Most books and articles on later 16th century dress focus primarily on the costume of the wealthy, for the simple reason that virtually all material and iconographical evidence from the time period relates to the clothing of the rich merchant class, nobility and royalty of the time. I soon discovered, however, that my task would be more difficult than I'd imagined. In addition, the century is recent enough archeologically that a substantial amount of material evidence still exists for first-hand perusal, and the rising popularity of portrait painting during the reign of King Henry the VIII and his successor Queen Elizabeth I provided a wealth of detailed artistic evidence to use in my search. English dress in particular has been well-researched, and I expected to find what I needed in such landmark publications as Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Men & Women's Dress 1560-1620, and her renowned Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd. I began my research under the impression that I would quickly find an answer-after all, the dress of 16th century is a popular subject among costume historians. This paper is a result of a simple question: what did a working woman wear during the latter half of the 16th century? If you are interested in constructing an Flemish woman's ensemble based on the information in this paper, check out Constructing a 16th Century Flemish Ensemble. Working Women's Dress in 16th Century Flanders Working Womens' Dress in 16th Century Flanders excerpted from my book The Well-Dress'd Peasant: 16th Century Workingwoman's Dress
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