Elizabethan era, for it reflected the values of Queen Elizabeth, who happened to be the ideal women of the era. Things that are not controllable sometimes have an influence on society that is not expected. One effect that should have been expected was that Queen Elizabeth would have an impacted on the society that she gave her name to. The one thing that wasn't expected however was the extent to which Queen Elizabeth would influence fashion. Queen Elizabeth was passionate about fashion and she spread her love for it through out the kingdom. One of Queen Elizabeth's talents was her ability to use any situation to her political advantage (Boucher 17). She wanted to be seen as a person with power and capability and she thought rich cloths would help obtain that opinion. The rich fabrics and jewels displayed incredible wealth, power and prestige (Leed 1). Wealth and power were not the only thing Queen Elizabeth achieved with her wardrobe. She had a great fondness for foreign dress and this had an incredible impact on English fashion of the times. England admired Queen Elizabeth's style and tried to imitate it to their ability. She set the stance for what fashion should be, and most upper class women followed her lead. This gave Queen Elizabeth the ability to create a piece of fashion that would always be associated with her era. The Spanish farthingale belonged to Katherine of Aragon, even though it was predominantly scene through out the 16th century, but the Ruff belonged to her (Contini 130). She made th...
