Fashion Continuity from 1550 - 1600...

1550-1600 in fashion

English opulence, Italian reticella lace ruff, (possibly) Polish ornamentation, a French farthingale, and Spanish severity: The "Ermine Portrait" of Elizabeth I

Fashion in the period 1550-1600 in Western European clothing is characterized by increased opulence, the rise of the ruff, the expansion of the farthingale for women, and, for men, the disappearance of the codpiece.

General trends

Isaac Oliver's allegorical painting of 1590-95 contrasts virtuous and licentious dress and behavior.
The Spanish style
Charles V, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor, handed over the kingdom of Spain to his son Philip II and the Empire to his brother Maximilian II in 1558, ending the domination of western Europe by a single court, but the Spanish taste for sombre richness of dress would dominate fashion for the remainder of the century. New alliances and trading patterns arose as the divide between Catholic and Protestant countries became more pronounced.
The severe, rigid fashions of the Spanish court were dominant everywhere except France and Italy; black garments were worn for the most formal occasions. Regional styles were still distinct though.[3] Janet Arnold in her analysis of Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe records identifies French, Italian, Dutch, and Polish styles for bodices and sleeves, as well as Spanish.

Italian doublet and hose decorated with applied trim and parallel cuts contrast with a severe black jerkin, 1560

Linen ruffs worn at Court grew from a narrow frill at neck and wrists to a broad "cartwheel" style that required a wire support by the 1580s. Later ruffs were made of delicate reticella, a cutwork lace that evolved into the needlelaces of the seventeenth century.

Fabrics and trims
The general trend toward abundant surface ornamentation in the Elizabethan Era was mirrored in clothing, especially amongst the aristocracy in England: shirts and chemises were embroidered with blackwork and edged in lace, and heavy cut velvets and brocades were further ornamented with applied bobbin lace, gold and silver embroidery, and jewels.[6] Toward the end of the period, polychrome (multicolored) silk embroidery became fashionable.[7].
Leather and fabric garments continued to be decorated by slashing and punching the fabric in regular patterns, and linings could be pulled through the slashes in small puffs. [6]
Clothing was fastened with buttons or tied with cord or ribbon points. For the wealthy, buttons were made of silver and gold and set with gemstones, and points were tipped with aiguillettes or aiglets of precious metals. By the end of the period, a sharp distinction could be seen between the sober fashions favored by Protestants in England and the Netherlands, which still showed heavy Spanish influence, and the light, revealing fashions of the French and Italian courts; this distinction would carry over well into the seventeenth century...

Women's Fashion

Isabella de' Medici's bodice fastens with small gold buttons and loops. A double row of loops trims the shoulder, 1560-65.
Bodices and sleeves
The narrow-shouldered, wide-cuffed "trumpet" sleeves characteristic of the 1540s and 1550s disappeared with the accession of Elizabeth, in favor of French and Spanish styles with narrower sleeves. Gloves of perfumed leather featured embroidered cuffs.
Folding fans appeared late in the period, replacing flat fans of ostrich feathers.

Hairstyles and headgear

Elizabeth I wears padded shoulder rolls and an embroidered partlet and sleeves. Her low-necked chemise is just visible above the arched bodice, 1572.
Early in the period, hair was parted in the center and fluffed over the temples; later front hair was curled and puffed high over the forehead. Wigs and false hairpieces were used to extend the hair.
In keeping with tradition, married women in Northern Europe wore their hair pinned up and covered. A close-fitting linen cap called a coif or biggins was worn, alone or under other hats or hoods, especially in the Netherlands and England; many embroidered and bobbin-lace-trimmed English coifs survive from this period. A style called in French at attifet was wired or starched into a slight heart-shape; it is called a Mary Stuart cap by costume historians, after the Queen of Scots who wears this French style in several portraits. Flemish and French hoods were worn into the 1560s (and later farther from Court and great cities).
Another fashionable headdress was a caul or cap of net-work lined in silk attached to a band, which covered the pinned up hair, which had been seen in Germany in the first half of the century.
In this period, women began to wear hats similar to those worn by men, usually over a caul or coif. This fashion was deplored by Puritan commentator Philip Stubbes in his Anatomie of Abuses 1583 (although a tall hat would become a characteristic of Puritan women's costume in the 1590s and for half a century thereafter, contributing to the popular notion of "Pilgrim" dress).