Costume Drama

I've been watching a docuseries called "Stories From The Natural Portrait Gallery" on Sky Arts over the last few days as it follows the London gallery preparing to re-open its doors after three years of extensive refurbishment.
It tells the fascinating and enthralling story of portraiture through looking at both artists and sitters through time from Holbein to Hockney and from Shakespeare to Stormzy.
One aspect that I found particularly interesting in the first episode was how clothing, especially in the earlier portraits, was a vital means of displaying magnificence in portraits - from rich furs and costly velvet to sumptuous silks, adorned with gold embroidery. Advisers to the rich and powerful understood the magnitude of approval in shaping public opinion, and used clothing and colour to portray prestige - sometimes also including hidden symbolic imagery.
One such artist, painting in the style predominantly associated with the Northern Renaissance, was Hans Holbein who produced art that was realistic in its representation of true likeness and masterful in its use of light and texture - particularly as in his most famous portrait of Henry VIII (1536-1537).
His work was characterised by his exceptional detail and precision, and we are indebted in our understanding of the King's clothing to Holbein's exquisite depictions of fabric, colour and embellishment.
I couldn't quite summon rich furs, costly velvet or sumptuous silks adorned with gold for today's image but I did manage to find this richly embroidered material which had been used in one of my sister's theatre productions which might just give a hint of what such finery may have looked like in its prime.