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Pieter Bruegel - The Return of the Herd (1565) |
"... Embroidery was deemed 'unseemly' as were 'light and variant hues in clothing, as red, blue, yellow and such like, which declare the lightness of mind.' Instead, the Scots were told to wear simple fabrics in 'grave colour,' such as 'black, russet, sad grey, or sad brown.' This depressing list comes from a summary of the 1575 General Assembly of the Kirk, recorded in the Domestic Annals of Scotland. Although the upper classes continued to wear silks and velvets and pretty bright dresses, most people wore their sad rags. It was more practical, to be dressed in dark gray and black and brown. Life for the lower classes was hard. The clothing reflected this fact. And yet, thrown in with those drab colors was russet. ..."
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