After the fall of Rome in the 5th century, a T-shaped tunic remained the basic garment for European men and women until about 1300. A cloak or cape worn over this tunic provided warmth. Men also wore untailored drawstring trousers called braies.
In medieval society a military, landowning aristocracy dominated the vast majority of the people, who worked as agricultural laborers. Rule by a military elite meant that armor was the most important form of dress for medieval lords and the men who served them. Advances in military technology stimulated a demand for new styles of armor. Some medieval armor was soft-that is, it was made either of quilted fabric or leather. Most armor, however, was chain mail, made of interlocked metal rings.
During the 14th and 15th centuries chain mail armor was gradually replaced by plate armor, made of large pieces of metal. Arrows shot from a crossbow could pierce chain mail; a complete suit of plate armor provided greater protection. The new style of armor covered the limbs and torso, and a helmet and a moveable visor protected the head and face. To protect his metal armor from rain or the heat of the sun, a knight might wear an outer garment of cloth or leather called a surcoat.
After the new style of armor became standard, men adopted a short upper garment, called a doublet, which barely reached to the thighs and sometimes only to the waist. Initially worn under the armor, it evolved into a new kind of jacket for men. It was worn with tights and long, pointed shoes. Once this costume became general, clothing for European men and women began to diverge dramatically. For the first time, the long robe or dress became associated with femininity.
As European clothing styles became more various, tailors became more skillful at cutting and sewing clothing. They learned, for example, to set sleeves with curved tops into curved armholes. Curved seams provided greater ease of movement and permitted clothing to fit more closely to the body. Aristocratic women began wearing dresses with high waistlines, long trains, and low necklines. The clergy disapproved of these new styles, calling them indecent. Fashionable colors among the upper classes included red, purple, and black. Most peasants wore undyed clothing in the natural shades of the cloth, such as beige, brown, and gray. Peasant men wore trousers, vests, and shirts; peasant women wore skirts and looser blouses.
Fashion, distinct from everyday clothing, had begun to emerge in Europe by the 14th century, although it was still restricted to small groups of people, mostly at royal courts. By the 15th century, fashion had begun to spread, first to Italy. There, fashion was closely associated with the rise of cities dominated by the merchants and manufacturers who were prosperous enough to purchase clothing for style's sake. Because this kind of economic system that supported a wealthy merchant and manufacturing class first developed in the West, fashion was for many centuries primarily a Western phenomenon. Within Europe, some countries-England, for example-developed a modern industrial economy more rapidly than others. Already by the 18th century, many working-class people in England wore clothing that resembled fashionable styles. In contrast, much of Eastern Europe retained traditional styles until the 20th century, when Western-style clothing became predominant. Some traditional clothing of Eastern Europe came under the influence of Turkish styles and differed from that of Western Europe. The Ottoman (Turkish) Empire ruled much of the Balkan Peninsula in Eastern Europe, starting in the 15th century.