The History of Clothing

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Medieval · Europe · 500 - 1500 CE

Kirtle

The fitted, laced dress worn by medieval European women over the chemise, known as the côte-hardie in France and Burgundy; by the late sixteenth century the word meant a skirt.

By Dan Schnau · Last updated

The kirtle was the fitted dress worn by European women over the chemise in the later Middle Ages. Lourdes Font of the Fashion Institute of Technology describes it as "the côte-hardie (English kirtle, Italian cotta)," tightly fitted through the bodice with a full skirt, and in the 1430s names it as kirtle in England, côte-hardie in Burgundy and France, and cotta or gamurra in Italy.1,2

Illuminated miniature of Christine de Pizan and three crowned women in long fitted gowns building a walled city of stone

Building the City of Ladies, miniature from Christine de Pizan's Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, Master of the Cité des Dames, Paris, about 1400–1410. Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 607, fol. 2. Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

How It Was Worn

In the decade 1400–1409 the côte-hardie could lace at the front, at one or both sides, or at the center back.1 Its sleeves were usually fitted and laced at the wrist.1 In the miniature above, Font identifies the queen as wearing an ermine-trimmed sideless surcote over a côte-hardie of the kind Isabeau de Bavière wore at court ceremonies.1

Materials and Decoration

Wool was the usual fabric, in a wide range of qualities, with silk reserved for the very rich and silk-wool blends as a cheaper option.1 The dress was lined in linen "to prolong the life of the garment and achieve a smooth, close fit."2

The Term Today

By the 1580s the English word had shifted. Sarah Bochicchio describes a woman's layers as a smock and stockings, then a bodice and "a kirtle (or skirt)," its shape determined by the farthingale beneath it, and quotes Philip Stubbes: "yet they must have kirtles—for so they call them—of silk, velvet, grograin, taffeta."3

On This Site

Sources

  1. 1400–1409 — Lourdes Font, Fashion History Timeline, Fashion Institute of Technology, 2019, updated 2025 (names, fit, lacing, sleeves, materials, and the Cité des Dames miniature).
    Return to text (5 references)Reference 1 Reference 2 Reference 3 Reference 4 Reference 5
  2. 1430–1439 — Lourdes Font, Fashion History Timeline, Fashion Institute of Technology, 2021, updated 2025 (regional names and linen lining).
    Return to text (2 references)Reference 1 Reference 2
  3. 1580–1589 — Sarah Bochicchio, Fashion History Timeline, Fashion Institute of Technology, 2019, updated 2020 (the kirtle as skirt, the farthingale, and the Stubbes quotation).Reference 1