Why Were Big Collars Such A Fashion Statement In The Elizabethan Era?
Ruffs Were Impractical, But Popular With Nobility Because As The Collars Grew Taller And Stiffer, They Held One's Head High
Photo: Michael Conrad Hirt / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainAlthough members of the working class wore ruffs, they didn't allow for ease of movement. Certainly, manual labor wasn't possible. Even the wealthiest men and women had difficulty eating while wearing ruffs, often adopting long utensils that extended the length of the neckpiece.
Elaborate ruffs were made in part to highlight this impracticality. By wearing large ruffs made out of the finest materials, adorned with lace, and decorated with gold, wearers demonstrated to the world that they didn't have to perform tasks like those undertaken by commoners. Rather, ruff-wearers had servants to do that for them. They also had servants to launder, prepare, and maintain their ruffs, ironing and starching them when needed.
The way a ruff affected posture was also part of their significance. While wearing a ruff, men and women had no choice but to keep their heads up, demonstrating confidence and pride.
Because ruffs had such social prestige, not wearing one was, in a way, taboo. Men and women wore ruffs whenever they went out, even dressing their children in them for a simple trip to market.
The Invention Of Starch Led To More Elaborate Ruffs
Photo: Nicholas Hilliard / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainThe practice of adding starch to a ruff began in the Low Countries during the mid-1560s. When Mistress Dinghen van der Plasse brought starch to England in 1564, she began training garment makers, English women, and interested parties how to starch their clothes.
It was quickly discovered that adding a starch paste to a freshly washed ruff caused it to stand tall. After an initial pasting of starch was applied to pleated fabric - many times colored with some sort of vegetable dye - it was left to dry. Then a second coat was added.
With the addition of starch, ruffs got bigger and more elaborate. Wires and other supports were still used, even boards that were hidden behind large folds. When goffering irons were introduced soon after starch, the shapes of ruffs were even more structured. By 1580, ruffs were so large they could extend the width of a nobleman or gentleman's shoulders.
They Started Out As Shirt Collars
Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainGoffered frills, or ruffs, began as an extension of a man's shirt. As the frilly add-ons grew larger and extended further, ruffs were transitioned into a separate accessory piece. Crafted using pleats in figure-eight shapes, ruffs were adopted by women by the early 1560s and were often made out of a mixture of linen and lace.
By the 1570s, ruffs could be nothing but lace, held together with pieces of bone, wood, ivory, or steel. Ruffs were usually pinned to one's clothing to hold them in place. Queen Elizabeth was said to have ordered pins by the thousands to accommodate her wardrobe, ruffs included.
The added benefit of starch made ruffs even available as stand-alone fashion pieces. Once a ruff was its own entity, it was tied around one's neck with a drawstring or tassels to keep it in place. As ruffs became bigger and stood out further - as far as 12 inches - they represented wealth, social status, and prestige.
Ruffs Could Be Made With Dozens Of Yards Of Fabric
Photo: François Clouet / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainRuff collars in Spain were made with numerous of yards of fabric, with one extant collar incorporating 42 yards of linen.
In England, the amount of fabric that went into a Tudor ruff varied, with the earliest "cartwheel" or "fan-shaped" ruffs using about 6 yards of fabric. When Lady Cobham wrote to Bess of Hardwick in 1564, she remarked on a garment she was making, indicating how fashion had changed and that "10 yards is enough for the ruffs of the neck and hands."
As the 16th century progressed, more and more lace and linen was necessary as ruffs became larger. During the 1580s, 18 yards of material were used with supporting wire, decorative edging, and elaborate ornamentation.
A Lot Of Ruffs Could Only Be Worn Once
Photo: Gaspar de Crayer / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 FRRuffs were fragile, and the materials used to construct them could fall apart due to hot weather, rain, or body heat. As a result, many ruffs were only worn once.
Because ruffs were increasingly made using the most delicate lace and other materials, weighed down by more and more adornments, this, too, caused them to lose shape. Quite often supportasses, or stiff wire frames, were used to keep the ruff in place and help it keep shape. Boards were also employed, although they were never seen under the large ruffs.
Queen Elizabeth I Legislated Ruff Size Under Her Rule
Photo: Attributed to William Segar / Wikipedia / Public DomainQueen Elizabeth wore ruffs, enjoyed ruffs, and essentially determined ruff trends. In addition to banning blue ruffs, the monarch also legislated the size of ruffs worn in her kingdom.
Ruffs were worn by men and women, poor and wealthy, commoners and nobles alike, but when double ruffs appeared on the scene during her reign, she forbade them. Elizabeth also tried to keep the size of ruffs within a certain limit, tasking the Lord Mayor of London with "reforming... monstrous ruffs, and other disorders." In 1580, one target of the order was a certain Mr. Hewson who, on account of "wearing excess of ruffs, in the open street, after Easter, against Her [Majesty's] proclamation," was defiant in his style.
Hewson refused to stop wearing his large ruffs and appealed to his father-in-law, the Lord Chief Baron, to intercede on his behalf.
On the whole, however, this law was generally ignored in the interest of displaying wealth, garnering attention, and currying position within political and social circles (as was the case with most Tudor legislation that attempted to regulate spending).
Protestants Pointed To Ruffs As Symbols Of Excess
Photo: William Larkin / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainFor 16th-century Protestants, ruffs represented excess, something best demonstrated by Philip Stubbes (or Stubbs). Stubbes was a devout Puritan who decried English men and women for living nonvirtuous lives. Stubbs published a pamphlet in 1583 that mentions the evils of ruffs and those who wore them:
They have great and monstrous ruffes, made... of some other the finest cloth that can be got for money, whereof some be a quarter of a yard deep, yea, some more, very few lesse; So that they stand a full quarter of a yarde (and more) from their necks, [dangling] over their shoulder poynts, instead of a vaile... The devil, as he in the fulnes of his malice, first invented these great ruffes...
Stubbes criticized starch, too: A certaine kinde of liquide matter which they call Starch, wherin the devill hath willed them to wash and dive his ruffes wel, which when they be dry, wil then stand stiffe and inflexible about their necks."
Stubbes also took issue with the ornamentation on what he called "foolish devices," criticizing the, "golde, silver, or silk lace of stately price, wrought all over with needle work, speckled and sparkled heer and there with the sonne, the moone, the starres, and many other antiquities" found on many ruffs.
Ruffs Came In Numerous Colors
Photo: Peter Paul Rubens (After) / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainGenerally seen as white in paintings, ruffs were actually worn in a variety of colors. The fabric itself wasn't colorful, but the starch used on ruffs could be dyed yellow, blue, or green. Vegetable dyes were also used to create pink or mauve colors, added to a starch paste spread on every fold of a ruff.
By the 1590s, the queen decided blue starch was no longer an option, apparently because blue was the color of Scotland's flag. Elizabeth banned blue ruffs, indicating that "no blue starch shall be used or worn by any of Her Majesty's subjects."
Women's Ruffs Gave A Bit More Room To Breathe
Photo: Circle of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainAnother change to goffered frills, or ruffs, took place during the 1590s. Women began wearing ruffs that were open in the front, essentially framing their entire head while giving them room to bend their necks forward.
Some men wore open-front ruffs, but the style afforded women the opportunity to show off their décolletage. To wear an open ruff with a bodice that enhanced one's cleavage would have been an ideal presentation of the Tudor woman.
Later, from about 1625 to 1650, women also donned oval ruffs, "large closed Ruff[s] set in formal tubular pleats spreading laterally over the shoulders." Usually an oval ruff was accompanied by a wide-brimmed beaver hat.
Individuals Carried Ruffs Around In Special Boxes
Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainPreparing a ruff could take hours, and making sure it kept its shape was important. Once pleats were folded, ironed, and pinned, a wire or "poking stick" was needed to set the curved shape. After that, starch was applied, usually more than one coat. Waiting for a ruff to dry between layers required patience and, when all was ready, any misshapen parts could be adjusted with wax.
Because ruffs were so delicate, expensive, and time-consuming to create, men and women traveled with their ruffs in special carrying cases. Servants traveled along, too, carrying boxes with other necessities while always at the ready to pin the neckwear on their employers when needed. Presumably, ruffs worn by men and children were also cared for in this way.
From the 16th century, round bandboxes were used to transport ruffs. The term "bandbox" is found as early as the first decades of the 17th century. In William Rowley's play, Match at Midnight, published in 1633, one of the stage directions has a maid entering a scene holding a bandbox. She then explains she had just been "for my mistress's ruff at the seamstress's, sir."
The Style Was Usurped By The 'Falling Ruff' In The 1600s
Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainRuffs, or goffered frills, worn by men and women alike, underwent a significant change during the early 17th century. With the development of the "falling ruff," pleats were attached to the neckline of a garment and allowed to hang over one's shoulders. Falling ruffs were not uncommon for men, but around 1615, women began to wear them as well.
Falling ruffs, as opposed to their standing counterparts, could be unstarched and, depending on their size, functioned as small capes.
Their Heyday Lasted About 70 Years
Photo: Alonso Sánchez Coello / Wikimedia Commons / Public DomainRuffs, also known as goffered frills, appeared on the fashion scene at some point during the 1560s. Most readily associated with Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603) and 16th century England, ruffs were called gran gola in Spain, where they were popular under King Philip II (1556-1598). Ruffs were also worn in the Netherlands, France, and other states throughout Western Europe.
Over the subsequent seven decades, ruffs underwent numerous changes. By the early 17th century, ruffs were both larger and smaller, depending on who was wearing them. Ruffs later fell out of favor entirely and were replaced by looser collars that fell over one's shoulders.
