Overview in court dress playing the
viola de gamba, , by
Jean-Marc Nattier Women's clothing styles emphasized a narrow, inverted conical torso, achieved with boned stays, above full skirts.
Hoop skirts continued to be worn, reaching their largest size in the 1750s, and were sometimes replaced by side-hoops, also called 'false hips', or
panniers.
Gowns The usual fashion of the years 1750–1775 was a low-necked
gown (usually called a ), worn over a petticoat. Most gowns had skirts that opened in front to show the petticoat worn beneath. If the bodice of the gown was open in front, the opening was filled in with a decorative
stomacher, pinned to the gown over the laces or to the stays beneath. Close-fitting sleeves just past the elbow were trimmed with frills or ruffles, and separate under-ruffles of lace or fine linen were
tacked to either the inside of the gown's sleeves, or to the
shift or chemise sleeves. The neckline was trimmed with a fabric or lace ruffle, or a neckerchief called a
fichu could be tucked into the low neckline. Women would also sometimes wear a neckerchief or a more formal lace modesty piece, particularly on low-cut dresses. The or
sack-back gown featured back pleats hanging loosely from the neckline. A fitted bodice held the front of the gown closely to the figure. The or
close-bodied gown featured back pleats sewn in place to fit closely to the body, and then released into the skirt which would be draped in various ways. The
Brunswick dress was a two-piece costume of German origin consisting of a hip-length jacket with "split sleeves"—flounced elbow-length sleeves and long, tight lower sleeves—and a hood, worn with a matching petticoat. It was popular for traveling. Court dress, the or
"stiff-bodied" gown, retained the styles of the 1670s. It featured a low, oval neckline that bared the shoulders, and the heavily boned bodice laced closed in back, unlike the front-opening robe. The elbow-length sleeves were covered with tiers of lace flounces, echoing the full-sleeved chemise worn with the original style. Front-wrapping thigh-length "shortgowns" or
bedgowns of lightweight printed cotton fabric were fashionable at-home morning wear, worn with petticoats. Over time, bedgowns became the staple upper garment of British and American female working-class street wear. As in previous periods, the traditional
riding habit consisted of a tailored jacket like a man's coat, worn with a high-necked shirt, a waistcoat, a petticoat, and a hat. Alternatively, the jacket and a false waistcoat-front might be a made as a single garment, and later in the period a simpler riding jacket and petticoat—without waistcoat—could be worn.
Underwear The shift,
chemise (in France), or smock, had a low neckline and elbow-length sleeves which were full early in the period and became increasingly narrow as the century progressed.
Drawers had been worn by at least some women since 1665. The long-waisted, heavily boned "stays" of the
early 1740s with their narrow back, wide front, and shoulder straps gave way by the 1760s to strapless stays which still were cut high at the armpit, to encourage a woman to stand with her shoulders slightly back, a fashionable posture. The fashionable shape was a rather conical torso, with large hips. The waist was not particularly small. Stays were laced snugly, but comfortably. They offered back support for heavy lifting, and poor and middle-class women were able to work comfortably in them. Free-hanging pockets were tied around the waist and were accessed through "pocket slits" in the side-seams of the gown or petticoat. Woollen or quilted waistcoats were worn over the stays and under the gown for warmth, as were petticoats quilted with wool batting, especially in the cold climates of northern Europe and America. In the 1770s stays began to be produced so they would end higher on a woman's body. Phillip Vicker complained: "For the late importation of Stays which are said to be now most fashionable in London, are produced upwards so high that we can have scarce any view at all of the Ladies Snowy Bosoms".
Shoes Shoes had high, curved heels—the origin of modern "louis heels"—and were made of fabric or leather, with separate
shoe buckles. These were either shiny metal, usually in silver—sometimes with the metal cut into false stones in the Paris style—or with paste stones, although there were other types.
Hairstyles and headgear By the 1770s extreme hairstyles and
wigs had come into fashion. Women wore their hair
high upon their heads, in large plumes. To create tall extreme hair, rolls of horse hair, tow, or wool were used to raise up the front of the hair. The front of the hair was then frizzed out, or arranged in roll curls and set horizontally on the head. Women turned their hair up in the back often in a knot. In addition, pomatum and false hair was used to give more height to the hair. Pomatum was paste that women used to stiffen their hair. Pomatum was also used to hold powder, which women put in their hair. The Pomatum was made of many ingredients including hog's grease, tallow, or a mix of beef marrow and oil.
Women's style gallery File:Anna Bacherini Piattoli.jpg|1 – Image:Maurice Quentin de La Tour - Madame de Pompadour dans son cabinet de travail.jpg|2 – 1755 Image:Pompadour .jpg|3 – 1759 File:Elisabeth Freudenreich 1760.jpg|4 – 1760 File:Lady Susan Fox-Strangways.jpg|5 – 1761 File:Denner - Queen Charlotte, 1761.jpg|6 – 1761 File:Lucretia Chandler, Mrs. John Murray, 1763, by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) - Worcester Art Museum - IMG 7698.JPG|7 – 1763 File:Mrs Benjamin Pickman by John Singleton Copley.jpeg|8 – 1763 File:John Singleton Copley Mrs. Epes Sargent II 1764.jpg|9 – 1764 File:Marie Antoinette in a red hunting habit-1772.jpg|10 – 1771 Image:Mrs John Winthrop.jpg|11 – 1773 Image:Trinquesse1.jpg|12 – 1774 File:Hedvig_Elisabeth_Charlottas_bil%C3%A4gersdr%C3%A4kt_-_Livrustkammaren_-_56681.tif|13 – 1774 File:Roslin_Alexander_-_Hedvig_Elisabeth_Charlotta_av_Holstein-Gottorp2.jpg|14 – 1774 • Self-portrait of Anna Bacherini Piattoli wearing a
Brunswick. • A 1755 portrait of
Madame de Pompadour wearing a floral gown with matching petticoat. Her sleeves end in flounces worn over lace engageantes. Her stomacher is decorated with a vertical row of ribbon bows. • A 1759 portrait of Madame de Pompadour shows her petticoat trimmed with flounces to match her gown. She wears a small lace ruff around her neck. • Elisabeth Freudenrich wears a gown trimmed with silk ribbons. Her hair is dressed high and two curls frame her neck, 1760. • Lady Susan Fox-Strangways's gown is worn with wide, tiered engageantes, 1761. • Queen Charlotte wears an elaborate neck ruffle with a large diamond brooch with her court gown. Her figure shows the full, rounded bust and small waist created by narrow-backed stays, 1761. • In the American colonies Mrs. John Murray wears a simple gown with cuffed sleeves, 1763. • Mrs. Benjamin Pickman, the wife of a wealthy merchant of Salem, Massachusetts, wears a blue silk gown with robings. She carries a parasol, 1763. • Mrs. Epes Sargent II wears a dark blue riding habit and carries a plumed hat, Massachusetts, 1764. • Marie Antoinette at age 15 wears a riding habit with a striped waistcoat. Her hair is tied back and she wears a tricorn hat, France, 1771. • Mrs John Winthrop of Boston, Massachusetts, in the fashionable dress of 1773. Her indoor cap is trimmed with striped and dotted ribbons, and her gown is trimmed with "robings" of ruched fabric—strips of fabric gathered on two sides. A lace fichu fills in her neckline. • Side view of a frock of 1774 shows pleated robings and striped ribbon rosettes. • Wedding dress of
Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp made of silver brocade, 1774. • Portrait of
Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp wearing the same dress as in the previous picture, 1774.
French fashion File:After Liotard - Princess Sophie of France.png|France, 1750 File:Madame Adélaïde de France tenant un éventail by the studio of J.-M. Nattier.jpg|France, 1752 File:Jean-Marc Nattier 003.jpg|France, 1754 File:Jean-Marc Nattier, Madame Adélaïde de France faisant des nœuds (1756) - 002.jpg|France, 1756 File:Nattier, Jean Marc - Marie Adélaïde of France - Louvre INV 6892.jpg|France, 1758 File:Portrait of Julie de Thellusson-Ployard.jpg|France, 1760 File:Drouais - Madame Sophie de France (1734-1782) - Metropolitan Museum of Art.jpg|France, 1762 File:Nivelon - Marie Josèphe of Saxony - Versailles MV 3797.jpg|France, 1764 File:Boucher - Bergeret NGA.jpg|France, 1766 File:Marie Joséphine Buron par David.jpg|France, 1769 File:Louise-Marie de France, dite Madame Louise (1737-1787).jpg|France, 1770 File:Madame de Provence by Drouais in 1772.png|France, 1772 File:Drouais - Marie Therese de Savoie, comtesse d'Artois - Versailles.jpg|France, 1775
British fashion File:Arthur Pond Rhoda Delaval, Lady Astley (1725 - 1757), circa 1750, Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland, Yorkshire and North East, National Trust.jpg|England, 1750 File:Elizabeth gunning02.jpg|England, 1752 File:Mrs John Brown (Jane Lucas) 1754 by Joseph Blackburn.jpg|England, 1754 File:Sarah Ursula Rose MET ap64.309.2.jpg|England, 1756 File:Ann Fairchild Bowler by John Singleton Copley.jpg|England, 1758 File:'Mrs. Nathaniel Loring' by Joseph Badger, Dayton Art Institute.JPG|England, 1760 File:Ann Saltonstall 1762 by Joseph Blackburn.jpg|England, 1762 File:Thomas Gainsborough - Mary, Countess of Howe - WGA08407.jpg|England, 1764 File:Lady Holland by Ramsay.jpg|England, 1766 File:Gainsborough - Mary Montagu, Duchess of Montagu (1711-1775).jpg|England, 1768 File:Thomas Gainsborough - Retrato de Senhora John Bolton.jpg|England, 1770 File:Dorothy Quincy Hancock.jpg|England, 1772 File:Frances Abington, as Lady Bab Lardoon in 'The Maid of the Oaks' by Thomas Hickey now in the Garrick Club.jpg|England, 1775
German fashion == Men's fashion ==