Isabel medieval dress, Green Velvet

The cut of this dress is based on medieval illustrations from the 13th to 15th centuries. While women's attire had been cut rather loose and figure-hugging until then, this era saw the rise of increasingly form-fitting garments. Evolving from the French baggy cotte and roughly translates to daring cotte, the cotehardie presumably gets its name from its daring, form-fitting nature. Historical illustrations of late medieval kirtles can be found, among others, in The Romance of the Rose, an Old French narrative poem from the 13th century. (original title: Le Roman de la Rose), or in the Speculum humanae salvacis, at the beginning of the 14th century. Folk Theology Encyclopedia. The dress found in a bog body in Moy Bog, Ireland, and dating to the 14th/15th century, was also a pastry with numerous buttons.

Velvet originated in the 14th century Mediterranean and was predominantly woven in Italy. Velvet garments were luxury items, not only because of the intricacy of the craft involved in their production, but also due to the fact that the fabric was originally made of silk. Velvet was a very popular textile in Burgundian fashion during the Renaissance period.