#Robe à la Française

[history-of-fashion]

1770-1775 Robe à la française, consisting of an overcoat and skirt

silk

(Centraal Museum, Utrecht)

[iridessence]

*a string quartet plays softly in the distance* | IG

[digitalfashionmuseum]

Purple Silk Robe à la Française, 1770-1775, English.

Victoria and Albert Museum.

[heaveninawildflower]

Woman’s Dress (Robe à la française). France (1760s-1770s).

Silk taffeta.

Images and text information courtesy LACMA.

[spitalfields-silk]

A woman's sack and petticoat, 1770-75, English; white figured satin, brocaded with coloured silks, Spitalfields, 1750s; updated 1775-80

[empirearchives]

18th century dresses at Malmaison in France. Current exhibition from the Château de Bois-Préau: 1769, Corsica at the Birth of Napoleon Bonaparte

For several years, the National Museum of the House of Bonaparte in Ajaccio, Napoleon's birthplace where his family lived since the end of the 15th century, has been exploring with talent the history of Corsican society, the architecture of patrician houses, their furnishings and the art of living in Corsica in the 18th century.

For the first time, the synthesis of this work will be presented at the National Museum of châteaux des Malmaison and Bois-Préau on the ground floor of the newly restored Château de Bois-Préau.

[gogmstuff]

Early 1730s dresses (from top to bottom) -

1730 Tea Party at Lord Harrington's by C. Phillips detail (Yale Center for British Art, Yale University - New Haven, Connecticut, USA). Probably from Wikimedia; fixed spots with Pshop 1247X1623. There are many caps and veils, square necklines, and laced bodices with revers. But full-blown panniers are not to be seen.

1730 Marquise de Gueydan as Flora by Nicolas de Largillière (Musée Granee - Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France). From cutlermiles.com/portrait-of-marquise-de-gueydan-as-flora-nicolas-de-largilliere/ 1908X2484. She wears a stout Swiss belt and cleft coiffure that harken back to the late Louis XIV era.

ca. 1730 Empress Elisabeth Christine by Johann Gottfried Auerbach (auctioned, probably by Lempertz). From Wikimedia trimmed 1715X2352. She wears a round skirt and a scoop neckline.

ca. 1730 Polyxena of Hesse-Rotenburg, Queen of Sardinia by Maria Giovanna Clementi (location ?). From tumblr.com/blog/view/jeannepompadour; enlarged by half 1053X1385. Her dress has a deep V neckline filled in by a modesty piece.

ca. 1730 Rhoda Apreece, Mrs Francis Blake Delaval attributed to Enoch Seeman the Younger (Seaton Delaval - Seaton Sluice, Northumberland, UK). From artuk.org; enlarged by half 994X1200. The ruff makes this a Van Dyck revival dress. The laced vest and jaunty hat lend a casual air to the portrait.

ca. 1730 Robe volante (Musée de la Mode - Paris, France). From fripperiesandfobs.tumblr.com-post-139802377452-robe-volante-ca-1730-from-the-palais-galliera 1140X1620. Dresses before the 1750s often had cuffs that could be substantial like these.

1731 Die Liebeserklärung by Jean François de Troy (Sanssouci, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin - Brandenburg, Germany). From artsandculture.google.com/asset/die-liebeserklärung-jean-françois-de-troy/XAFpCyLiWrxHZw?h 3074X24.12. Known in the Anglophone world as “The Declaration of Love. The large patterns mark this as early century. The robe à la française is firmly established in the form it would take until the late Louis XVI period.

1731 Infanta Maria Teresa Antonia de Borbón by Jean Ranc (Museo del Prado - Madrid, Spain). From their Web site; removed spots and streaks with Photoshop 2621X3051. Spain was ruled by Borbóns after the last Habsburg was cleared out in the early 1700s.

1731 Julia Calverley, Lady Trevelyan, by Enoch Seeman the Younger (Wallington Hall - Wallington, Northumberland, UK). From nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/584399; erased navigation marks in corners & fixed spots w Pshop 1616X1992. Clasps replace lacing to close this bodice.

1731 Lady by John Vanderbank (location ?). From the Philip Mould Historical Portraits Image Library 920X1214. The dress is Van Dyck revival similar to the one worn by Rhoda Apreece.

[costumeloverz71]

Robe à la française  c. 1760-1770

[medici-collar]

"Mrs Washington sends home a Green Sack to get cleand, or fresh dyed of the same colour—made up into a handsome Sack again woud be her choice, but if the Cloth wont afford that, then to be thrown into a genteel Night Gown."

George Washington to Robert Cary & Company 28 September 1760

Ordering goods from Great Britain through the London based merchant house Robert Cary and Company, George inclosed his wife’s dress to be dyed and sewn again into a sack (Robe à la Française) or into a Night Gown, which is an 18th century term for Robe à l’Anglaise.

This is interesting as this letter implies that the Washingtons could not find a suitable mantua-maker in Virginia to refashion the gown. Instead Martha preferred to send her dress to England, which could take various months arrive back. Washington’s previous two orders had taken six months and ten months. This demonstrates how dependent the then British colonies were on products from their mother country. 

In early August 1761, after ten months, Martha received her newly dyed gown, which had been sewn into a sack again, back. 

[killem-all-if-they-wont-eat-cake]

Beautiful robe à la française made for me by the talented Madame Jejette (a.k.a Anna Nurzyńska) from Atelier Saint-Honoré in Warsaw, Poland. Can’t wait to have it in person!

[history-of-fashion]

1760s Robe à la française (France)

cotton

(Metropolitan Museum of Art)

[iridessence]

a snap from the fête. // IG

[digitalfashionmuseum]

Blue Quilted Silk Robe à la Française, ca. 1750, European.

Met Museum.

[heaveninawildflower]

Woman's Dress (Robe à la française and Petticoat). France or England (1760-1765).

Silk with silk and metallic-thread supplementary-weft patterning and metallic-thread lace.

Images and text information courtesy LACMA.

[spitalfields-silk]

A woman's sack, petticoat and stomacher, 1765-70, British; Cream figured ground brocaded floral sprigs, Spitalfields, 1765-70, silk fringe; altered 1870-1910

[empirearchives]

I had no idea this meme painting was made by Jacques-Louis David 😂😂

Also, he made it the year Napoleon was born, 1769