Eighteenth Century

Introduction

  Dress in the eighteenth century France achieved an extraordinary and substained elegance.  Thanks to the political, social, economic and cultural climate of the country, it became the inspiration for dress in the other countries of Western Europe.  France was a monarchy and was ruled under King Louis XV.  Women began female dominance of the court and contributed to the sophisticated development of the arts of fashion.  Two women especially held the scepter of fashion who are Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV and Queen Marie- Antoinettee, the consort of Louis XVI.  The influence of both women owed its strength to the fact that women in the eighteenth century, though having obtained no legal rights, occupied a major position in society.  Women are " the governing principle, the guiding reason, the commanding voice."

  One of the first moves of the new regime was to leave the gloomy old court at Versailles and to establish the new center of power in Paris, home of society, where the salon were beginning to disseminate new artistic ideas.  The
Regency style, the faerunner of the rococo, was characterized by a sense of lightness and a playful exoticism seen in art, interior design and textiles, all of which reacted against the measured classicism and conformity of the pervious reign.  Light colours and floating silk with a growing vogue for the informality of the negligee, were typical of women’s dress in the early eighteenth century; indolence and sesuality were the keynotes of the new dispensation.  Yet fashion changes do not occur overnight, and side by side with these new fashion influences went a continuity of the old order with regard to formal dress and particularly for men’s dress, where a kind of baroque heaviness in style and fabric continued well into the eighteenth century.

  Dress for Women

French ladies began to adopt a hoped petticoat that has already been in use in England for several years: they passed a hoop through the lower edge of their underskirts to keep the fabric away from their legs.  This is called the panier which resembles a cage and composed of hoops made from plainted cord, small strips of metal or osier or rings of whalebone attached together by ribbons.  Five years later, the panier was superseded by a petticoat made of gummed cotton or taffeta with about five hoops threaded through it.  The hoop at the top was called the truquenand.  Small panniers with horse hair, were known as " "considerations".  In the eighteenth century, the panier became the most important item in French fashion.

  The panier was not, however, solely responsible for moulding the female silhoutte.  The whaleboned bodice consisted of a very rigid bodice reinforced in front by a long steel strip whioch narrowed the waist, raised the bust and forced the shoulders back.  It explains the stiff posture of the women shown seated in paintings, unable to bend from the waist.  When laced up in the front, this boned bodice was called "open" and when laced up at the back, this boned bodice is called "closed".  Pregnant women were permitted laces on the sides as well.  Below are the patterns for whaleboned bodices.

The panier was quite discreet and small in size, simply a truncated cone measuring less than 2 ells (2m 40cm) in circumference at the hem and had the effect of flaring the dress slightly.  The robe volante or flowing gown gave freedom and movement to the new fashion.  It is not the style of the gown that was new, but the use to which it was put.  Worn over the boned bodice and the petticoat, it had previously worn only informally, in the privacy of the boudoir (bedroom).  In fact, the appearance of scores of such robes negliges in the streets shocked the older generation, who were accustomed to the  stricter dress codes of Louis XIV. 

  The gown fell slightly obliquely from the shoulders to the ground and was lifted in front by the hand, gracefully revealing the petticoat.  The back was gathered or pleated across the shoulders to give fullness, the sleeves were pleated along their length, terminating below the elbow with a slightly flared cuff that revealed a sleeve of fine linen or lace. The gown perfectly expressed the spirit of the age, with its dreams of liberty and fluidity.  Below is the picure of a flowing gown featured by Wattena at the center of his painting L’ Enseigne de Gersaint.

  From 1725, the panier began to increase considerably in size, ultimately adopting the shape of a huge dome which would measure  as much as 3 ells (3m 60cm) around the base.  In fact, its size was beginning to cause trouble at court.  The Church, too, was disturbed by the fashion.  Despite this, more and more women succumbed to the temptation of the panier.  Even servants were also going to the markets in panniers!  Another type of bodice was also in use at this time.  This consisted of a fitted jacket with a short basque and straight, elbow-length sleeves with large cuffs, completed by a stomacher worn over the chest and stomach.  Below is an example of a fitted cusaquin with sleeve cuffs to be worn over with a stomacher and a long skirt.

  In 1740, the panier became oval in shape and the robe volante changed radically, becoming fitted over the bust thanks to a course-cloth bodice lining that laced behind, below the pleats; the pleated back thus became a false cape reaching from the shoulders to the hem of the skirt and merging with the skirt at ankle level.  The front of the gown was open ar the top to show the corset or a triangular stomacher that covered the corset.  From the waist down, the gown opened to reveal a matching underskirt or petticoat.  The sleeves stopped short at the elbow and terminated in a flared cuff, en raquette, that extended their length; below the cuffs a pair of engageuates were worn.

  In 1750, the panier divided into two boned cages fastened together with cords or tape.  These two cages were very pronounced over the hips and became known as "elbow panniers" because the fore-arms could be rested on them.  The robe a la francaise was decorated around the front edges of the over-dress with puffs or with pleated bands stiched on in straight or wavy lines.  The robe a l’ anglaise was worn over circular hoops and was gathered at the back.  This style of dress, in contrast to the robe a la francaise, showed a leaning towards simplicity and a desire to free the waistline.

  From 1770 to 1781, the robe a la francaise continued to be worn but with a shorter petticoat and an undergown fastened at the neck rather than at the waist.  The robe a la polonaise first appeared in 1775, consisted of a circular petticoat with a flounce round the hem, which reached to just above the ankle and the dress cut like a waisted coat, fastened to the bodice in front and revealing the lower point of a small bodice below.  The success of this type of gown was due partly to the fact that it was worn over a bustle which was less constricting than a series of hoops and accentuated the hollow of the back.  Below is a  picture of both gowns.

  At the end of the eighteenth century, the taste for simplicity and comfort was becoming more pronounced.  Paniers disappeared completely and also the robe a la francaise.  Instead the robe a l’ anglaise reappeared, slightly altered, with curved whalebone hoops at the waist.  A large fichu adorned the shoulders, sometimes crossing over the chest and tying behind.  The sleeves fitted the forearm tightly and small sleevelets of linen or lace were worn underneath.  In 1790s, the circumference of gowns grew smaller.  The waist was marked by a very broad belt that reached breast height.  The breasts were hidden behind a curtain of fabric gathered on to a cord above and below.  One particular fabric was increasingly fashionable - cotton muslin used to make single, straight gowns with long gathered sleeves and a wide ribbon around the waist.  Muslin was also used to make caracos and skirts.. Soon muslin dresses were made without hoops and the waist below the bust which marked a new style of classical inspiration.