Michelle A. Seidman

European Renaissance
http://www.realarmorofgod.com/renaissance-fashion.html

As I continued my search to find out exactly what the European Renaissance was, I happened to stumble upon an article about the Fashion in the European Renaissance. Being a pretty in style girl myself, I decided to read the article. I found it extremely interesting! The article discusses how the fashion came from both Italian and Germanic designers. In the Renaissance, the popular fashion styles ranged from wide, to barrel-shaped and square fashions. It was very interesting to find out that “Clothing then, as now, was a “status” symbol. However, it was an even bigger status symbol during the renaissance” (realarmorofgod.com). If you were wealthy back then, fashion and clothing was a priority. The wealthy literally wore their wealth on them. The richer you were, the more expensive fabrics were used in your clothing. These fabrics ranged from silk, brocade, velvet, and cotton (which was very expensive back then).

Pawning clothing was also popular. If times got rough, people would pawn clothing, because this would retain value and had significant societal importance. Even kings and queens would pawn their clothing.

During the European Renaissance, it was “typical of many cultures, the ruling class often drove Renaissance fashion trends because they were the only ones who could afford the designers prices” (realarmorofgod.com). The commoners or the lower class invented the technique of ‘slashing’.

Consequently, the royals were in control of the fashion. They would restrict luxuries from the lower class. They would pass laws on certain colors that the commoners could only wear. This is where the ‘slashing’ technique was invented. The commoners would layer clothing and slash shapes into their clothing so the other colors would show through. This was a great thing they did. I can just imagine how upset this made the royals.