Pilgrim buckles

How did this get started?!

This may be news to some of you: pilgrim buckles were absolutely not a thing.

You know what I mean, right? The seemingly useless decorative buckles on their hats and shoes? The thing that makes the look of the pilgrims so iconic? Yeah, no one in history has ever dressed like that.

The style of hat and shoes that is so often depicted for the pilgrims was (mostly) historically accurate, sans buckle. The capotain hat was worn in England by people of just about every social class, both men and women. This tall-crowned hat often tapered upwards to the crown. And these hats were often decorated, especially by the upper class.

But buckles? No. Certainly not among the pilgrims. Buckles were an expensive item at the time, and the sheer number of them needed to adorn every hat, belt and shoe would’ve been wasted stowage.

It’s believed that the capotain was a precursor to the top hat, which was very much fashionable during the nineteenth century – again, sans buckle, but often with a silk band. As the myth of Thanksgiving was built around this time, the hats served as an interesting link between the past and (then) present while still differentiating the two. “Our American Hero Ancestors wore hats much like our own,” these illustrations seem to say, “See what gentlemen they were!” Yet those prominent buckles placed their fashion firmly in the past.

Expensive court shoes of the time may have occasionally featured metal features, but most were secured with leather ties or straps. While breeches were the most common pants, they weren’t always worn with stockings and short shoes. Many styles tucked right into over-the-knee boots. And seriously, white stockings after Labor Day? Nope; a typical Plymouth man probably wore dyed stockings to hide stains.

Illustrations of women typically feature plain skirts with stylized shirts that may or may not be period-inspired, always topped with a stylized coif. As I mentioned before, it was perfectly appropriate for women to wear a capotain; Queen Elizabeth made that very fashionable. The shirts they wore on the boat may have had stylish pleating and collars, but that no doubt filtered out as they were repaired and remade. Their collars were probably simple, but with their smocks peeking out and folded over to protect the fabric from their skin (and vice versa.) Aprons, though, are a detail that was probably spot-on, though the ties would invariably be tucked under the ends of their waistcoat.

And nary a buckle in sight.