---
node: fashion_italian_renaissance
type: fashion
slug: italian_renaissance_fashion
title: "Fashion in the Italian Renaissance"
lead: "Renaissance Italy led European fashion: the silks, velvets and cloth of gold of Florence, Venice and Milan clothed its sumptuous courts."
published: 2026-07-28
updated: 2026-07-28
image_file: italian_renaissance_fashion.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bronzino_-_Eleonora_di_Toledo_col_figlio_Giovanni_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg"
image_author: "Bronzino"
image_license: "Public domain"
change: "Created as a fashion sub-page under the history section, with a period image (italy region)"
requester: internal
reason: "Per the owner's decision, fashion lives under each history era"
---

## Overview

The rival courts and wealthy cities each vied in luxury, and Italian fine textiles were prized across Europe.

## Key garments and style

Women wore a gown — the gamurra or giornea — over a thin camicia, and men a doublet (giubbone) with hose. Slashing that revealed the layer beneath, and the balzo headdress, were in vogue; the patterned gowns in portraits of Eleonora di Toledo are the style's peak.

## Transition

In the later 16th century stiff, dark Spanish dress spread through the courts and the lead in fashion began to pass beyond Italy.