European Women's Wear 1770–1800
- Comments
-
Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 35 items of late-eighteenth-century women's wear main garments, such as dresses and petticoats, dating from 1770 to 1800. The most significant of these is a rare example of a robe à la polonaise or polonaise gown worn by Mary Mcdowall (1751–82), the wife of George Houston of Johnstone Castle, Renfrewshire (1744–1815).
During the late 1700s a more informal style of dress known as the robe à l’Anglaise (English gown) became popular in Europe. The wide panniers of mid-1700s gowns were replaced with a softer round shape over the hips created by wearing a padded bum roll. When cotton became increasingly popular during the 1780s a new form of gown developed. Sometimes known as the robe à la Reine (Queen's gown), named after Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1755–93), the chemise gown was an early form of the round gown with its closed bodice and skirt that would grow in popularity during the 1790s. An unusual printed muslin gown in the collection that has a gathered bodice may have been partly-influenced by this new style of dress.
- Broader term
- Staff Contact