Vintage Fashion: Second-Hand Clothing in Medieval France
By Lucie Laumonier
Even when made of coarse fabric and unrefined, clothes were expensive in the Middle Ages. Dresses, stockings and cloaks were mended until they were too damaged to wear. People bought second-hand clothing from retailers and received clothes as bequests. This article sheds light on the circulation of second-hand clothing in the southern French city of Montpellier and its immediate surroundings in the late medieval period, by looking at the sale of used clothing and donations of second-hand clothes.
A dealer of used clothes was a “
pelhier” in the local Vernacular (
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 7:45am
Lee Swanson’s second book in his “No Man Is Her Master” series is available at Sherman’s Bookstores and on Amazon. Courtesy of the author
Author Lee Swanson
Medieval historian and Boothbay Harbor resident Lee Swanson has just published “Her Perilous Game,” the second historical fiction novel in the “No Man is Her Master” series, and the thrilling sequel to “No Man’s Chattel.”
“Her Perilous Game” offers a unique look at life among the medieval merchant class, told from the point-of-view of a young woman who must constantly guard the secret of her identity, or chance jeopardizing the life she has made for herself.