Some years ago, in the Pre-Covid times, I decided I wanted to make a plain suit of Elizabethans. Something from the very end of Elizabeth's reign, and suitable for working in; setting up tents, fighting, maybe some hiking, sitting in the tavern, etc. A suit of late period clothing where getting it dirty would only add to the character of the garments rather than spoiling them. In the end, I settled on a suit of round hose in wool broadcloth, and a doublet in another broadcloth or hemp/linen canvas. While the doublet is still in the works (but is actually being worked on!), I actually finished the round hose over a year ago; I just haven't had any motivation to write (acquiring a new, functional computer helped a bit, but that was purchased *mumble* months ago...). Wish me luck on this...I'm well out of practice on writing at all, never mind project documentation; thankfully, I took a fair amount of notes...but not enough.
The hose are, as said, made in common man's cloths and suitable for the tail end of the 1500s and into the 1600s.. Finding exemplars was more difficult than the norm for this period, as working class people aren't particularly popular subjects of paintings, and I additionally had a particular look in my head. In the end, the Samuel Pepys's Cries of London was a major resource and inspiration for both the hose and doublet forms.
The Cries of London is a particular genre of artwork which often dealt with the lower classes of various cities (e.g London, Bologna). The term allegedly comes from the "Cries" or calls of the various traders as they tried to attract customers [Payne, abstract]. In the case of the examples collected by Samuel Pepys, the collection we know as gathered up to 100 years after publishing. The actual artist of these is unknown, as is the original date, although based on fashion style I estimate this example is from last quarter of the 16th century.
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| From Spitalfields Life Blog |
