Robe à la Versailloise de Gros de Naples …” 1778
Conçu par Pierre-Thomas Leclerc, français, vers 1740-après 1799
Round gown, ca. 1798
British
White cotton with polychrome wool crewel embroidered trim
The simple style of white muslin dress first appeared and was popularized in France by Marie Antoinette in the 1780s, when her friend Georgiana, duchess of Devonshire, imported the style into England. These early dresses acquired the title of chemise à la reine, and a wonderful example can be seen worn by Mme Lavoisier in the 1788 portrait of herself and her husband (1977.10).
The French Revolution called for a complete contrast in dress to the elaborate silks that had gone before, and plain white muslin dresses were considered an appropriate style, evoking as they did images of unadorned classical beauty. In the latter years of the century, waistlines rose to extremely high levels and the wide sashes that had previously been worn around the waist disappeared. All ruffles and flounces were renounced in favor of a severe, clean line.
The light, transparent qualities of this style called for a change in undergarments. Corsets, or stays were now replaced by unboned canvas or cotton drill bodices, and for the first time women took to wearing drawers; adapted from male garments, these consisted of two tubular legs open in the center and attached to a waistband.
Until 1806, these dresses retained a small train at the back, supported by pom poms stitched below the waistline. After this date, hemlines began to rise and color was gradually reintroduced, with printed cotton fabrics being a popular choice. Silk was still worn, although it tended to be in plain colors; it was popularly used for the pelisse—a long coatlike garment—or the spencer jacket. This was a small jacket finishing just below the waist with long sleeves reaching to just above the knuckles.
Dress, ca. 1735
British
Heavy silk with lace pattern design woven in beige and rust on a dark brown satin ground
A Spitalfields silk dress with a dome-shaped skirt conforms not only to the silhouette of the 1730s but also to the interaction between silks and laces during that time, especially evident in Spitalfields manufacture. The silk pattern is like that of lace. While such interaction seems hard to imagine between worker and pattern book, clothing is a place where the various media ultimately converge. Eighteenth-century dress, in particular, was a Gesamtkunstwerk of artisanal and dressmaking skills. While most eighteenth-century dresses have been altered in some way for subsequent use, fashion historian Janet Arnold has noted that this one shows no sign of ever having been altered and is thus in its perfect original state.
Robe à l’anglaise, 1784-1787 (France)
Dress, French, cotton. Beg. 19th c.
Length: 1.270 m.
New-York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Purchase, Mrs. Annie C. Kane Bequest, 1926 (26.260.93)
Costume Parisienn°478 an 11 Beguin de tulle brodé, fraise attenante au fichu
Combinaison féminineDeuxième moitié du 18e siècleTechnique/Matière : soie (textile)Site de production : Etats-Unis d’Amérique (origine)Hauteur : 0.851 m.Localisation : Etats-Unis, New-York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Corset, réalisé par la Maison Léoty, 1891Technique/Matière : soie
Portrait de madame BishoffsheimLéon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (1833-1922)1877
Dress (French) (Robe à la Française), ca. 1770
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