From bling and birds to ‘really fancy armour’ – the best dressed characters of the Bayeux tapestry

Medieval experts talk us through the fashion of the near-1,000-year-old embroidered work, and what it says about the people wearing it

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Blood, booze, arrows and boats; these are what you might typically imagine when you think of the Bayeux tapestry, which has become one of the hottest historical tickets since it went on display at the British Museum in London this month. But what about the hair?

“The Anglo-Saxons all have these little moustaches, which are brilliant. And then the Normans have these funny haircuts with the back of their heads shaved,” says Prof Laura Cleaver, an expert in medieval manuscripts at the Institute of English Studies.

And the clothes? There are crowns and tights, and brooches that wouldn’t look out of place anchoring one of Colman Domingo’s lapels at the Oscars.