Can you imagine wearing the same clothing as your own parents or grandparents? For many centuries, this was quite normal. Most people made their own clothes following traditional methods.

Up until the 14th century, clothing was largely made of trapezoidal, triangular or rectangular blanks joined with a few seams. The basic shape of outer garments was the same for men and women: a garment with sleeves, reaching to the knee or calf for men or to the ground for women, the tunic. Then new cutting techniques were employed: Garments were sewn together out of smaller pieces and fitted right on the particular person. This innovation ushered in tighter fitting, more individual clothing and consequently the birth of fashion. Other innovations, such as front closures or new techniques for sewing sleeves, came along. Thenceforward a distinction was made between cuts of men’s and women’s clothing – this division still exists, if individual “unisex” collections are disregarded.

Fashion change was not limited to the cut, though. An important condition for Hanse-era consumption was the availability of affordable cloths of different colour and quality. The horizontal treadle loom, used in Asia for centuries, started becoming established in Europe too in the 12th century. Longer rolls of cloth, faster and larger-scale cloth production and new patterns were the outcome. This together with new dyeing techniques produced a variety of colourful cloth for the growing trade in cloths. Hanse merchants brought luxury products, such as silks from Italy and elaborately finished woollens from Flanders, to Northern Europe.

Fashion influencers in Hanse era Europe were nobles at the royal and imperial courts. Rich burghers imitated them in the cities. They had enough money to afford expensive cloths and the best tailors. The large selection of cloths in various price classes also enabled a few “wellclothed” to dress fashionably and emulate the upper class. Today, on the other hand, trends emerge not only in one single but in different social groups and then spread everywhere: from the street to Parisisan catwalks and back again. In fashion theory, this movement of trends is called “trickle across”

The imitation of fashion in the Middle Ages brought unrest in a society ordered by cloth: If the less rich continually dressed like those of higher social standing, a distinction was no longer possible.

Sumptuary laws were enacted in most cities in order to be able to continue to show status through clothing, particularly in an anonymous urban society, and thus preserve many fashion enthusiasts from financial ruin. Regulated items were primarily women’s clothing and jewelry through which a family publicly displayed their wealth and status.

The wearing of finer cloths, such as silk, or particular colours, such as kermes, was prohibited in many households depending on income or property. Ambitious burghers consequently discovered black as a fashionable colour for themselves in the second half of the 14th century, as the laborious dyeing was not regulated in the sumptuary laws. Dyers improved their technique, presumably because of rich burghers’ demand, and produced an intense, durable black. The colour became a trend, and a fashion loophole became an abiding fashionable colour.