Skip main navigation

Clothes in context: The early Stuarts

In many ways the early Stuarts continued patterns set by their Tudor predecessors: using clothing to demonstrate power and wealth.

In many ways the early Stuarts continued patterns set by their Tudor predecessors: using clothing to demonstrate power and wealth, and even continuing some of the Tudor styles into the 17th century.

But the early Stuarts also used fashion in a slightly different way; one that was perhaps more understated when compared with the Tudors, but arguably just as confident.

This video shows what fashionable outfits of the 1640s might have looked like when worn in Banqueting House, the site of early Stuart entertainments and the site of Charles I’s execution.

This article is from the free online

A History of Royal Fashion

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now