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The luteplayer wears a kirtle over her smock, 1626.

A kirtle (sometimes called cotte, cotehardie) is a garment worn by men and women in the Middle Ages or, later, a one-piece garment worn by women from the later Middle Ages into the Baroque period. The kirtle was typically worn over a chemise or smock which acted as a slip and under the formal outer garment or gown/surcoat.

Kirtles were part of fashionable attire into the middle sixteenth century, and remained part of country or middle-class clothing into the seventeenth century.

Kirtles began as loose garments without a waist seam, changing to tightly fitted supportive garments in the 14th century. Later kirtles could be constructed by combining a fitted bodice with a skirt gathered or pleated into the waist seam. Kirtles could lace up the front, back or side-back, with some rare cases of side lacing, all depending on the fashion of the day/place and what kind of gown was to be worn over it. Kirtles could be embellished with a variety of decorations including gold, silk, tassels, and knobs.[1]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Walter, Thornbury (1875–1887). "The Costume of English Women from the Heptarchy to the Present Day. Chapter III. Henry VII. Henry VIII". The Art Journal. New Series 2: 173–177.