Aruff is an item of clothing worn inWestern,Central andNorthern Europe, as well asSpanish America, from the mid-16th century to the mid-17th century. The round and flat variation is often called amillstone collar after its resemblance tomillstones for grinding grain.

The ruff, which was worn by men, women and children, evolved from the small fabricruffle at the neck of the shirt orchemise. Ruffs served as changeable pieces of cloth that could themselves be laundered separately while keeping the wearer'sdoublet orgown from becoming soiled at the neckline. The stiffness of the garment forced upright posture, and their impracticality led them to become a symbol of wealth and status.^[1]

Ruffs were primarily made from linencambric, stiffened withstarch imported from theLow Countries. Later ruffs were sometimes made entirely fromlace, an expensive embellishment that developed in the early sixteenth century.^[1]

The size of the ruff increased as the century went on. "Ten yards is enough for the ruffs of the neck and hand" for a New Year's gift made by her ladies forElizabeth I of England in 1565,^[2] but the adoption ofstarch allowed ruffs to be made wider without losing their shape. Later ruffs were separate garments that could be washed, starched, and set into elaborate figure-of-eight folds by the use of heated, cone-shapedgoffering irons. At their most extreme, "cartwheel ruffs" were a foot or more wide; thesecartwheel ruffs required a wire frame called asupportasse orunderpropper to hold them at the fashionable angle.

By the start of the seventeenth century, ruffs were falling out of fashion in Western Europe, in favour of wingcollars and fallingbands. The fashion lingered longer in theDutch Republic, where ruffs can be seen in portraits well into the seventeenth century, and farther east. The ruff remained part of the ceremonial dress of city councillors (Senatoren) in the cities of theHanseatic league and ofLutheran clergy inDenmark,Norway, theFaroe Islands,Iceland, andGreenland.

The ruff was banned byPhilip IV of Spain in 1621 in a symbolic attempt to reduce the inertia and power of the conservative Spanish elite.^[3]

Ruffs remain part of the formal attire of bishops and other clergy in theChurch of Denmark and theChurch of the Faroe Islands and are generally worn for services. TheChurch of Norway removed the ruff from its clergy uniform in 1980, although some conservative priests, such asBørre Knudsen, continued to wear them. Ruffs are also worn byboy sopranos in someAnglican church choirs.^[4]

The most popular and basic colour for ruffs was white,^[5] but sometimes the starch used to stiffen the ruff was enhanced with dyes, giving ruffs a range of pastel shades that washed away along with the starch. Dyes of vegetable origin made ruffs pink, light purple, yellow,^[6] or green.^[7] Light purple could also be achieved usingcochineal.^[6] Yellow could come fromsaffron,^[8] and pale blue fromsmalt.^[6]

The bluish tint of a ruff was supposed to make the wearer's complexion appear paler, thus more attractive to contemporaries.^[9]Elizabeth I took against this colour and issued aroyal prerogative: "Her Majesty's pleasure is that no blue starch shall be used or worn by any of her Majesty's subjects, since blue was the colour of the flag of Scotland ...".^[10]

Of the dyed ruffs, those in yellow were the most popular throughout Europe.^[7] In England, yellow went out of fashion after the trial and execution of convicted murdererAnna Turner, who was considered the inventor of yellow starch. During her trial the yellow-dyed ruffs started to be seen as a symbol of declining morality. According to some of Anne's contemporaries, she wore a yellow ruff to her trial, after which the executioner ironically decided to wear the same colour to carry out her sentence. However, this may only be a rumour of the time, as there are other primary sources that do not mention this detail.^[11]

Coloured ruffs are rarely seen in portraits not only because they were overall less popular than the white ones, but also because later restorers repainted them, believing white to be the "correct" colour for ruffs.^[6]

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  Joan Alleyn wearing a green ruff trimmed with lace, England, 1596.^[12]
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  Christian Cavendish, Countess of Devonshire wearing a saffron yellow lace ruff, 1619.^[13]
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  Marchesa Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo wearing a blue ruff, 1623.^[14]
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  Lady Anne Clifford wearing a saffron yellow ruff, 1618.^[15]

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  Philip III of Spainc. 1615. Detail from a portrait byVelázquez
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  The wife of theburgomaster ofLübeck, 1642
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  Sir Francis Drake
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  Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
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  George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury
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  Itō Mancio, 1585
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  Study of a Man with a Ruff Collar byAdolph Menzel, ca 1850
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  Pedro II of Brazil, 1872. Detail from a portrait byPedro Américo

• 1550–1600 in Western European fashion
• 1600–1650 in Western European fashion
• Piccadill, a similar clothing fashion
• Collar (clothing)

• Janet Arnold:Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd, W. S. Maney and Son Ltd., Leeds 1988. (ISBN 0-901286-20-6)

• How To Starch a RuffArchived 19 December 2008 at theWayback Machine Part I of IV
• Portraiture illustrating development from modest 1530s ruffs to the gigantic ruffs of the 1590s
• 17th century millstone ruff at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam