My name is Ciaran Roddy. This web site is the product of
an interest that is very close to my heart after having worked in the
shirt making industry for over twenty years. There currently
appears to be no other comprehensive web site on this matter, therefore
here is my contribution..
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE
SHIRT.
|
The shirt, as we would recognise it, began to evolve around
the 15th century. Made from wool or linen, hemp or silk, it had
a low neckline, full sleeves with no cuffs and sloped gently out
from the shoulders. By 1600 frills had begun to appear at the neck,
cuffs at the wrists and the first buttons were being used.
As interest grew, so did prices. A leader of the Puritan sect
commented in 1533,"I have heard of shirts that cost some
ten shillings, some twenty, some forty, some five pounds and (which
is horrible to hear) some ten pounds apiece." The shirt
became a measure of wealth and status. In 1553, a law decreed that
no-one under the rank of a Knight might wear,"plaited shirts
or shirts garnished with silk, gold or silver".
|