Tudor Fashion: Dressing for Power

As part of Hosting Henry VIII Week we are delighted to explore the word of Tudor fashion.

The Tudor Monarchs and their courtiers are some of the best-known figures in history. They continue, even today, to spark our curiosity and imagination. Their enduring popularity is no doubt partly due to the iconic portraits in which they are depicted in magnificent style, with ruffs and farthingales, codpieces, and cloaks. However, far from being mere decoration, fashion was pivotal in the communication of status and power. 

The Courtenay's outfits for the occasion of the king's stay in 1533 are not recorded, but we can be sure they would have dressed in rich fabrics with Gertrude wearing her best jewellery. Her collection of jewels included a necklace of peals set with as many as ninteen diamonds. Henry Courtenay's outfits were often wildly extravagant. He owned a white satin jacket fringed with gold, a black velvet jacket fringed with gold and a red silk hat laced with gold. Henry commisisoned matching hunting costumes in green velvet for himself, his wife and their young son. A replica of the young Lord Edward's hunting costume has been made and will be on display in the manor house. 

Join fashion historian Eleri Lynn to discover how courtiers got ready for court, and how clothes were used as a tool in securing and holding the tenuous Tudor throne and as a competitive weapon in the factions, intrigues, and love affairs of the court.

Eleri Lynn

Eleri Lynn is a fashion curator and author. She is the author of Tudor Fashion (Yale University Press, 2017 – winner of the Historians of British Art Prize), and Tudor Textiles (Yale University Press, 2020).  Eleri has curated and overseen major exhibitions at National Museum Wales, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Historic Royal Palaces, including The Lost Dress of Elizabeth I (Hampton Court Palace). She is a guest lecturer at several universities and is regularly interviewed for TV, including BBC2’s ‘Art That Made Us’ and BBC1’s ‘Elizabeth: Fashioning a Monarch’. Eleri is a Trustee of the Royal School of Needlework.

Important Information

Ticket Cost: £15

Tickets also give you access to the manor house from 1-2pm

Venue: the barn

Suitable for ages 12+ (under 16s must be accompanied)

Eleri's talk will be followed by a chance for the audience to ask questions.