On mobile at a certain music award show so apologies for the short response.

As far as fashion was concerned, and only speaking from a Western European sense, there was a lot of movement amongst the upper classes. Sometimes it was small things that didn't last long like sleeve styles, sometimes (and referring to the 1500's as per your question) it could be trends that stick around much longer like slashes in the outer layers that you'd pull the fabric of the under layers through.

Overall trends moved quickly in upper classes with disposable income and the ability to travel (lots of influence from other countries, sometimes Spain was the model, sometimes England, etc), but poorer classes did not have as much variety in fads, and the spread of trends was much slower. The song alluding to 'sticking a feather on their cap and call it macaroni' alludes to this

Source: A Concise History of Costume by James Laver and Amy de la Haye

For 16th C English poetry, you can definitely see the change in movements. I'm currently putting together some slides on sonnets for an introductory high school lecture to the English Renaissance so lets go with that.

(EDIT: I'm sorry- I'm not sure how to format the lines properly for the poems) Thanks /u/rocketman0739

You move from the introduction of sonnets from the Italian into English. Let's take a look at one by Wyatt (early 16th C)

I find no peace, and all my war is done:
I fear, and hope; I burn, and freeze like ice;
I fly above the wind, yet can I not arise;
And nought I have, and all the world I seize on;
That locketh nor loseth holdeth me in prison,
And holdeth me not, yet can I 'scape nowise:
Nor letteth me live, nor die at my devise,
And yet of death it giveth me occasion.
Without eyen I see, and without tongue I 'plain;
I desire to perish, and yet I ask health;
I love another, and thus I hate myself;
I feed me in sorrow, and laugh in all my pain.
Likewise displeaseth me both death and life,
And my delight is causer of this strife.

You already see the essential features of the sonnet in English- 14 lines, a tightly constructed argument. However, it's clear that Wyatt is working in what in still an experimental form- this sonnet doesn't hew to the very formalised structure that the form would later develop into in English. The speaker uses paradox (e.g. "I burn, and freeze like ice") in order to convey the unsettling nature of the feelings his love puts him through. However, he also conveys this emotional dissonance through playing with the meter. From the iambic pentameter (which would become the formalised hallmark of the English sonnet) he shifts into anapestic tetrameter (e.g. l 9). This is an experimental poet, playing with a new form.

Contrast with Spenser's Sonnet LXXXI (mid 16th C)

Fair is my love, when her fair golden hairs
With the loose wind ye waving chance to mark;
Fair, when the rose in her red cheeks appears;
Or in her eyes the fire of love does spark.
Fair, when her breast, like a rich-laden bark,
With precious merchandise she forth doth lay;
Fair, when that cloud of pride, which oft doth dark
Her goodly light, with smiles she drives away.
But fairest she, when so she doth display
The gate with pearls and rubies richly dight;
Through which her words so wise do make their way
To bear the message of her gentle sprite.
The rest be works of nature’s wonderment:
But this the work of heart’s astonishment.

This is much more formalized, fully in iambic pentameter without the metrical experimentation of Wyatt. Spenser also reflects Elizabethan court culture which was very much about the courtly pageantry surrounding Elizabeth I, and this sonnet is very much in the tradition of blazon poetry, a trope of courtly love which likens the beloved to various formalized stock descriptions. Also note the increasing awareness of the Age of Discovery through the image of the laden merchant ship with exotic goods.

We see a development from this in the early Jacobean era with Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 (early 17th C) which essentially is an anti-blazon poem

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

He's back to being experimental, subverting the established form. He eschews the carefully developed, stylised argument of Spenser for a surprising subversion of blazon poetry ("My love may not be that hot but I still love her").

Finally in the late Jacobean era, we see the development of the Metaphysical poets who introduced intricate humanist logic and reasoning into their work- they blended love, religion, philosophy, sex and various other spheres of life.

Let's take a look at Donne's Holy Sonnet XVIII (mid-17th C)

Show me, dear Christ, thy spouse so bright and clear.
What! is it she which on the other shore
Goes richly painted? or which, robbed and tore,
Laments and mourns in Germany and here
Sleeps she a thousand, then peeps up one year?
Is she self-truth, and errs? now new, now outwore?
Doth she, and did she, and shall she evermore
On one, on seven, or on no hill appear?
Dwells she with us, or like adventuring knights
First travel we to seek, and then make love?
Betray, kind husband, thy spouse to our sights,
And let mine amorous soul court thy mild dove,
Who is most true and pleasing to thee then
When she is embraced and open to most men.

Check out the way in which he addresses the self-doubt inherent in his faith (Donne was brought up Catholic but consciously converted to Anglicanism) in the form of a sonnet which first questions which the true Church is, and then surprisingly presents the Church in startlingly physical erotic terms- in line, amusingly, with the tropes of courtly love- as literally the Bride of Christ, to be "embraced" by many courtly lovers who are knights errant on quest for her.

Thus, in terms of this one art form- the sonnet- you can clearly see multiple instances of overt change over the course of a century and even- as with Spenser and Shakespeare) an instance of one artist consciously subverting an earlier generation's work.

It's hardly all the same in the 1500's. Although fashion was mentioned briefly, as well as poetry/literature, you also see distinct differences in cooking and in religion.

For cooking - in the very late 15th Century going into the 16th Century, you see in cookbooks some small changes from the centuries before. Peppercorn - which we use now- is considered pepper versus the long pepper at the beginning of the 15th Century. However, the big switches happen in the early 16th Century. Potatoes are introduced in Spain as well as the chocolate drink. Hot chocolate becomes so popular that people complain to the Pope about nuns and other women drinking it - sometimes even during Mass!

The introduction of these new foods from the New World - to include the Turkey!- causes a huge upset in what is considered a staple and what is considered too expensive. Apples were the potato of the early 16th century - served at every meal. By the 17th C, the potato starts to be the staple that we know it as today but it really won't come into it's own for a while yet. The same with good old hot chocolate - the way to prepare it changes greatly from the reports in the 1540's to early 17th C. The early 17th C recipes are much more closely akin to what we are used to.

As for religion - the 16th C is nothing if not a time of upheaval! You have Martin Luther in the 1510's followed by Henry VIII in the 1520's and the Purtain's/Calvinists in the 1550s/1560's. Talk about cultural upheaval! Since religion isn't really taught much anymore, it's hard for many 21st Century folks to understand how dramatic this was. Just with Henry VIII, he gave himself the ultimate authority, rather than the Pope, and divorced his wife of 24 years to marry some little upstart, based upon most people's reactions of the day. Not only did he take away the Roman authority, but he then took over every single monastery, Church, and all their wealth with it. He cast out all the nuns and priests, forcing them to convert to the "new religion" and, at first, cutting them off financially. The executions don't really start until later.

St. Thomas Moore had been Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor until all of this. He stepped down from his post, opposing Henry's decision. Thomas Moore still remained a Catholic and was locked up for it a few years later when he refused to swear an oath to Henry's new church. Henry VIII had St. Thomas Moore killed in 1535. This started the era of "priest holes" in family homes to hide priests or other known Catholics and protect them from being killed.

As far as fashion, you actually see something very interesting in the 16th C - the regional fashions start to shift from being clearly Italian or clearly German to a more "European" look with only small regional variations. There are a few good sites to take a look at for clothing during this time such as Realm of Venus and Tudor Women.

When studying the dyes and fashions, it's pretty clear that certain colors were more popular than others during different eras as well.