The coif or cap, familiarly known as the Mary Queen of Scots’ cap, came into use in this reign. (Fig. 12.) _Edward VI. and Mary._ Female costumes were the same as in the previous reign. The ordinary dresses of the commonalty were plain; a hood or cloth cap and apron with close collar and tight sleeves with a small puff at the shoulders were worn. (Fig. 6.) _Elizabeth._ Elizabeth was inordinately fond of dress and display, and from the portraits of her in existence we see very clearly the height of the fashions of her reign. At the commencement the costumes passed through a transition period. Ladies copied men’s fashions by having doublets and jerkins as the men had, buttoned up at the breast with a small ruff about the neck. The skirts at this time were only padded to a slight extent at the hips. Unmarried women wore low-necked dresses even out of doors at this time. About the middle of Elizabeth’s reign the great change took place which gave female costume of the sixteenth century its remarkable character. Elizabeth herself was long waisted and narrow chested, and in this costume the body was imprisoned in whalebone to the hips, while an enormous ruff was worn, rising gradually from the front of the shoulders to nearly the height of the head behind. From the bosom, partly bare, descended the long stomacher on each side of which jutted out horizontally the enormous “_fardingale_” or farthingale, a construction of hoops similar to the crinoline of more recent times. It projected more at the sides than in front or at the back, and had a dwarfing effect on the height of the figure. (Fig. 10.) The cap or coif was occasionally exchanged for a round bonnet like that of the men, or the hair was dressed with many curls and adorned with ropes and stars of jewels or feathers. About the middle of her reign, Elizabeth herself wore false hair, and this fashion was taken up by the ladies of her court, so that it was made possible to build the hair up to a great height. As Elizabeth’s hair was yellow it was very fashionable to dye the hair the same colour as the Queen’s. The ruff, which was so important a feature of the costume of the period, made its appearance in England during Elizabeth’s reign, and it reached its greatest size about 1580 A.D. After the end of the century it began to decrease in size. Ruffs were now made of lawn and cambric, but originally they had been made of holland. The employment of these lighter materials necessitated the use of starch for stiffening. But as there was no one in England who could starch or stiffen them, the Queen sent to Holland for some women to come over as “starchers of ruffs.” One Dutch woman who came over taught the art of starching at a fee of £4 to £5 for each pupil, and 20s. in addition for teaching them how to make the starch.