A c. 1300 wardrobe of a green cotte and a pink gardecorps
Made in 2005
The main inspiration for this outfit is this illumination from
the Codex Manesse, a german manuscript from the early 14th century.
There are however many more examples of this type of garment. Documentation and a description of the making of the pink gardecorps can be found in
the dress diary, which you may want to look at. The reason why I did a dress diary for a c. 1300 garment, which
is very unusual, most dress diaries are of 16th century clothes, is that I was asked by a woman how clothes from the 13th century looked and what layers they were made of. That is
the reason why there are also pictures of the underwear and the cotte that goes under the gardecorps. You may have noticed that she asked for the 13th c. while the Codex Manesse is from the
early 14th century. This type of costume can however be seen already from the middle of the 13th century, a good example is this picture of queen Emma, from a mid 13th c. manuscript:
Next to it, you see how the gardecorps looks with the hood up. Both the cotte and the gardecorps are also constructed from a pattern taken from the gown of
st. Clare of Assisi, which is dated to c. 1250.
But if we get back to he layers worn: First there's a simple linen shift made with rectangular construction, a straight piece for the body with triangular gores at the side and
sleeves made from straight pieces. The odd vertical seams that can be seen over the bust are nursing slits that I have sewn shut now that I'm not nursing Maja so much anymore.
With this I'm wearing sewn over-knee hose made from red wool and held up with garters at the knee.
Then I have a green wool cotte a simple linen chinband and a fillet with a wavy edge. The belt is a hand woven ribbon, but one could also use a leather belt.
If I had things I wanted to carry with me, like a purse or a small knife they would be hung from this belt and they could be reached through small slits in the side seams of the gardecorps, called fichets.
By this time I have also put on shoes.And then it's time for the gardecorps
A common idea about the middle ages is that married women never showed their hair. That is not true, married women always wore some kind of headwear, but how
it looked and how much it covered varied between times and places. The way I'm wearing my hair in these picture is perfectly fitting for a married woman in Germany c. 1300, but to wear it loose
without the chinband a fillet or/and a veil would probably not have been proper. If one wants to cover the hair more a veil could always be draped on top of the fillet. More ways of having your hair and headwear from
the early 14th c. can be found on picture of my other 14th c. outfits in the Costume Gallery. For the 13th c. it seems to be most common to wear one's hair in a bun with
or without a hairnet and then a chinband or wimple and the fillet.
