The Tudors

Tudor swagger aptly describes fashionable wear in the reign of Henry VIII. Dandies spent fortunes on the French cloth of gold and Genoese velvets demanded by a lavish court. Together with this extravagance in taste went a new vogue in colourings. Dyewoods were introduced from the East Indies, and the Conquistadores returned from Mexico with cochineal insects which were to provide crimson and scarlet shades for over 300 years. Cochineal and many of the other naturally occurring colouring matters have now been entirely replaced by a range of synthetic dyestuffs and pigments.