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HBC doesn't have many images of teen-age dress from the late medieval period. We eventually hope to acquire some period art work. That would of course be the most accurate imagery available. We also note more modern work by illustrators. Some are fanciful, others like the image here seem reasonably accurate. HBC doesn't have many images of teen-age dress from the late medieval period. We eventually hope to acquire some period art work. That would of course be the most accurate imagery available. We also note more modern work by illustrators. Some are fanciful, others like the image here seem reasonably accurate. The illustration here of a French page (from about 1485) is worthy of note. He seems to be about 16 or 17 years old. The boy is obviously quite upper-class and dressed in the height of fashion for his time. He is probably the son of a French nobleman.
HBC doesn't have many images of teen-age dress from the late medieval period. We eventually hope to acquire some period art work. That would of course be the most accurate imagery available. We also note more modern work by illustrators. Some are fanciful, others like the image here seem reasonably accurate. This is not a contemporary drawing. I think this illustration is a plate from a book illustrating historical French costume, but I have no idea which book or when it was drawn. There was great interest in historical costume among French early 19th century illustrators and artists. This is a good example of their style of presentation.
The illustration here of a French page (from about 1485) is worthy of note (figure 1). He seems to be about 16 or 17 years old. The boy is obviously quite upper-class and dressed in the height of fashion for his time. He is probably the son of a French nobleman. There is some engraved lettering at the bottom of
the image, but it is undreadable.
Note the puffed sleeves with openings in them that allow the sleeve to dangle unused like a decoration. The sleeves
also have embrodiery on them just below the shoulders. The doublet (medieval covering for the torso) has a high V-shaped closure at the top which allows a stiff high collar to rise underneath it around the lad's neck. He wears a pendant on a chain around his neck. The boy has a wasp-waist (the style for boys and young men at the time) and the doublet is cut extremely short so as to expose the upper legs. The medieval church often complained about the scandalously short doublets that boys and young men insisted on wearing. The stockings are really a form of tights although they were put on separately and attached to a waistband by little strings or straps
referred to in the jargon of the day as "points". The boy wears a ceremonial garter (perhaps a knightly order of some sort like the Order of the Garter in England) worn on one leg just below the knee. Note also the impractically designed shoes with long extended pointed toes and the jauntily mounted felt hat with a very narrow brim. The shoes could be worn at court, but would be very impratical for street wear in cities and towns which were very largely unpaved. Note also the hair style. The boy wears a short sword, another sign of his high social rank.
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