I’m always delighted and relieved when people actually make comments. Thanks, Colin and John, for pointing out that the “Dark Ages” are less so than they first seemed, and that the Church had an active interest in keeping bodies draped. John also noted that tailoring and court fashions truly changed the tenor of dress. I’ve wondered in return if this was an early example of human nature and its craving for interesting dress trumping the religious morality of the times... With fashion firmly established during the Middle Ages, what can be said about the creation of fashionable styles? Clothing styles that had previously existed for long periods, even decades, now began to change on a more rapid basis. Sometimes fashions manifested themselves as changes to specific garments, and the houppelande became a ready palette for such stylistic change. By definition, the houppelande was a long, full-skirted gown with a high collar. Worn by both sexes, it was a staple garment from the 14th through 16th centuries. The way that the upper classes and nobility wore the houppelande, however, dramatically demonstrates the effects of fashion, as we see in this wonderful illustration from the time of Richard II of England. The taste for exaggerated sleeves and shoes with turned up points, known as poulaine, marked the wearer as a privileged person – someone who definitely didn’t need to do manual labor. Royalty and their noble-born followers were so intent on preserving the ability to make fashions unique to themselves, they failed to notice how quickly the lower classes were able to ape their betters. And so we see an early example of the power of fashion at work within an unequal society. Once they did take notice, the upper classes discarded their fashions with practiced ease, moving on to the next enthusiasm in dress. The invention of tailoring in the 14th century not only aided the development of court fashion and military uniforms, it also offered more practical garment adjustments. The fashion cycle was spinning more frequently, in a continuing quest to renew itself as something fresh and ready to be envied and admired. In other words, becoming more like what we’re familiar with, eh?