---
node: fashion_anglo_saxon_england
type: fashion
slug: anglo_saxon_england_fashion
title: "Fashion in Anglo-Saxon England"
lead: "Anglo-Saxon dress was the layered wool and linen of early-medieval northern Europe: a long tunic and cloak for men, a gown and headcloth for women, fastened with brooches."
published: 2026-07-28
updated: 2026-07-28
image_file: anglo_saxon_england_fashion.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bayeux_Tapestry_32-33_comet_Halley_Harold.jpg"
image_author: "Bayeux Tapestry (11th century)"
image_license: "Public domain"
change: "Created as a fashion sub-page under the history section, with a period image (britain region)"
requester: internal
reason: "Per the owner's decision, fashion lives under each history era"
---

## Overview

The migrating Germanic peoples brought their own dress; wool and linen were spun at home, and jewellery marked rank.

## Key garments and style

Men wore a knee-length tunic, leg-coverings or bindings, and a cloak pinned at the shoulder. Women wore a long undergown and overgown — early on with paired shoulder brooches, later with a veil or headcloth — and the wealthy used embroidery and gold thread, Anglo-Saxon needlework already being prized.

## Transition

The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought continental fashions and a new aristocratic style.