that came round the neck and over the shoulders. Apart from aprons for trades like smithing, and crude clothes tied round the neck to hold seed for sewing, special clothes were not worn for working.

Women's clothing
Woman in a barbette and coif, sleeveless surcoat, gown and mantle. Sketch by Villard de Honnecourt, c.1230

Overview

Dress for women was restrained. A floor length, loosely-fitted gown, with long, tight sleeves and a narrow belt was uniform. Over this was worn the cyclas or sleeveless surcoat (also worn by men). Richer women wore more embroidery, and the mantle, held in place by a cord across the chest, might be lined with fur. Women also wore hose and leather shoes, like men.

Headdresses and hairstyles

Individuality in women's costume was expressed through their hair and headdress. One distinctive part of thirteenth-century women's headwear was the barbette, a chin band to which a hat or various other headdress might be attached. This hats might be a "woman's coif", which more nearly resembled a pillbox hat, severely plain or fluted. The hair was often confined by a net called a crespine or crespinette, visible only at the back. Later in the century the barbette and coif were reduced to narrow strips of cloth, and the entire hairdress might be covered with the crespine, the hair fashionable bulky over the ears. Coif and barbette were white, while the crespine might be colored or gold. The wimple and veil of the twelfth century (still seen on nuns today) was still worn, mainly by older women and widows.