Dress and Material Culture

Buoyed by its flourishing artisanal economy, Augsburg supported a lively trade in consumer wares and fashion items, including textile goods, arms, and armor. Within the urban landscape, the body became a site for appraisal. Bodily adornment consequently loomed large in the minds of Augsburg’s inhabitants, who collaborated with merchants and workshops to assemble splendid outfits for themselves and foreign clients. Sartorial finery was the outcome of collective efforts that linked suppliers, craftsmen, agents, and patrons across the city and abroad, driving material achievement to new heights of innovation and aestheticism. While sumptuous dress was an important, aspirational tool for Augsburg’s social climbers, it was also wielded by civic authorities to distinguish social rank and duty, ensuring that public-facing dressed bodies fit into an honorable commune. The city cultivated a unique fascination for visualizing clothing in portraiture, hand-painted albums, and in print, transforming dress into a key subject of pictorial culture.