I don't feel the need to leave a long review here. This book is a great resource and reference for fashion and dress in Tudor England. Beautiful photos, historical context explained, and clearly-written descriptions on how social status, wealth, and royalty affected what people wore, and how what they wore affected them. Recommended for the enthusiast.

I am sorry to say that I did not peruse my temporary digital copy of Tudor Fashion: Dress at Court by Eldridge Lynn beyond a glance through the elaborately illustrated pages. Unfortunately, my time was up before I could read through all the explanations covering the Tudor era, however, the photographs and drawings which I did examine were helpful in creating a better understanding when reading historical fiction occurring during this time period. This is another example of a book better owned in hard copy to use as a reference when needed. The digital format cannot do this particular volume justice.

Four stars and a thank you to Netgalley and Yale University Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very well researched illustrated book about fashion during the Tudor time. The author begins with a brief history of the time and the rulers. All aspects of the fashion are covered. Everything from the style, fashion, construction to laundering. She also shows how fashion influenced the court, politics and the rulers. Anyone with an interest in Tudor History or Fashion History will enjoy this book.

Book received from NetGalley

I loved this book, it has both the history of who wore what, what they were allowed to wear due to sumptuary laws. Then what happened when the upper class decided that the very expensive clothes were outdated. The pictures they had of the various styles of clothing were gorgeous and the history geek in me was thrilled to see some photos of original pieces from the collection of the Historical Palaces in the United Kingdom. I am definitely getting myself a copy of this book, since I do re-enactments of the period and this will help in getting everything correct on an outfit.

I have been a massive fan of everything that covers the Tudor period now for as long as I can remember so as soon as I saw this book I knew it would be one for me. I loved the introduction to the subject as a whole and the images used were great. I have visited quite a few of the Historical Royal Palaces and Tudor buildings and one thing that always intrigues me is the clothes and fashion from that period. This really in a high quality book that is full of useful information and excellent images and illustrations - definitely a 5 star read!

An excellent, detailed and delightful history of Tudor era fashion. Many lovely pieces are showcased; history of the time period blends well with descriptions of the clothing. An excellent book for costumers and historians alike.

This was a very well written and researched book on Tudor fashion. The author used beautiful and numberous images demonstrating their key points. Throug clear and concise writing the author proved the political power of clothing and financial implications cloth and style played during the Tudor dynasty. This book was a joy to read and very informative even to a history major.

As a history geek in general and a Tudors geek in particular, I found this collection fascinating. A worthwhile addition to any history of fashion enthusiast's bookshelf!

***This book was reviewed for Yale University Press via Netgalley

Despite my love for history, this is a time period I am not overly familiar with. In Tudor Fashion, Lynn takes the reader on a voyage back through time. Using archaeological and historical sources, we see how the fashions of the Tudors were less fanciful affectations, and were instead bold statements of rank and hierarchy, like the plumage of birds of paradise or peacocks. At a glance, one could know the proper place of any given person. And what of those who created the clothing, tended the wardrobes, repaired the elegant finery?

Chapter One takes a peek beneath the various layers, giving a better idea of just how all that finery went together! You also see how the styles changed over the Tudor period.

Chapter Two focused specifically on royal apparel and how it was used to denote the rank of the highest in the land. Courtiers could compete among themselves, but none could dare have plumage as fine as the monarchs.

Chapter Three looks at the rest of the court, from said courtiers all the way down to the servants. Also covered are the Sumptuary Laws, and the consequences of getting caught wearing the wrong thing.

Chapter Four answers a lot of questions I've always had about, well… how the bathrooming and hygiene worked with such fancy clothes, and how the clothes themselves were cared for.

Chapter Five details how clothes were selected for travel from residence to residence, and how new clothing choices were commissioned and created.

Chapter Six looks at what, exactly, happened to all that finery. Namely, it was gifted and reused, and repurposed over the ages, til there was nothing left of most originals.

For as fine as all this clothing and accessories were, I cannot imagine having to wear it! Most seems so unnecessary, but then, I'm a fairly simple person when it comes to clothing. And I like both myself, and my clothing, to be clean.

There really is little actual archaeological evidence left of Tudor clothing, so it was neat to see experimental aspects. This branch of archaeology fascinates me because it shows just how much knowledge we’ve lost over the centuries, but also our ingenuity in relearning our past.

One thing I found especially interesting was the level of alchemic symbolism associated with this finery. The stylised eyes and ears, and the serpent of the clothing of Elizabeth I, as depicted in the 'Rainbow’ painting.

The focus of this book was royal, and royal-adjacent. It unfortunately didn't cover military garb, ceremonial clothing, or dress associated with the church, which would be equally fascinating, but no doubt just as extensive in scope.

Resplendent with colourful illustrations, and filled with fascinating stories, Tudor Fashion is a must for any history buff.

This is a very detailed and well-research reference book for anyone interested in the history of fashion with excellent pictures and illustrations.

I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

This is an interesting" dip in and out of" reference book that focuses on Tudor fashion. It breaks down into the different rulers and looks at how power was shown in dressing and what has happened to some of the clothing down the years.

I was thrilled to see this on Netgalley, where I was able to read it for free in exchange for an honest review. I'm an amateur clothing historian and the Tudor reign represents one of my favourite periods of fashion.

Lynn does an excellent job of talking the reader through the Tudor wardrobe in the first chapter. She covers what was typically worn in each reign by the upper echelons of society--unfortunately evidence for the lower orders is scant which makes it difficult to draw accurate conclusions. This is important, because Lynn has written a very well-researched and cited book. For me, this is where the value lies in this book: I'm already familiar with the modes of dress and the individual garments and how they were worn, but the citations point me to where I can find out more information and do further research on my own.

Of course, that isn't the only reason I enjoyed this book, and is not why most other people would. The main source of excellence in this book is the pictures! It's packed with relevant portraits, images of extant garments, and photographs of professional reconstructions of the clothing to bring each layer of clothing (there are so many) to life. For a clothing historian it's a collection to drool over, especially when magnified images are included to show the real details we costume nerds want to see. For the rest of the world, they're gorgeous high-quality images of a different world that show every aspect of the nobility's fashion at the time.

In chapter two, Lynn goes into detail of exactly what clothes meant to the Tudor court, and how most of the Tudor monarchs used them as a tool to display their power. It was fascinating to learn just how far they went in doing this, and how much they spent!

Chapter three discusses the non-royal personages at court, but unfortunately this review copy doesn't contain it. I'm sure it's as high quality as the rest of the book.

In chapters four and five we're led through the processes of dressing, hygiene, and how exactly people dealt with laundering, storing, and delivering these incredibly expensive items. This too, was eye-opening--they had entire fields dedicated to drying laundry!--and informative. I did find chapter five a little dense with the names of the people who did particular jobs one after the other, but it's fascinating to learn that some positions in the wardrobe were held over the course of a lifetime, and others created stepping stones that allowed families to move to great importance.

The final chapter discusses where these fabulous items of clothing went to. To our modern mind it's hard to believe that such priceless relics weren't preserved somewhere. Sadly, that wasn't the case. The Stuart monarch who followed Elizabeth found the fabric of her gowns so lovely that they couldn't help but have them altered for the new queen. Later, the store of garments belonging to past kings and queens were deemed 'of small value and not [fit] to be by us preserved'. It's pretty heart-breaking. Hope exists in the survival of some of these pieces, as the monarchs would often gift clothing to those in their favour, or even as wages. Belonging to new families, they would have been made over, cut down, and put to a variety of uses. Lynn shows us two case studies of pieces purported to have belonged to Tudor monarchs, but the provenance of such things is almost impossible to determine. It's a shame we'll never know.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Lynn has done a marvellous job creating a primer on Tudor fashion that's accessible to those with a casual interest, and detailed enough to be of value to the amateur dress historian. Highly recommended.

Despite the rather dull looking cover, this book features gorgeous paintings, photographs and text reflecting the Age of the Tudors. Additionally, there are many wonderful details relating to fashion, dress, culture, socioeconomic status, and activities of the Tudor period. I was really drawn into the detailed descriptions, examples, and trivia on the making and wearing of fashions, clothes and accoutrements of that period. It details both mens and womens clothes. While I had seen some of the paintings and graphics before, this book helped me really understand the meaning of fashion at that time. It covered more than just "at court". Overall, I loved this book. It was well-written and the photographs and paintings really blended with the narrative to provide an artistic and educational experience. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the Advanced Reading Copy.

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The only negative I have to report is that my advanced copy was actually missing a huge chunk of the book - jumping from page 99 to page 126.

That aside, this is an excellent primer for those interested in Tudor fashion and how these evolved through the years. It has many beautiful illustrations and delves into quite a good bit of history through the eyes of fashion. I very much enjoyed it!

Tudor Fashion is fascinating. I always wondered how the clothes of the Tudor period were made; what they were made of;' how they were cleaned; how they were decorated; what pieces went on first and last and how many pieces were there to the clothing that men and women wore during this time period.. This book answered all of these questions and then some. A really really fascinating read. Thanks to Netgalley and Yale University Press for the perusal. I loved it!

Tudor Fashion was a fun and insightful read that kept me turning the pages. It was great to learn about the items of clothing in the context of the political situations at the time that affected the fashions of the day. The book also offered a great overview of the different pieces of clothing and styles, making this a great resource for the historical fiction author as well as the social historian. Obviously this book focuses on the court--royalty and nobles--and at times I yearned to know what the working class people were wearing at the time as well, but perhaps there's another potential book there in the future! For now, what this book sets out to do it does well, and no one interested in historical costume would be disappointed if they picked up this title.

I am currently reading Ruth Goodman's "How to be a Tudor" and have found Eleri Lynn's book to be a great companion book, with excellent and detailed pictures showing the relevant fashions. Great timing!

I expected this is to be a coffee-table book but the gorgeous colour plates are supported by a well-researched narrative which draws on original sources to offer a rounded portrait of Tudor elite and courtly dress. Lynn starts by deconstructing the familiar costumes to look beneath the surface layers, and also explores the support necessary for the rich apparel favoured by Tudor monarchs: launderers, tailors, seamstresses, dyers and so on.

The chapter on dress as a code for regal authority and monarchical authorisation is perhaps the most familiar as it offers an abbreviated version of a story that has been more deeply explored elsewhere. There is, though, some excellent material on the shift of fashions between Henry VII, the first Tudor king, and Elizabeth, the last.

The wider story that takes in the international trade in alum (a dye fixative), the influence of the French court on English culture (especially during Henry VIII's reign when he was so competitive with Francis I), and some of the gender complications ushered in by Elizabeth and her long reign are all given a specific slant in relation to their impact on dress and fashion.

The final chapter rounds things off nicely with a look at why so many Tudor costumes disappeared in history and what became of some of them.

The illustrations are lush and diverse, with some glorious close-ups on portraits and some material objects which have survived. Anyone interested in the Tudor court, the history of fashion, or just intrigued by the few costumes, gloves, jewellery and accessories that have survived in the V&A, the Buckingham Palace galleries and places like Hampton Court will love this book.