Clothing

The middle of the 14th century saw a major change in European fashion, with much more fitted clothing than had been worn previously. The earlier fashion is probably well typified by the clothing of the Bocksten Man, with the famous Herjolfsnes Greenland finds being a transition between the old styles and the new.

Garments and Armor in the Canterbury Tales

Women

To simplify greatly, women's main garments were a smock -- usually of linen and acting as underwear next to the skin, a kirtle -- a fitted garment usually of wool worn over the smock, and optionally a gown worn over the kirtle. There are other names used for these clothes, like cote, cotte, cotehardie and many others. Rather than deal with the plethora of period terms, some modern researchers use the term "Gothic Fitted Dress" to describe these garments. A mauture woman's hair is covered in a variety of ways, she is wearing stockings and leather shoes, and may have accessories like girdles, purses, and jewelry.

Men

Men wore a variety of garments. Their basic underlayers consisted of a shirt (linen) and braies (underpants, also linen) and chauses (long stockings attached to the braies, usually wool). Over these layers a man might wear a cote or the more fashionable and highly shaped pourpoint. A gown might also be worn, which could be an overlayer. Hoods and other kinds of headwear are popular and sometimes worn in very creative ways. Girdles and purses are common accessories.