Perhaps the most distinctive Norse garment of the Viking Age was the apron dress, worn by women of all stations. Worn over a kirtle, the apron dress was not only an overdress, but a way for Scandinavian women to show their love of ornamentation, both through embroidery and the attachment of brooches, beads, and small metal utensils.

There are many theories as to the exact construction of an apron dress, as there is a lack of extant garments and conflicting descriptions in historical sources, but the pieces of the Hedeby find are generally agreed upon to be the most probable method of construction. We have therefore used this find in designing the Revival Apron Dress. A relatively complex pattern consisting of rectangular pieces, triangle gores and a straight rectangular piece with a flare on one side, the garment is designed to fit closely across the bust and upper body, then loosely flare out at the wait to a full hem. Worn with our basic kirtle, the apron dress gives a distinctly Norse presentation.

About our Viking Age / Early Medieval Line

“AD. 793. This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island (Lindisfarne), by rapine and slaughter.” – The Anglo Saxon Chronicle

In the late 8th century, Scandinavian sea-pirates sacked the island monastery of Lindisfarne, heralding in the so-called Viking Age, a term applied to the eighth through eleventh centuries, in which Norsemen traders and raiders, explored Europe, and settled in Normandy, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, and Vinland. To the east, they set themselves up as the rulers of Russian Kiev, pressed into Anatolia and took service as the famed Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Emperors.

Our new Viking Age product line will be continuously growing with representations of the fashions of the Norse, Anglo-Saxons and Normans civilizations of this period. Regardless of which of these cultures one portrays, there are a number of common truths for Northern European fashion in this period. Linen was the most fabric for clothing, followed by a variety of different weight wools used for overtunics, cloaks and overdresses. Silk, as an extremely rare, luxury fabric, was only used for small trim or accents.

The period leading to the Viking Age was a conservative one, with localized cultures and limited trade. Consequently, many similarities of cut and fit exist between late Roman era Germanic dress and Viking era, Scandinavian clothes, until very late in the period.

Read more about Viking culture in our From the Pen of History article: The Gift of a Shirt

Perhaps the most distinctive Norse garment of the Viking Age was the apron dress, worn by women of all stations. Worn over a kirtle, the apron dress was not only an overdress, but a way for Scandinavian women to show their love of ornamentation, both through embroidery and the attachment of brooches, beads, and small metal utensils.

There are many theories as to the exact construction of an apron dress, as there is a lack of extant garments and conflicting descriptions in historical sources, but the pieces of the Hedeby find are generally agreed upon to be the most probable method of construction. We have therefore used this find in designing the Revival Apron Dress. A relatively complex pattern consisting of rectangular pieces, triangle gores and a straight rectangular piece with a flare on one side, the garment is designed to fit closely across the bust and upper body, then loosely flare out at the wait to a full hem. Worn with our basic kirtle, the apron dress gives a distinctly Norse presentation.

About our Viking Age / Early Medieval Line

“AD. 793. This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island (Lindisfarne), by rapine and slaughter.” – The Anglo Saxon Chronicle

In the late 8th century, Scandinavian sea-pirates sacked the island monastery of Lindisfarne, heralding in the so-called Viking Age, a term applied to the eighth through eleventh centuries, in which Norsemen traders and raiders, explored Europe, and settled in Normandy, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, and Vinland. To the east, they set themselves up as the rulers of Russian Kiev, pressed into Anatolia and took service as the famed Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Emperors.

Our new Viking Age product line will be continuously growing with representations of the fashions of the Norse, Anglo-Saxons and Normans civilizations of this period. Regardless of which of these cultures one portrays, there are a number of common truths for Northern European fashion in this period. Linen was the most fabric for clothing, followed by a variety of different weight wools used for overtunics, cloaks and overdresses. Silk, as an extremely rare, luxury fabric, was only used for small trim or accents.

The period leading to the Viking Age was a conservative one, with localized cultures and limited trade. Consequently, many similarities of cut and fit exist between late Roman era Germanic dress and Viking era, Scandinavian clothes, until very late in the period.

Read more about Viking culture in our From the Pen of History article: The Gift of a Shirt