Dear Historians,
I am an amateur writer and historian and I have tried to run down the answer to my questions on my own but it was a no go.
One of my characters is going to a ball and I would like to know what highborn women of the time of the early middle ages ('round about the time of Edward the Confessor, perhaps a little earlier or a little later).
Specifically:
How many layers would a woman be wearing if she was a noblewoman?
What might she be wearing, if anything, to support her breasts?
What would the layers be called (ie. Today a woman might wear undergarments [bra/panties], a shirt, trousers, socks, shoes and maybe a coat)?
If she wanted to have a nice vibrant red or a deep blue color what dyes would be needed?
What materials /fabrics would be used?
How might she wear her hair?
Sandels or shoes?
Jewelry?
Please and thank you in advance!
Edit: Thank you for all the replies.
As for the clarifications some have asked for. This story is not period set, more like a costume ball set circa 1994, but the character who will be wearing this outfit is a stickler for historical accuracy (just like myself actually).
As for specifics:
The character is 15 years old, unmarried but with a boyfriend, of English origins, white skinned, brown haired.
Thank for your help!
I'm actually just heading out of the office, so I don't have much time for an answer, but I can say a few things.
Firstly, 'ball' would be something of a misnomer for this period (I think the origin of this use of the word 'ball' is from around the 1600s).
As for the clothing, a wealthy woman in Anglo-Saxon England (as you mention Edward the Confessor) would likely have worn a woolen dress - of the so-called 'peplos' style - possibly in two layers (one longer, tight-fitting underneath, one more loose and shorter). I'm not sure if there was a particular name for the dress (besides peplos, which is Greek and wouldn't have been used elsewhere, I think). Brooches at the shoulders would have held the two together and would give it some shape. A belt/girdle would be tied around the waist. A wealthy woman would probably would have worn a linen undergarment, which may or may not have had sleeves, underneath the wool dress.
A cloak or cape could be added to the ensemble, depending on the season/weather/activity.
Post-Christian women would have also had a head-covering of some sort.
Hopefully this helps!
Historical tailor/pro costumer here. If you want detail you need to say -
Country
Marital status - maiden, matron, widow.
Wealth, as not every noblewoman was equally wealthy.
Father's or husband's rank.
Like if she's an Atheling, she gets a gold circlet in London, but it doesn't matter in Paris. Her costume in Constantinople will be very different from at Tara or in Norwegian coast. It's not one society: it's many cultures.
A book to find at the library is the big book by Hill & Bucknell (costumers just call it that; don't remember the title), as it covers layers, shoes, fabrics, &c.
You are also misleading yourself a trifle with the concept of "a ball" at that period. It's not just the word that is off.
What might she be wearing, if anything, to support her breasts?
There are 12th century references to women moderately binding their breasts. That's later than you're asking about, but there's not much from the 11th century that I know of.
If she wanted to have a nice vibrant red or a deep blue color what dyes would be needed?
Madder was the most common red dye in much of the world - the plant grows well in Europe and Asia. It was not the truest red, though, fugitive and tending towards pink, orange, or brown (outside of the Turkey red dyeing method for cotton). The vivid, rich red from kermes dye was much more prestigious and incredibly expensive.
For blue, there was woad and indigo. Indigo is technically a pigment and requires a lot of work to be used to color fabric; it had to be imported to Europe and so was also very expensive. Woad grew in Europe and and is much more colorfast than madder. It's actually the same chemical found in indigo, just less concentrated and so takes more to get the same dark hue.