The contemporary British royal family has always been famous for paying attention to dress etiquette. Whether it is Queen Elizabeth, Princess Kate or Princess Megan, their dresses are fresh and elegant, unconventional, showing the royal aristocratic temperament. However, the dress style of the British royal family is not always so elegant. Looking back at history, the Tudor court costumes can be described as extremely luxurious.

Francois, a French writer, once said that the fashion magazines of an era can show human civilization far beyond what scholars, novelists and philosophers can tell.

Palace costumes are the silhouette of the palace cultural background and the epitome of values. Tudor dynasty was the golden age of British monarchy. To explore the glory of this period of history, the palace costume culture is a good starting point.

Tudor court costumes are extremely luxurious.

Henry vii, the founder of Tudor Dynasty, wore simple court clothes without too much fancy and decoration. Dark fur and dark silk skirts respectively constituted the palace costumes of men and women in this period.

Henry vii's son, Henry VIII, has serious differences with his father in the pursuit of clothes. Immediately after he ascended the throne, he set off a wave of extravagance and waste.

1, the extravagant wind set off by Henry VIII

The king of England, who grew up with a golden key, was not stingy with the consumption of clothes. This is reflected in spending huge sums of money to build every piece of clothing. It is said that he spends as much as 8000 pounds on clothes every year, which is equivalent to 654.38+200,000 pounds in today's currency. In this way, Henry VIII won a title: the most luxurious monarch in the world.

In the era when the feudal monarchy was highly developed, from the nobles outside the royal family to the common people, they always paid attention to the royal family's every move and imitated it to varying degrees in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation. Therefore, Henry VIII set off a wave of extravagance in the whole country.

Tudor royal family shows off their consumption of court clothes.

1470, john ford seck pointed out in The Rule of England that it is essential for rulers to show off their wealth, because it can shock the ruled and make them believe in their authority. The royal family in the wealth pyramid, spending huge sums of money to build Hanfu is a strategy to show their sense of nobility.

a maid in an imperial palace

Through rolling conspicuous consumption, the ruler is instantly placed in an irreplaceable position, which greatly widens the distance from ordinary people. It conveys a truth to the ruled: the position of the ruler is supreme and unique, and anyone who wants to confront the monarch will not come to a good end. Undoubtedly, this measure to maintain the external image of the royal family has played a role in strengthening the imperial power.

In this dimension, the clothing culture embodied in ideology helped the British royal family seize power from the Pope.

Continuing the tradition of the dark Middle Ages, the Catholic Church advocated absolute abstinence, while the Tudor royal family's pursuit of luxury and material desires aroused strong dissatisfaction from the Catholic Pope.

Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I often have disputes and conflicts with the Catholic church, which expresses strong criticism, on the issue of luxury clothing.

There are many unresolved contradictions between Tudor royal family and Catholic church in succession to the throne, division of property rights and ideological control for a long time. However, the controversy over clothing has further intensified the contradiction from the perspective of sensory stimulation and the concept of maintaining the external image of the royal family.

Noble woman

From 1529 to 1536, Henry VIII successfully wrested the highest power from the British monarch through the religious reform in seven parliaments, which was tantamount to announcing a complete break with the Catholic Church.

Behind the luxurious court dress is a strict hierarchy.

1. Promulgate laws to restrict luxury.

Henry VIII was a monarch deeply influenced by the feudal aristocratic concept. He thinks there should be a strict hierarchy between clothes. To this end, the Law on Limiting Luxury was promulgated. We can't simply take this bill literally: restrictions on extravagant winds. Contrary to the literal meaning,

According to the division method of royal family, ordinary aristocrats and civilians, this bill divides the people of Tudor dynasty into strict grades, stipulating that people of each grade can only wear clothes with corresponding fabrics, knitting methods and colors.

Henry VIII's clothing concept laid the foundation of Tudor court clothing. After decades of development, the design of court costumes has become more and more exquisite, and the royal family's pursuit of splendor has never changed.

Silk and velvet are increasingly put into the production of court costumes, and exquisite gloves, fans and other decorations are also added to the luxury camp of women's costumes.

church

Elizabeth I, on the other hand, showed the elegance of court costumes to the fullest.

Smooth and delicate satin dresses, from neck to tail, are full of valuable jewels, and the density is far greater than the starry sky. From then on, the bondage of female body began. In order to show her waist, Elizabeth I took the initiative to tighten her chest and abdomen, and the whole person was wrapped in a wide whale bone skirt.

2. The strict hierarchy can be seen from the clothing differences between the royal family and the common people.

The break with the Catholic church accelerated the pace of more gorgeous court costumes.

Protestant cross, Tudor rose and sable hair are essential elements in the costume of the British supreme ruler in the16th century. White mink is the best animal fur, not only because this lovely little animal has excellent leather, but also because it is very difficult to tame, and the domestication time is very short.

Gongting clothing

According to records, in Renaissance Europe, people just began to domesticate this fierce little animal. At that time, Britain was only influenced by the Renaissance. Sable hair has appeared in a large number of royal costumes, and its luxury can be seen.

Not only that, in many of Elizabeth's portraits, you can see the "ring collar" with complicated craftsmanship. It takes about 5 hours to sew, finalize and finalize.

During the same period in Britain, many farmers were driven out of their homes because of the enclosure movement, with no clothes to wear and no food to eat. According to the law that restricts luxury goods, civilians can only buy cloth that does not exceed two shillings per yard. And imported fabrics are not allowed to be bought by civilians.

Compared with ordinary aristocrats, the fabric requirements are relatively loose. You can buy imported fabrics, and the color is not a single dark color.

wedding

With the decline of the Catholic Church, the court costumes of Tudor dynasty became more gorgeous. While enjoying luxury, the royal family suppressed the pursuit of beauty and material desires of other classes.

3. conspicuous consumption brought bitter fruit to Tudor dynasty.

The wind of luxury made the Tudor royal family have no stage fright in the face of domestic big families, established enough authority, and did not lose momentum in the process of confronting foreign missions. However, it is a long-standing fact that the conspicuous consumption of British kings in past dynasties led to the corruption of Tudor dynasty.

Tudor dynasty spent conspicuous expenditure on clothing and other aspects, and most of the money needed was obtained through tax collection. Even under the constraints of parliament, the British monarch can collect a lot of money from taxes every year. With the opening of new air routes, Britain has also benefited a lot from triangle trade.

However, Britain's overseas expansion ambition continues, which requires huge financial support. In addition, capitalism is budding in Britain, and a lot of infrastructure needs investment.

noble family

In A General History of Oxford, England, it is described as follows: Elizabeth's inertia accelerated the collapse of the Tudor dynasty, leaving a pitiful tax revenue. The prevalence of corruption in the central government and the imperfection of local government system and mechanism accelerated the collapse of Tudor dynasty.

It can be seen that the British royal family failed to control the property well, and the Tudor dynasty at the end of 16 was overwhelmed. Indeed, conspicuous consumption once brought bright honor to Tudor dynasty, but in the end it suffered greatly.

The positive significance of Tudor court dress to some extent.

In fact, everything has two sides. Even the Tudor court clothes are the same.

1. The court costumes in this period strongly expressed the awakening of self-awareness and were deeply influenced by the Renaissance.

In medieval Europe from the 5th century A.D. to15th century A.D., clothes were mainly plain, and all women who should be fresh and bright were dressed in black or gray. Not only that, the church at that time despised money very much, so even the British royal family was not allowed to spend too much money on clothing production, resulting in a very single style of clothing in the Middle Ages.

Under the influence of the Renaissance, overthrowing the dominant position centered on the church and pursuing secular enjoyment and freedom have become the knowledge of many Europeans. This is also clearly reflected in the court costumes of Tudor dynasty. Presumably, the original intention of improving the court dress was to break the repressed normal desire for beauty in the Middle Ages and express the awakening of self-consciousness by highlighting the female figure.

2. Gradually break the ideological control of the church over the British people.

The Qing government is facing extinction, and many scholars believe that only by cutting off the braid can the new idea of saving the country be spread and popularized. Modifying the court dress has the same effect.

Black, big and fat clothes are the imprint of the Middle Ages. Since the Renaissance began to shake the foundation of the Middle Ages from the ideological level, the clothing that embodies ideology should also be improved.

It's a pity that the court dress of Tudor dynasty fell from one extreme to the other.

Elizabeth and her husband

Palace costumes are the silhouette of the palace cultural background and the epitome of values. Tudor's court dress, first of all, has positive significance for the resistance and confrontation of abstinence and suppression of personal thoughts in the Middle Ages. Royal clothing should embody dignity, majesty and nobility.

However, after revision by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, it was overcorrected and fell into the abyss of extravagance and waste, which largely led to the deficit of national finance and accelerated the demise of Tudor dynasty.