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Prince Edward and Joan of Kent had a love of expensive clothes. Much of England benefited from the wars in France as the spoils of war were brought home. It was said that there was no woman of any status who did not benefit from the spoils of Calais when it was captured.
In 1342 the Archbishop of Canterbury complained that the Clergy were dressing as lay people with checkerboard squares of red and green, short coats, notably scant, with excessively wide sleeves to show linings of fur or silk, hoods, and tippets of great length., pointed and slashed shoes, jeweled girdles, upon which hung gilt purses, the Clergy ignored the tonsure and wore beards and hair to their shoulders.
Around 1348 and the successes in France, fashions began to change. Shoes which had been square, became pointed and padded and curved upwards. Dresses were high waisted, clinging to the figure, men's tabards became shorter doublets, and they wore hip belts. Also the costume worn became much more colourful and extreme.
The commons complained how people were dressing themselves above their station and passed laws to restrict them. Carters, ploughmen, oxherds, cowherds, shepherds, swineherds, dairywomen and other keepers of beasts, threshers of corn and all manner of men engaged in husbandry, and all others who do not own goods and chattels to the value of 40s, shall wear no cloth except blanket and linen according to their condition.
In 1351 the Mayor of London warned the 'common lewd women in the city of London' not to dress above their station and that they should not wear any cloth trimmed with miniver (fur from a squirrel that was arrayed in blue-grey and white panels), badger fur, popelle or stranlyng (fur from squirrels taken in the spring and autumn), rabbit or hare, and clothing should not be lined with sendal, buckram or silk.
In 1363 a law passed in England a merchant worth £1000 could have the same dress as a knight worth £500 and a merchant worth £200 the same as a knight worth £100.
1367 Priests were censured for wearing short tight doublets, embroided purses, knives resembling swords, coloured boots with slashed and curling pointed toes.
Henry Knighton wrote that "it was scarce possible to tell poor from the rich, the servant from the master, or priest from other men".
In December 1375 Edward III gave Isabella a scarlet hooded robe in the style of the Order of the Garter, with fur on the hood and sleeves and turned up with ermine.Isabella was given another for St Georges day as well as her daughter Philippa. At the end of December 1375 Edward III gave his daughter a set of chapel furnishings and a red velvet saddle embroided with gold violets, and a second ornamented with suns of gold and copper.
Later Chaucer's character the Parson commented on the fashions and how the clothes worn became shorter and extravagant.
In France in the 14th Century laws were laid down as to what clothes people could wear, Lord and Ladies whose lands produced 6000 livres or more per year could have 4 costumes per year, knights and banneret's with 3000 livres or more per year could have 3 costumes per year, those with less than 2000 livres per year could only have 1 costume per year.
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