Clothing in Viking Era

As with many aspects of Viking-age material culture, our knowledge of Viking era clothing is fragmentary. The Viking people left few images and little in the way of written descriptions of their garments. Archaeological evidence is very limited and spotty. Thus, different scholars examining the evidence come to different conclusions. What is presented in this article represents only a range of possible interpretations.

Viking apparel was distinctive in style and originated in the Scandinavian and Germanic regions of Europe. The peasant dresses were mostly simple tunics worn more for functionality than for appearance. On the other hand, high medieval fashion clothes worn by nobility were highly ornate, decorated and embellished. Today, when people talk of medieval clothing it is not chain mail and armor, but the clothing that evolved during the latter part that they commonly refer to.

Norse people used worn out clothing for many purposes. Sometimes, it was coated with pitch and used to seal cracks in the shipbuilding process. In other cases, fabric was coated with pitch to use as a torch, but never lit. These pitch-coated fabrics have survived very well. At least one entire garment (a pair of men's trousers) has survived from the Viking era because someone used it in the process of building a ship.

Headwear was very much in use then as it is these days, with more variety. There were close-fitting coifs, wide brimmed straw hats, hoods, capes and jackets with hoods and hoods with a short cape just falling to the shoulders.

In Medieval Europe, sumptuary laws were enacted to dictate the types and colors of clothes people belonging to various classes could wear. This was done to help aristocracy retain their unique looks and distinguished styles. Though laws were enacted, enforcement was not simple or possible, giving people the freedom to wear different styles and colors of their choice.