Featuring detailed analyses of clothing culture in 17th-century provincial Sussex, this original study draws on previously unexploited sources to create an intimate and nuanced portrait of people and their clothes. An introductory chapter uses 17th-century literature to identify and explore contemporary ideas about clothing, the individual and society, as well as the relationship between London and the provinces and the causes and consequences of conspicuous clothing consumption.
Subsequent chapters look at the production, distribution and acquisition of clothing in Sussex and the participation of consumers in these processes; the role of London as a centre of fashionable clothing consumption and the experience of wealthier consumers in shopping there; the clothing worn by individual men, women and older children of the 'middle' and 'better' sort and the extent to which they participated in contemporary, London-driven, fashion culture. A final chapter examines the clothing worn by the poor, including vagrants, parish paupers and the 'labouring' poor.
With over 40 images Clothing in 17th-Century Provincial England offers a new window onto early modern experiences of clothing.
Author(s): Danae Tankard
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: xii+268
Cover page
Halftitle page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
1 Introduction
Studying seventeenth-century clothing
Case studies
Seventeenth-century Sussex
2 Literary Constructions of Clothing, the Individual and Society
Clothing and the social order
The naked Englishman
Men and women, youth and age
Understanding excessive consumption
The city and fashion excess
Clothing, the ‘golden age’ and present-day rustic contentment
Conclusion
3 Clothing and Textile Production, Distribution and Acquisition
The supply of woollen cloth and clothing
Tailors
The supply of linen cloth and clothing
Shopping
The second-hand and ready-made clothing markets
Conclusion
4 London and the Provincial Consumer
Seventeenth-century London
London’s shops
London and the provincial consumer
Shopping in person
Proxy shopping
Commissioning directly from a London tailor or mercer
The Jeakes and metropolitan consumption
Conclusion
5 The Clothing of Provincial Gentlemen
The style of men’s clothes
The country gentleman
Giles Moore
The Roberts men and Edward May
Samuel Jeake
Richard Stapley
Conclusion
6 The Clothing of Provincial Gentlewomen
The style of women’s clothes
Cosmetics and artificial enhancements
Women’s clothes and the law
The country gentlewoman
Judith Morley
Martha Mayhew
Elizabeth Jeake
Conclusion
7 The Clothing of the Poor
Clothing and ‘counterfeit’ vagrants
The amount and variety of clothing owned by the poor
Clothing the parish poor
‘Clothes to go handsome in’: the clothing culture of the poor
Conclusion
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
