An evening gown, evening dress or gown is a long dress usually worn at formal occasions. The drop ranges from ballerina, tea, to full-length. Such gowns are typically worn with evening gloves. Evening gowns are usually made of luxurious fabrics such as chiffon, velvet, satin, or organza. Silk is a popular fibre for many evening gowns. Although the terms are used interchangeably, ball gowns and evening gowns differ in that a ball gown will always have a full skirt and a fitted bodice, while an evening gown can be any silhouette—sheath, mermaid, fit and flare, A-line, or trumpet-shaped—and may have straps, halters or even sleeves.
A mantua is an article of women's clothing worn in the late 17th century and 18th century. Initially a loose gown, the later mantua was an overgown or robe typically worn over stays, stomacher and either a co-ordinating or contrasting petticoat.
Panniers or side hoops are women's undergarments worn in the 17th and 18th centuries to extend the width of the skirts at the side while leaving the front and back relatively flat. This provided a panel where woven patterns, elaborate decorations and rich embroidery could be displayed and fully appreciated.
A stomacher is a decorated triangular panel that fills in the front opening of a woman's gown or bodice. The stomacher may be boned, as part of a stays, or may cover the triangular front of a corset. If simply decorative, the stomacher lies over the triangular front panel of the stays, being either stitched or pinned into place, or held in place by the lacings of the gown's bodice.
A riding habit is women's clothing for horseback riding.
Fashion in the years 1750–1775 in European countries and the colonial Americas was characterised by greater abundance, elaboration and intricacy in clothing designs, loved by the Rococo artistic trends of the period. The French and English styles of fashion were very different from one another. French style was defined by elaborate court dress, colourful and rich in decoration, worn by such iconic fashion figures as Marie Antoinette.
Fashion in the period 1600–1650 in Western clothing is characterized by the disappearance of the ruff in favour of broad lace or linen collars. Waistlines rose through the period for both men and women. Other notable fashions included full, slashed sleeves and tall or broad hats with brims. For men, hose disappeared in favour of breeches.
Fashion in the period 1650–1700 in Western clothing is characterized by rapid change. The style of this era is known as Baroque. Following the end of the Thirty Years' War and the Restoration of England's Charles II, military influences in men's clothing were replaced by a brief period of decorative exuberance which then sobered into the coat, waistcoat and breeches costume that would reign for the next century and a half. In the normal cycle of fashion, the broad, high-waisted silhouette of the previous period was replaced by a long, lean line with a low waist for both men and women. This period also marked the rise of the periwig as an essential item of men's fashion.
The robe à la polonaise or polonaise, literally meaning the Polish dress, is a woman's garment of the 18th century 1770s and 1780s or a similar revival style of the 1870s inspired by Polish national dress style, costume, consisting of a gown with a cutaway, draped and swagged overskirt, worn over an underskirt or petticoat. From the 18th century, the term polonaise also described a fitted overdress which extended into long panels over the underskirt, but was not necessarily draped or swagged.
Fashion in the period 1700–1750 in European and European-influenced countries is characterized by a widening silhouette for both men and women following the tall, narrow look of the 1680s and 90s. This era is defined as late Baroque/Rococo style. The new fashion trends introduced during this era had a greater impact on society, affecting not only royalty and aristocrats, but also middle and even lower classes. Clothing during this time can be characterized by soft pastels, light, airy, and asymmetrical designs, and playful styles. Wigs remained essential for men and women of substance, and were often white; natural hair was powdered to achieve the fashionable look. The costume of the eighteenth century, if lacking in the refinement and grace of earlier times, was distinctly quaint and picturesque.
A banyan is a garment worn by European men and women in the late 17th and 18th century, influenced by the Japanese kimono brought to Europe by the Dutch East India Company in the mid-17th century. "Banyan" is also commonly used in present-day Indian English and other countries in the Indian subcontinent to mean "vest" or "undershirt".
A Brunswick gown or Brunswick is a two-piece woman's gown of the mid-eighteenth century.
A justacorps or justaucorps is a knee-length coat worn by men in the latter half of the 17th century and throughout the 18th century. It is of French origin, and was introduced in England as a component of a three-piece ensemble, which also included breeches and a long vest or waistcoat. This ensemble served as the prototype of the frock coat, which in turn evolved into the modern-day three-piece suit.
A fichu is a large, square kerchief worn by women to fill in the low neckline of a bodice.
A dress is a garment traditionally worn by women or girls consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice. It consists of a top piece that covers the torso and hangs down over the legs. A dress can be any one-piece garment containing a skirt of any length, and can be formal or casual.
The sack-back gown or robe à la française was a women's fashion of 18th century Europe. At the beginning of the century, the sack-back gown was a very informal style of dress. At its most informal, it was unfitted both front and back and called a sacque, contouche, or robe battante. By the 1770s the sack-back gown was second only to court dress in its formality. This style of gown had fabric at the back arranged in box pleats which fell loose from the shoulder to the floor with a slight train. In front, the gown was open, showing off a decorative stomacher and petticoat. It would have been worn with a wide square hoop or panniers under the petticoat. Scalloped ruffles often trimmed elbow-length sleeves, which were worn with separate frills called engageantes.
A close-bodied gown, English nightgown, or robe à l'anglaise was a women's fashion of the 18th century. Like the earlier mantua, from which it evolved, the back of the gown featured pleats from the shoulder, stitched down to mould the gown closely to the body until the fullness was released into the skirt.
Fashion in the twenty years between 1775 and 1795 in Western culture became simpler and less elaborate. These changes were a result of emerging modern ideals of selfhood, the declining fashionability of highly elaborate Rococo styles, and the widespread embrace of the rationalistic or "classical" ideals of Enlightenment philosophes.
A mantua from the collection at Kimberley Hall in Norfolk is the earliest complete European women's costume in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Also known as the Kimberley Gown, this formal dress is a mantua, a two-piece costume consisting of a draped open robe and a matching underskirt or petticoat, and has been dated to ca. 1690–1700.
A casaquin is a short-length closely fitted coat worn by middle- and upper-class women during the 18th century. The garment was popular in both France and Italy. A casaquin was made from linen which was then covered by embroidery, silk and lace to decorate. The design was influenced by religious beliefs or events as well as reflecting on stylistic features of the time or of individual designers. Casaquins were worn by a range of females—from working-class women to upper-class ladies. The casaquin even influenced women from the Netherlands during the 18th century to introduce their own version of a casaquin called a "Kassekijntje".
