Houppelande

A houppelande or houpelande is an outer garment, with a long, full body and flaring sleeves, that was worn by both men and women in Europe in the late Middle Ages. Sometimes the houppelande was lined with fur. The garment was later worn by professional classes, and has remained in Western civilization as the familiar academic and legal robes of today.

The houppelande appeared around 1380 and was to remain fashionable well into the next century. It had its origins in the herigaut, a similar 13th-century garment with hanging sleeves. The edges of the houppelande were often dagged, or cut into decorative patterns such as scallops, "embattled" tabs or even leaf shapes.

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  Woman wearing a houppelande with "dagged" sleeves.

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  The man on the right wears a belted houppelande and a chaperon hat.

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  Houppelande examples from Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, avril

See also

15th century costume - the Houppelande

• 1300–1400 in European fashion
• 1400–1500 in European fashion

References

• Ribiero, Aileen, Dress and Morality, Batsford, 1986, reprinted Berg, 2003, ISBN 1-85973-782-X
• Laver, James: The Concise History of Costume and Fashion, Abrams, 1979.