Even museums with large collections will have very few garments from the 1500’s-1600’s.
1. Gown of Mary of Hapsburg, 1520’s
Hungarian National Museum, Budapest, Hungary
The “second-oldest dress in Europe” dates from the 1520’s, and is exhibited along with the robes of King Louis.
2. Sture Pluderhosen, 1560’s
The Cathedral Museum, Uppsala, Sweden
These three garments have been in the Uppsala Cathedral’s collection since 1567, when Privy Councillor Svante Stensson Sture and his sons Nils and Erik (who were wearing the clothes) were murdered, provoked by King Erik XIV’s suspicion of a conspiracy to depose him. The garments are included in Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion #3, and were a part of the exhibition “Modelejon Manligt Mode” at the Royal Armory (Livrustkammaren) in Stockholm in 2002 (with a hard-to-find but excellent catalogue). They are a part of the permanent exhibit at the Cathedral along with the Gala Dress of Queen Margareta, though one of them is currently in Stockholm as a part of the exhibition “Power Games”, through January 2015.
Charles X Gustav’s Costume, 1654
Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren), Stockholm, Sweden
The collection at the Royal Armory has one of the most extensive collections of 17th century men’s clothing in the world. Like the Sture Pluderhosen, they were studied by Janet Arnold and exhibited in the Modelejon Manligt Mode exhibition.
Rosenburg Castle (Copenhagen)