fashionsfromhistory: Robe Volante c.1730 EuropeThe robe volante, or flowing robe, featured by Watt
fashionsfromhistory: Robe Volante c.1730 Europe The robe volante, or flowing robe, featured by Watteau at the center of his painting L’Enseigne de Gersaint of 1721, gave freedom and movement to the new fashion. In fact, it was not the style of gown that was new, but the use to which it was put. Worn over the boned bodice and petticoat, it had previously been worn only informally, in the privacy of the boudoir or bedroom, although its unwaisted shape sometimes made it the choice of pregnant women to disguise their condition (this, at any rate, was how it was worn by Madame de Montespan, whose little ruse fooled nobody: as soon as she appeared in the gown, the whole court realised immediately the nature of the happy event in prospect for the king’s favorite mistress). -Dress in France in the Eighteenth Century by Madeleine Delpierre MFA -- source link
#18th century#robe volante