The Elizabethan era is considered the golden age of English poetry, music and literature. William Shakespeare uses the theater as a place to showcase the latest styles of clothing, poetry and music. Clothing plays an important role in Shakespeare's works. Clothing helped audiences understand character, and components of clothing are mentioned literally and metaphorically in many of his plays, often used as a plot device and used in appearance over reality. Queen Elizabeth I did not immediately change fashion; she waited until she was queen for a while. The first changes he made were to widen the bodice, farthingale, and ruff (Covington, Sarah). Then, as people became richer, their clothing became more elaborate: “With silk coats and caps and gold rings, with ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things; with scarves and fans and a double change of courage. (Tam. Sh. IV. iii. 55-7) The tailor arrives with elegant and expensive clothes for Kate, as they are about to go to Baptista's house in Padua. (SparkNotes: The Taming of the Shrew: Act IV, scenes iii-v) This part of the play alludes to the time when Queen Elizabeth made changes in style and wanted everyone to dress as if they were on a portrait. Everyone had to follow what Queen Elizabeth I said, because the citizens wanted to impress the queen with their clothes. Today, cross-dressing is still used as a form of entertainment. In Twelfth Night Shakespeare uses a theatrical tradition of cross-dressing in which the true identity of the actor and character is covered by the clothes, voice and gestures of the opposite sex, although sometimes the character remains of the same gender. ("Clothing." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World...... middle of sheet......Works CitedCovington, Sarah. "Clothing." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Ed. Jonathan Dewald: Charles Scribner's Sons, 545-549. 2003. Student Resources in Context. April 29, 2014. "Clothing in Macbeth." Shmoop University, Inc., November 11, 2008. Web. Much Ado About Nothing. "Shmoop University, Inc., November 11, 2008. Web. May 1, 2014."Hamlet's Costume Changes in Hamlet." Shmoop University, Inc., November 11, 2008. Web. May 1, 2014. “SparkNote on The Taming of the Shrew.” SparkNotes LLC 2002. Web. April 30, 2014. “SparkNote on Twelfth Night.”. 2014.