The innermost layer of a woman's clothing was a linen or woolen chemise or smock, some fitting the figure and some loosely garmented, although there is some mention of a "breast girdle" or "breast band" which may have been the precursor of a modern bra.[24]
Women also wore hose or stockings, although women's hose generally only reached to the knee.[15]
All classes and both sexes are usually shown sleeping naked—special nightwear only became common in the 16th century[25]—yet some married women wore their chemises to bed as a form of modesty and piety. Many in the lower classes wore their undergarments to bed because of the cold weather at night time and since their beds usually consisted of a straw mattress and a few sheets, the undergarment would act as another layer.