25 18th Century Fashion: Dresses
These were some of the most popular styles of dresses worn during the late 18th century.
robe à la française
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art website:
The robe à la française, with open robe and petticoat, was the quintessential dress of the eighteenth century. Characteristic of 1770s costume are the piece’s low neckline, fitted bodice, narrow sleeves with double layered cuffs, as well as the sack back and fullness at the hips supported by panniers.
Fig. 1 and 2.
Robe à l’anglaise
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art website:
The robe à l’anglaise was an open robe consisting of a bodice cut in one piece with an overskirt that was parted in front to reveal a matching petticoat. Its fitted bodice did not have the center back pleats, often referred to as the “Watteau back,” that typified the equally popular style of the robe à la française.
From Lydia Edwards, How to Read a Dress: A Guide to Changing Fashion, (London: Bloomsbury Academic Century, 2017), 56.
By the 1780s , it was common practice to include a light neck covering (fichu) for daytime wear.
Fig. 3 and 4.
Robe à la polonaise
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art website:
The term robe à la polonaise is often applied to any late-eighteenth-century dress with back drapery, but it should be reserved for a dress with a fitted anglaise back and a skirt that can be drawn up on interior tapes into swags. These light, informal dresses enjoyed great popularity for daywear in the late 1770s and 1780s. “Polish” fashion had appeared earlier in honor of Queen Maria Leczinska, who was a Polish princess before she married Louis XV.
Fig. 5 and 6.
Redingote
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art website:
The redingote, a dress inspired by English men’s riding coats, was one of many new, informal styles fashionable for women in the 1780s. French versions deviated from the strict simplicity of the man’s coat but retained masculine details, such as this redingote’s wide lapels, cape collar, and cutaway skirt that imitates the line of a tailcoat. While fashion magazines often presented the style as tasteful and versatile, some conservative critics saw the appropriation of masculine dress as a subversion of traditional gender roles.
Fig. 7 and 8.
Online Exhibitions from VersailleS
Fashion at Versailles: “For Her”| Fashion at Versailles: “For Him”
Image Citations:
Fig. 1. Robe à la Française. 1770. French, silk. Costume Institute Benefit Fund, 1999. Accession Number: 1999.41a, b. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/82495.
Fig. 2. Sack. 1775-1780. French, silk. Given by Miss Louise Band. Accession Number: T.180&A-1965. The Victoria & Albert Museum, London. From: The Victoria & Albert Museum. Accessed April 24, 2019. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74217/sack-unknown/.
Fig. 3. Robe à l’Anglaise. 1785–87. French, silk. Purchase, Irene Lewisohn Bequest, 1966. Accession Number: C.I.66.39a, b. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/81105.
Fig. 4. Woman’s Dress (Robe à l’Anglaise). 1785-1790. France, silk twill and silk plain-weave stripes. Purchased with funds provided by Suzanne A. Saperstein and Michael and Ellen Michelson, with additional funding from the Costume Council, the Edgerton Foundation, Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer, Maureen H. Shapiro, Grace Tsao, and Lenore and Richard Wayne. Accession Number: M.2007.211.931. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. From: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://collections.lacma.org/node/214644.
Fig. 5. Robe à la Polonaise. About 1785, altered at a later date. French, Cotton plain weave, block-printed. Accession Number: 43.1619. Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. From: Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/robe-%C3%A0-la-polonaise-119658.
Fig. 6. Robe à la Polonaise. 1774–93. French, silk. Dodge Fund, 1934. Accession Number: 34.112a, b. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/86883.
Fig. 7. (Woman’s Dress) Redingote. ca. 1790. Europe, silk and cotton satin and plain weave. Purchased with funds provided by Robert and Mary M. Looker. Accession Number: M.2009.120. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. From: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://collections.lacma.org/node/206270.
Fig. 8. Redingote. ca. 1787. Probably French, silk. Polaire Weissman Fund, 2015. Accession Number: 2015.443. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/680133.
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