Musyng in my mynde what raiment I shal were,
For now I wyll were thys, and now I wyll were that;
Now I wyll were I cannot tel what.
London, however, was not a fashion center, and the first book on the fashions of nations was printed in
Paris in 1562.[15] In his introduction to the book François Deserpz moralized:[16*]
. . . noz vieux predecesseurs . . . ont esté plus curieux de sumptueuse vesture que de rare vertu . . . car tout ainsi qu’on cognoist le Moyne au froc, le Fol au chaperon, & le Soldat aux armes, ainsi se cognoist l’homme sage à l’habit non excessif.
Figure 6.—Portrait of an English lady. From Recueil de la diversité des habits, 1567 ed. (Courtesy of Victoria & Albert Museum, London.)