Fashion Rules!

A closer look at clothing in the Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, your position in life was based on birth. This position would follow you throughout your life. To make it easy to know your social class, rules about what you could wear―or not wear―were created. Such rules, called sumptuary laws, determined colors of clothing, types of fabric and trims, length of garments, types of sleeves, and types of furs. The laws also regulated shoe lengths, hat height, and even the type and number of buttons you could wear. People were to dress according to the class in which they were born. In this way, just by looking at someone, you could tell if they were important or not. Published by Red Chair Press, written by Gail Skroback Hennessey and illustrated by Tracy Sabin.