Tudor England is famous for its beautiful and ornate clothing, particularly during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Clothes were a means of displaying how wealthy a person was. Rich people could afford clothing made of fine wool, linen or silk. Their clothes were decorated with jewels and embroidered with gold thread.
No rich person felt properly dressed to impress unless he or she was wearing a ruff. Like so many Tudor clothes, it gave a strong signal about the wealth and importance of the person wearing it.
Rich ladies wore padded skirts held up with loops. Over these went bodices and colourful floor-length gowns.
Rich men wore white silk shirts, frilled at the neck and wrists. Over this they wore a doublet (a bit like a tight-fitting jacket), and close-fitting striped trousers (called hose).
Everyone wore their hair shoulder length.
Why did the Tudors wear ruffs and why did the ladies wear stomachers and have to cover themselves up?
It was all to do with fashion, a bit like ripped jeans are today. It was the in thing to wear ruffs and for ladies to make their stomachs as small as they could by wearing corsets and wide skirts.