Everything about Ruff Clothing totally explained
A
ruff is an item of
clothing worn in Western
Europe from the mid-
sixteenth century to the mid-
seventeenth century.
The ruff evolved from the small fabric
ruffle at the drawstring neck of the
shirt or chemise. They served as changeable pieces of cloth that could themselves be laundered while keeping the wearer's
doublet from becoming soiled at the neckline.
The discovery of
starch allowed ruffs to be made wider without losing their shape. Later ruffs were separate garments that could be washed, starched, and set into elaborate figure-of-eight folds by the use of heated cone-shaped
goffering irons.
At their most extreme, ruffs were a foot or more wide; these
cartwheel ruffs such as the one in the portrait to the right required a wire frame called a
supportasse or
underpropper to hold them at the fashionable angle.
By the end of the sixteenth century, ruffs were falling out of fashion in Western Europe, in favor of wing
collars and falling
bands. The fashion lingered longer in
Holland, where ruffs can be seen in portraits well into the seventeenth century, and farther east. It also stayed on as part of the ceremonial dress of city councillors (Senatoren) in North German
Hanseatic cities and of
Lutheran clergy in those cities and in
Denmark.
In the twentieth century, the ruff inspired the name of the
Elizabethan collar for animals.
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