At this point we might easily begin to wonder how those first Swiss Guards were dressed as they entered the Vatican for the very first time in January 1506, and if the dress has remained unaltered over the centuries and also whether the attractive attire that they wear today can be traced back to a designer. In the chronicles telling of the welcome given by Pope Julius 11 on January 22nd, 1506, to the first Swiss Guards, there is nothing referring to their dress, and this would seem almost certainly to indicate that they were dressed like any other soldiers of that time, when, it must also be said, there was no such thing as a military uniform. However it is quite certain that those Swiss Guards were shod and dressed, "vestiti usque ad calceas" at the Pope's expense; they probably wore the white cross of Switzerland or the Papal crossed Keys sewn on their chest. Their weapons were the halberd and the broadsword and their shoulders, chest and arms were protected with metal armour. In the 16th century, soldiers usually wore a doublet or jacket, fitted at the waist and ending in a point at the front that went under the belt. Or otherwise they wore a longer doublet that reached to the knee. Both the short and long doublet had no collar, and the neck was usually left uncovered as can be seen in a miniature kept in the Vatican Library, of Julius II's entry into Bologna, where von Silenen is shown bare-necked. The puffed parts of the sleeves and breeches were at times decorated with coloured bands of material, attached only at the two extremes. Often these different coloured bands were used by the mercenary captains to distinguish one company from another. The soldiers usually wore stockings to the knees.
