A ruff is an item of clothing worn in Western, Central and Northern Europe, as well as Spanish America, from the mid-16th century to the mid-17th century. The round and flat variation is often called a millstone collar after its resemblance to millstones for grinding grain.

Jul 22, 2013 · The ruff is also known as a ‘goffered frill’, which refers to a piece of lace being pressed into pleats by heated irons. The material used was usually cambric or lawn (linen or cotton) and was frequently edged in lace or ‘cutwork’ (a decorative design).

Ruffs were made from starched linen cambric, edged with lace, although as the century wore on, ruffs could be made entirely of lace. Lace was a new textile, having developed in the early sixteenth century.

Feb 7, 2025 · The Elizabethan ruff is easily identified: a large, stiff, upright, usually lace collar that, in all honesty, looks uncomfortable and awkward. The Elizabethan collar that dominated fashion during the 16th and 17th centuries, however, was an …

The ruff was a kind of starched, pleated collar that completely encircled the neck, often worn with elaborate and extravagant designs and fashions. Stiff, but detachable, it was made primarily from linen cloth, or lace. It evolved from the small fabric ruffle at the neck of the shirt.

Jan 18, 2024 · Typically constructed from densely woven linen cambric or expensive lace, which became the preferred cloth in the early 17th century, a ruff could also have been structured using bone, ivory or wooden sticks to hold it in place, and from 1570 onwards, ‘poking sticks’ made of narrow pieces of steel, were used in their construction.

Sep 20, 2017 · Decorative removable pleated collar popular during the mid to late 16th and 17th century. T he ruff is defined in Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style simply as: “A detachable pleated collar in linen and/or lace starched into shape and sometimes supported underneath” (Brown 455).

They were lined with lace, silk, silver and golden threads. Elizabethan women often affixed stones and gems on them. The upper classes and nobles began wearing bigger and bigger and more elaborate Elizabethan ruffs. The ruff graduated from a …

Jan 12, 2025 · Here’s why Elizabeth I’s ruffs made with the finest lace and with almost imperceptible embroidery they were so eye-catching. Elizabethan society being like that highly hierarchical high-ranking citizens could not escape this new fashion, whether they were women or men (or even children).

Jun 16, 2017 · Reticella ruff in miniature of Queen Elizabeth by Nicholas Hillard, c. 1600. V&A Museum, London. Lace developed in the 16th century in Europe but it only really became popular towards the end of the century and became high fashion from the early 17th century onwards.