A kirtle (sometimes called cotte, cotehardie) is a garment worn by men and women in the Middle Ages or, later, a one-piece garment worn by women from the later Middle Ages into the Baroque period. The kirtle was typically worn over a chemise or smock which acted as a slip and under the formal outer garment or gown/surcoat.
Kirtles were part of fashionable attire into the middle sixteenth century, and remained part of country or middle-class clothing into the seventeenth century.
Kirtles began as loose garments without a waist seam, changing to tightly fitted supportive garments in the 14th century. Later kirtles could be constructed by combining a fitted bodice with a skirt gathered or pleated into the waist seam. Kirtles could lace up the front, back or side-back, with some rare cases of side lacing, all depending on the fashion of the day/place and what kind of gown was to be worn over it. Kirtles could be embellished with a variety of decorations including gold, silk, tassels, and knobs.
I'm out of faith, I'm in retrograde
A dizzy pattern in a cheap parade
And I'm losing touch but I'm, I'm not ashamed
Of what I say or how nice I play
I'm a Trojan horse made of paper mache
What has been ever comes 'round again
And I'm under a rain, I'm shutting down
I'm unimpressed but I've done my best
An undecided heart makes such a mess
I'm out of place, I'm a different state
A little scattered by a bitter fate
And I'm losing touch but I'm, I'm not afraid
I'll be okay just in a different way
I have no remorse, I have no more shame
Oh, nothing ever ends before it begins
'Cause I'm under a rain, I'm shutting down
I'm unimpressed but I've done my best
An undecided heart makes such a mess
Well, I'll be going 'round and 'round
This cycle won't slow down
I'm looking for the center of this life I've found
What has been ever comes 'round again?
'Cause I'm under a rain, I'm shutting down
I'm unimpressed but I've done my best
An undecided heart makes such a mess
And I'm under a rain, I'm shutting down
I'm unimpressed, I've done my best