Chemise

Chemise An undergarment made of white linen or silk in the form of a shirt for men and a smock or shift for women. It appeared in the fourth century A.D. as body linen, rather than the tunic, under the name camisia and replaced the earlier loincloth. It continued to be worn until the end of the nineteenth century and for much of this time was a full garment, gathered into a round or square neckband, where it was embroidered and finished with a frill. Sleeves were long and full and ended in wrist ruffles.

The chemise or shirt was visible during many periods of costume – at the neck above the tunic or gown, at the wrists and, sometimes, on the sleeves, as in the fifteenth and sixteenth-century robe à l’italienne which had finestrella gown sleeves in two separate sections for upper arm and forearm. These were fastened together by laces or points and the fullness of the chemise sleeve puffed out between and at the shoulder, where the gown sleeve was fastened in a similar manner to the armhole. In the decades when the gown neck-line was very décolleté, the chemise neck-line was often low also, with its lace or frilled edging seen just above the gown. This was the fashion in the fifteenth century and again in the later seventeenth and the eighteenth century. With the three-quarter or elbow-length gown sleeves of these years, the chemise sleeve showed below ending in lace ruffles. With the scanty feminine attire of the early 1800s, layers of underwear had been drastically reduced and the chemise was left off or a simpler, sleeveless design was substituted. With the gradual return of normal underwear in the years 1810-12, the chemise was returned to favor with the petticoat. (Encyclopedia Of World Costume, Chemise)

Chemise Dress

The term “chemise dress” has traditionally been used to describe a dress cut straight at the sides and left unfitted at the waist, in the manner of the undergarment known as a chemise. This term has most often been used to describe outer garments during transitional periods in fashion (most notably during the 1780s and the 1950s), in order to distinguish new, unfitted styles from the prevailing, fitted silhouette.

In the eighteenth century, the primary female undergarment was the chemise, or shift, a knee-length, loose-fitting garment of white linen with a straight or slightly triangular silhouette. The term chemise was first used to describe an outer garment in the 1780s, when Queen Marie Antoinette of France popularized a kind of informal, loose-fitting gown of sheer white cotton, resembling a chemise in both cut and material, which became known as the chemise à la reine. After chemise dresses, cut straight and gathered to a high waist with a sash or drawstring, became the dominant fashion, around 1800, there was no longer a need to describe their silhouette, and the term “chemise” reverted almost exclusively to its former meaning. (Encyclopedia Of Clothing And Fashion, Chemise Dress)

(See also Shirt)