were bright and showy. Rich materials from the Byzantine East, combining Christian
symbols and floral patterns in elaborate pictorial and geometric designs, were highly
favored. Sometimes, both warp and weft were linen, but linen and wool were often used
in combination. Silk was especially prized.
In the Carolingian period, fashion changed little: long doubled tunics were still in
vogue, as were the rich eastern materials. Edges of mantles and tunics were frequently
trimmed with wide bands of embroidery; jewel-studded girdles were worn just above the
hips. Women still wore their hair long and braided, but after the 8th century it became
fashionable to hide the hair under long veils or hoods.
With the advent of the Capetians (987), styles became simpler and more severe. Men
and women both adopted the bliaut, a long straight garment with flowing sleeves. The
dress for men consisted of a thigh-length bliaut over a linen shirt with long sleeves; linen,
wool, or silk hose (chausses) in a solid color or striped horizontally with various hues;
and a mantle or cloak. The bliaut was gathered by a leather belt; the bejeweled belts and
heavy necklaces of earlier periods were abandoned. The sleeves of the bliaut were wide
and funnel-shaped until ca. 1080–90, when they were drawn tightly against the wrists.
The mantle was fastened with leather bands decorated with fringes and clasped at the
right shoulder. The male bliaut remained short for the 11th century but was lengthened in
the 12th, with the result that men’s and women’s fashions were nearly identical until the
late 13th century, consisting for both sexes of chainse, bliaut, and manteau.
Women wore two dresses, one over the other. The underdress, called a chainse or
chemise, was slash-waisted, long-sleeved, and trailing to the ground; it was made of fine
linen, silk chiffon, or cotton knit. The outer bliaut was close-fitting at the waist, flared at
the hips, with full and open sleeves. The collar was decorated with embroidered designs.
The torso of the overlayed dress was worn close to the body and was gathered at the
sides. A long silk, wool, linen, or leather belt worn on the bliaut was wrapped twice
around the waist and then reached the floor. After the 11th century, the sleeves became
longer and funnelshaped, allowing the chemise underneath to be seen. The bliaut was
fastened at the waist by a double belt of cloth, tied now instead of sporting a bejeweled
buckle. The mantle was generally fastened in the center at the breast, and a fine linen
veil, which also covered the neck and shoulders, was worn on the head. This veil was the
precursor to the wimple. Women still wore their hair long and parted in the middle, with
two braids, sometimes joined in the back and often intertwined with ribbons, trailing
nearly to the ground.
The Crusades in the 12th century introduced fashions and fabrics of oriental origin:
silk became more widely used, and cotton materials were first used in France. New
materials included samite, a heavy silk; cendal, a thinner silk like that of today; pers, a
blue material; camelin, a camel’s-hair fabric; cotton fustaine; and woven-wool serge. The
crusading knight wore a short bliaut over his armor, usually decorated with the
Crusader’s Cross and gathered at the waist by a cloth or leather belt. Another fashion
introduced by the crusaders and pilgrims was the wearing of a purse (ausmoniere)
attached to the belt or girdle; it was often distinguished by lavish needlework. Fashion
demands in the wake of the Crusades became so exacting that it became profitable for the
first time for artisans and craftsmen to mass-produce clothing, accessories, and jewelry in
specialized workshops in the larger cities of the industrialized north. Trade guilds favored
specialization and highly skilled workmanship.
The Encyclopedia 447