The world is coming closer together. The wealth from expanded colonial trade trickles down to the European middle class, making possible more affordable silks, linens, and finer woolens. The technology of weaving remains essentially hand-looming. With each military conquest, centers of fashion and style shift. Florence is known for fine silks, and later Lyon, France, takes the lead.
Flemish weavers earn a reputation for fine, patterned fabrics.
England begins to catch up in the 1560s, when Queen Elizabeth I grants a charter to Dutch and Flemish settlers in Norwich to make silks and damasks. But our history lesson is interrupted by movement on the runway. A bejeweled lady and a smartly turned-out gentleman step gallantly onto the runway. Her gown sparkles with diamonds, emeralds, and pearls. Her hair is coifed high, her dress's sleeves are long and wide, and she is so tightly corseted that her ribs overlap.