Ana de Velasco y Girón

IT'S A 'RUFF' LIFE

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The ruff is a large, stiff, upright, usually lace collar that, in all honesty, looks itchy, uncomfortable and awkward.

Ruffs, began as an extension of a gentleman's shirt.

As the frilly add-ons grew larger and extended further, ruffs were transitioned into a separate accessory piece.

Crafted using pleats in a figure 8 shape, ruffs were adopted by women by the early 1560s and were often made out of a mixture of linen and lace.

By the 1570s, ruffs could be nothing but lace, held together with pieces of bone, wood, ivory, or steel.

Ruffs were usually pinned to one's clothing to hold them in place. Queen Elizabeth was said to have ordered pins by the thousands, to accommodate her wardrobe, ruffs included.

The Elizabethan collar that dominated fashion during the late 16th and 17th centuries, however, was an indicator of wealth, prestige, and social status.

Ruffs became increasingly large and elaborate as methods to create them advanced.

Hours were spent looping, ironing, and starching lace and linen into place.

Embroidery, jewels, and precious metals were added to heighten the glamour of the ruff.

By the late 16th century, what was once a simple collar had transitioned to become the ultimate display of excess.

Although members of the working class wore ruffs, they didn't allow for ease of movement.

Manual labor wasn't possible.

Even the wealthiest men and women had difficulty eating while wearing ruffs, often adopting long utensils that extended over the length of the neckpiece.

The way a ruff affected posture was also part of their significance. While wearing a ruff, men and women had no choice but to keep their heads up, demonstrating confidence and pride.

By wearing large ruffs made out of the finest materials, adorned with lace, and decorated with gold, the wearers demonstrated to the world, that they didn't have to perform tasks like those undertaken by commoners.

Ruff-wearers would have had servants to do that for them.

They also had servants to launder, prepare, and maintain their ruffs, ironing and starching them when needed.

Because ruffs had such social prestige, not wearing one was, in a way, taboo.

Men and women wore ruffs whenever they went out, even dressing their children in them.

The practice of adding starch to a ruff, began in the Low Countries during the mid-1560s.

By adding a starch paste to a freshly washed ruff, it caused it to stand tall.

After an initial pasting of starch was applied to pleated fabric - many times colored with some sort of vegetable dye - it was left to dry.

Then a second coat was added.

With the addition of starch, ruffs got bigger and more elaborate.

Wires and other supports were still used, even boards that were hidden behind large folds.

By 1580, ruffs were so large they could extend the width of a noblemans shoulders.

Ruffs were fragile, and the materials used to construct them could fall apart due to hot weather, rain, or body heat.

As a result, many ruffs were only worn once.

Because ruffs were increasingly made using the most delicate laced and other materials, weighed down by more and more adornments, this, too, caused them to lose shape.

Queen Elizabeth wore ruffs, enjoyed ruffs, and essentially determined the ruff trends of the time.

In addition to banning blue ruffs, she also legislated the size of ruffs worn in her kingdom.

By the 1590s, the queen decided blue starch was no longer an option, because blue was the colour of Scotlands flag....

"no blue starch shall be used or worn by any of Her Majesty's subjects."

When 'double ruffs' appeared on the scene during her reign, she forbade them.

Elizabeth also tried to keep the size of ruffs within a certain limit, tasking the Lord Mayor of London with "reforming... monstrous ruffs, and other disorders."

Another change to ruffs, took place during the 1590s.

Women began wearing ruffs that were open at the front, essentially framing their entire head, while giving them room to bend their necks forward.

Some men wore open-front ruffs, but the style afforded women the opportunity to show off their décolletage.

To wear an open ruff with a bodice that enhanced one's cleavage would have been an 'ideal presentation of the Tudor Woman'.

Over the subsequent seven decades, ruffs underwent numerous changes.

By the early 17th century, ruffs were both larger and smaller, depending on who was wearing them.

Ruffs later fell out of favor entirely and were replaced by looser collars, that could fall delightfully over the shoulders.

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https://www.ranker.com/.../history-of.../melissa-sartore

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https://ko-fi.com/thetudorintruders

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Portrait of Ana de Velasco y Girón (1585-1607), Duchess of Braganza