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Abstract

During the 16th and 17th centuries, an extensive transformation of clothing habits took place in Central Europe. The era of the national styles of clothing had concluded and was replaced by widespread preference of the highly fashionable Spanish-and later French-clothing sets. New garments were fully accepted mainly by nobles and, over time, also among burghers. The question remains how and by whom they were passed on to the rural population. Our attention is focused mainly on urban tailors' guilds, which had a dominant position in the production of urban as well as rural clothing, due to regulations. Their creations are captured in several period depictions, and their abundance in towns as well as in the countryside is evidenced by inventories of estates and bequests to orphans. Clothing constructions are included in tailors' pattern books, which have been preserved in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, and Germany. The comparison of the three mentioned source types in this study brings new information about the formation, types, and representation of individual components of men's clothing.