Men’s fashion in the 1300s ran to extremes. Shoes often had extremely long points in the front, such that “pattens,” the wooden strap-on platforms used to keep leather feet out of rain and snow puddles, required long extensions to support the ridiculously long shoe points. People began to trip in the streets and some cities outlawed long shoe points. Men’s tunics, which had been stuck around knee length for centuries, now also went to extremes.
The houpeland was a fashionable, expensive coat with a long, full skirt/train, long full sleeves, and a wide collar. In fact, its notable broad collar was the first appearance of modern suit collar tailoring in a rudimentary form. Houpelands show up in paintings accompanied by the chaperon hat, the one that was made originally from a hood worn sideways. They also show up with tall, narrow hats that were the forerunners of the 19th century’s Abe Lincoln beaver/stovepipe hats. Everything about the costume blares extremes: extremely long, extremely tall, and extremely cumbersome.
On the other extreme, the newest garment was the courtepy, which has embedded the French word “court” for “short.” The courtepy was the shortest surcote ever dreamed up, barely covering the hips. Some were longer, some were barely there. A fashionable courtepy’s sleeves were often puffed, or slashed to show an under tunic’s contrasting-color silk. The courtepy was often padded and stiff, thanks to cotton’s wider availability for quilting thickness.
When men wore this super short jacket, their hose needed to become pants. Hose had begun as separate legs hooked to a garter belt at the hips, leaving the private parts exposed. Now, of course, tailors had to make bias-cut hose with a fully cut and stitched cover for the pelvis and rear end. It was part of their trend to fit cloth to the curves of the human body, as shown in the narrow gores of ladies’ gowns. Traditional Germanic breeches were blocky and tied at the waist, but the new full hose had to be tightly-tailored pants.