Most medieval treatises that mention clothes storage, like The Goodman of Paris, primarily focus on what herbs to place between layers of clothes to prevent insect infestations. From these texts, it becomes evident that most clothes were stored as folded pieces, not hung up like modern clothing.

A look at medieval paintings, such as this 1470 painting depicting the birth of Mary, show chests in the bedroom where clothes were stored. This might seem like basic, lower-class storage, but remember that painters of Biblical stories would've been depicting how a "fancy" family lived, not the average peasant. Due to the hard work of weaving and hand sewing, clothing was a lot pricier in medieval times, so people usually just had a few outfits.

From this, we can conclude that the typical member of medieval gentry had a nice chest in their bedroom where they would store all of their clothes. Unless a person was one of the very highest members of the nobility, a big chest for clothes and a locked box for jewelry could probably easily fit all their clothing. But what about the few ridiculously wealthy people who could afford to have as much clothing as a modern person? For these people, clothing storage got a bit more complicated.

Clothing was still typically folded with fragrant herbs and put in chests, but these wealthy nobles would need an entire room to house all their chests. This is where the garderobe could come in handy. In modern times, this word is often used for medieval toilets, but initially, it got it's start as a small storage room. According to medieval architecture scholar Frank Bottomley, garderobes were typically modestly sized storage rooms situated right off the bedroom. These small chambers with a lockable door were where all household valuables could be stored. In addition to clothes and jewelry, it might also contain things like money or nice dishes.