Clothes

The rich wore smart clothes made from fine wool, linen, velvet, silk, or fur. Both sexes liked bright colours. Lords and ladies had their clothes decorated with gold and silver thread, jewels, and fancy buttons.

Ladies' dresses were always long. Their heads were kept covered, and in the fifteenth century they wore large, heavy head-dresses. Between 1450 and 1500, the well-dressed man wore a very short tunic and bright hose (or tights). Sometimes the hose had different-coloured legs.

Peasants' clothes were made from coarse woollen or linen cloth. Many of them kept warm by wearing sheepskin or leather jackets. They dressed in dull colours - grey, dark brown, or dark green. Some could not afford shoes.

Walter Robson: Medieval Britain; Oxford University Press, 1991/2000, page 82