Dress Hooks

Many of you have seen the objects, usually described as “dress hooks” or “hooked-clasps.” They are extremely numerous among archeological finds from the 15th and 16th centuries. And if you are like us, you’ve scratched your head and wondered what part of dress they hooked. We have several answers for you – and we are glad to hear about other uses you have found. These objects are called “cloak hooks” (mantelhaken) in Nederlands – and perhaps they are. There are late medieval/early modern painting that show them sewn to the end of a tape and slung forward over the hips to hold up skirts out of the mud. An illustration from 1567 shows a pair of apron strings with a hook at one end, catching up a plain hemmed rectangle as the apron front – and see below for information on a beautiful set of apron strings made on this pattern. Mac theorizes that they may be used to bind garters.

They are sold in sets of four.  We also offer ready-to-wear wool garters using these hooks.

These hooks are copied from one published in Schatten uit de Schelde, found in Nieuwlande. There are many other similar items, ranging in date from the late 15th well into the 16th century, described in Brian Read, Hooked Clasps and Eyes.

We are pleased to add two photos of an apron with strings with hooks made by Tracy Justus/Mistress Clare de Crecy. The tablet woven strings hook into a linen rectangle to create an apron. Tracy based her work on an illustration of a woman repulsing a lecherous monk  in the English Heroica eulogia manuscript of 1567, now in the Huntington Library, HM 160 (https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll7/id/44870, folio 103r).