Young Englishwoman, costume study by Hans Holbein the Younger

Monument to Sir Richard Knightley and his wife Jane, St Mary's Church, Fawsley (detail 2)

A dress hook is a decorative clothing accessory of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

and Tudor periods used to fasten outer garments or to drape up skirts. Made of

base metal A base metal is a common and inexpensive metal, as opposed to a precious metal such as gold or silver. In numismatics, coins often derived their value from the precious metal content; however, base metals have also been used in coins in the past ...

or precious silver and

silver-gilt Silver-gilt or gilded/gilt silver, sometimes known in American English by the French term vermeil, is silver (either pure or sterling) which has been gilded with gold. Most large objects made in goldsmithing that appear to be gold are actually ...

, dress hooks are documented in wills and inventories, and surviving hooks have been identified in the archaeological record throughout England. "Dress hook" is the modern specialist terminology. In historical records, these items are referred to simply as "hooks", and context may be needed to differentiate them from

hook-and-eye closure A hook-and-eye closure is a simple and secure method of fastening garments together. It consists of a metal hook, commonly wire bent to shape, and an eye (or "eyelet") of the same material into which the hook fits. History The hook and eye clo ...

s, which were also used in large quantities, in both base and precious metals, in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Usage

Documentary evidence suggests that dress hooks were often owned in pairs. Dress hooks were used to draw up skirts, either to keep them out of the muck of the street or to display the rich fabric of the garment beneath, and may also have been used to fasten garments or simply as decoration. At the time of her death in 1509, the jewellery of

Lady Margaret Beaufort Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. A descendant of ...

included "ij hookys siluer vpon a rybande for the Tuckyng of a gown". A drawing of a young Englishwoman, probably a merchant's wife, by Hans Holbein the Younger shows skirts caught up with hooks in this manner. The drawing is dated to the late 1520s or early 1530s.

Study and classification

Dress hooks were little studied until the UK Treasure Act of 1996 required the examination and assessment of such small objects when made of precious metals. A seminal cross-disciplinary study of

dress hooks in the Journal of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

in 2002 identified three broad classes of dress hooks: * Ornamental hooks with bars on the back for attaching the hook to a girdle (cloth belt) or to clothing * Hook-fasteners, cast in a single plane with a bar or loop at the top for attachment, known in

form in the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

and Britain from the late 15th to early 17th centuries * Novelty forms, such as the cylindrical hook found in Brabourne Lees, Kent, in 1998 Similar items include the twisted-wire double-ended dress fasteners of the Medieval period and late Medieval and Tudor

cap hook A cap hook is a decorative hat ornament fashionable from the late Middle Ages through the Tudor period, used to pin up or decorate men's hat brims. Cap hooks were made of gold, silver, or silver-gilt base metal, and might be decorated with jewel ...

s. File:A Medieval - Post Medieval silver double-ended dress fastener (14th – late 15th century). 2008T34 (FindID 205810).jpg, Twisted silver wire dress fastener, ca. 1350–1500, London File:DUR-C7C702, Dress Hook (FindID 619658).jpg, Copper alloy dress hook, ca. 1550–1700, North Yorkshire File:Post-Medieval dress hook (FindID 521969).jpg, Bar-backed cast silver dress hook, Cheshire File:66 Hook Front (FindID 73546).jpg, Medieval hook-fastener, Kent File:Complete but slightly damaged copper alloy dress-hook of sixteenth century date (AD 1500 &-8211; AD 1600). (FindID 88120).jpg, Half-cylinder copper alloy dress hook, possibly late medieval, Isle of Wight File:Dress hook (FindID 620181).jpg, Composite silver-gilt dress hook, Suffolk

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Dress hooks
BBC History of the World - Dress Hook

Hooked tags and other dress hooks
at the

Portable Antiquities Scheme The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary programme run by the United Kingdom government to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest found by members of the public. The scheme begun in 1997 and now covers m ...

Jewellery Fashion accessories 15th-century fashion 16th-century fashion Archaeology of the United Kingdom