Fashion in the Renaissance Era Lecture with Ruth Grim

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026 | 2:00 - 3:30pm

Italian and Northern Renaissance portraits give us tantalizing views into the fashions of the era and this lecture will include famous paintings as we look at the attire of the rich and famous during the age of Shakespeare as well as the years leading up to it in Europe. This period is known as a great age of art and culture in Europe but it was also an era in which incredibly beautiful - if somewhat difficult to wear – fashions flourished for those who could afford them. During the Renaissance, wealthy European attire was an ostentatious display of power, characterized by vibrant colors, sumptuous fabrics like silk and brocade, and distinct gender fashions.

Men wore doublets and padded "peascod" doublets paired with elaborate codpieces and trunk hose, while women favored rigid, whalebone-corseted bodices and voluminous, floor-length skirts. Slashed and puffed sleeves revealing silk undergarments were common in the dress of both sexes as were large elaborate ruffs. Heavy gold chains and gemstones signifying elite status completed these ensembles.

From the striking conical headdresses with veils called “Hennins” from the 1400s to the elaborate ruffs and exaggerated sleeves and skirts of the Age of Elizabeth I in the 1500s, this lecture looks at 200 years of incredible European design in a talk that is Art History and Fashion/Design History all rolled into one.

This 90-minute program is included with museum admission ($8 general; $5 seniors, college, and military with ID; $3 youth ages 6–17), but is completely FREE for current OMAM members and U.S. veterans. 

Registration is requested as seats are limited.

Portrait of Henry VIII (1540, oil on panel) by Hans Holbein, the Younger (Augsburg 1497 – London 1543) - Galleria Nazionale, Palazzo Barberini, Rome | OMAM Guest Curator Ruth Grim | Eleonora of Toledo with Her Son Giovanni (1545, oil on wood) by Agnolo di Cosimo Tori detto Bronzino (Firenze, 1503-1572) - The Uffizi, Florence

About the Speaker

Ruth Grim has a Master of Arts from the New York University Institute of Fine Arts with a specialization in 18th and 19th century European art. Her museum career spans 32 years of curatorial work throughout the state including 18 years at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach, seven years at the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, and more than six years as chief curator at the Museum of Arts & Sciences in Daytona Beach.