Overview of an Elizabethan Outfit

If you’re going to wear an under-petticoat under your farthingale to keep warm and to prevent
any flashes of leg, put that on now. Petticoats were underskirts worn both for decoration (often
an overskirt would be tucked up to display a pretty underskirt) and for warmth. Decorated
petticoats were worn over a farthingale and buniroll (see the next two sections), but flannel
under-petticoats are also documented as being worn underneath the farthingale. The tailors’
patterns of the time, and surviving petticoats and skirts, most commonly show slightly gored or
flared pieces gathered or pleated to a waistband. For more information on petticoats, visit this
page on Elizabethan Petticoats
Put on your farthingale/hoop skirt. The Spanish farthingale, worn from
approximately 1540-1580, was a cone-shaped underskirt stiffened with willow
osiers or other materials. The design for this farthingale was imported from
Spain; hence the name. It was this undergarment which created the signature
early Elizabethan A-line skirt. As the century waned, it gradually gave way to
the French Farthingale, which had a different look altogether. For more info on
the farthingale and its evolution throughout the Elizabethan era, look at the
sections on the History of the Farthin2ale and Making Elizabethan Farthingales.
The corset/pair of bodies. This was a close-fitting stiffened garment, usually
with a wooden busk down the front to make it flatter and stiffer. The pair of
bodies, or some comparative type of stiffening, is essential for all middle class
and upper class Elizabethan gowns; even if you have a beautiful bodice and
sleeves, the period effect will be ruined by the torso’s natural lumps and bulges
if you go without a corset, unless the bodice itself is heavily boned (in which
case it is itself called a pair of bodies--you have to love period terminology).
Look at the sections on the History of the Elizabethan Corset, Corset Materials,
Corset Patterns and Sewing a Corset Together to find out more about this garment.
Put on your bumroll. The bumroll, worn by almost all Elizabethan women of
any means, was a round, crescent-shaped pad that makes the skirt stick out like
it should. Look at Making an Elizabethan Bumroll for more information.
If you have a partlet, this goes on now. The partlet was a curious item of
clothing worn by Tudor and Elizabethan women which covered only the front
and back chest and tied under the arms. Originally it was worn over a dress,
but by the mid 16th century it was, for the most part, worn over the corset and
under the bodice.