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@fatphobiabusters

@fuckyeahfatpositive

Sure! I think it’s a good time to go back to the basics for anyone who is new in the 18th century fashion.

The robe à la française and the robe à l’anglaise are the two iconic dresses of the century, and are practically the base for all other dresses. Both dresses change silhouettes, skirt shapes, volume and details, through the century, but remained clearly differentiated from one another.

First of all, we have the names you can find both gowns known as:

Robe à la française. Meaning “French gown” or “French style gown”, can be also known as: sack back gown, sacque, or Watteau gown (if you find 19th century info about this dress, you might find this term, that is not contemporary of the 18th century). When people think of 18th century womenswear, they usually think of this dress.

robe à la française, 1765-70 // robe à la française, 1740s // robe à la française, 1710-1770, all The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Robe à l’anglaise. Literally “English style gown”. Also known as close-bodied gown, or English gown.

robe à l’anglaise, 1785-87 // robe à l’anglaise, 1750-75 // robe à l’anglaise, 1750-75, all The Metropolitan Museum of Art

These two dresses might share several details in design, but the key difference is simply the back:

Loose pleats for the robe à la française, and fitted pleats for the anglaise (yes! Those are not cuts, but pleats in the back, stitched to fit close to the body!)

Robe à la française, 1750-1770, Met Museum // Robe à l’anglaise, ca. 1770, both The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Traditionally, a French gown has an open front with a stomacher, and an English gown has a closed front, but they can have any kind of front, since what gives them the name, are the backs.

robe à la française, 1775-80 // robe à la française, ca. 1760 // robe à la française, 1770-75, all The Metropolitan Museum of Art

robe à l’anglaise, ca. 1770 // robe à l’anglaise, ca. 1770 // robe à l’anglaise, ca. 1745, altered 1770s, all The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Both dresses can also be worn retousèe or à la polonaise, which is when you lift the back of the upper skirt with ties or though the pockets, BUT a robe à la polonaise is a different kind of dress!

Robe retroussee dans les poches, 1780, Kyoto Costume Insitute // robe à la polonaise, ca. 1780, Met Museum

However, many people associate sailors, especially when it comes to pirates, with a very special companion. The Bird, mostly a parrot.

Already Columbus brought back five long-tailed macaws from his voyage in 1492 and sixty parrots from his next voyage. They were not only fabulous gifts for his patrons, but also tangible proof of his discoveries. As a result a real hype broke out. And many ships that were on their way to foreign worlds during the Age of Discovery brought back home beautiful and rare birds. But not only as companions during the voyage but rather to sell them. At home a sailor could get up to 10£ for a bird, a good profit. And they were easy to handle during the crossing, they hardly took up any space and feeding was possible with leftover food. The value of a bird could be increased by teaching it to talk and some tricks. This kept the birds busy on board and provided a fuller purse when the animal was sold.

Pirate with a Parrot by Thomas Blackshear ; Long John Silver and his Parrot by N. C. Wyeth 1911

Others tried to sell these animals, not only parrots, to faculties as research objects. This meant that researchers who could not travel themselves had a certain quota and, together with the travel reports, which the captains were also happy to sell, they had a basis for researching such exotics. But not only birds were brought home, monkeys were also very popular. Small anecdote from my own family, my great great grandfather, lieutenant of the German Imperial Navy, had taken a monkey home for his daughter, my great grandmother, when he was in Africa. But the animal didn’t live long, on the one hand he had problems with the North German weather and on the other, a power line he had climbed on was his end.

Signalman Tim Ryley with his beloved, but vexatious, parrot Mac, 1908; Woman at the Piano with Cockatoo by Gustave Léonard de Jonghe, 1870

Some of them were not sold, but travelled with the captains as companions. Admiral Thomas Cochrane reports in his autobiography that when he sailed with his uncle Captain Alexander Cochrane on the HMS Thetis in 1794 (he served there as a midshipman) there was a parrot on board. This bird was even allowed to fly freely on deck. Much to everyone’s chagrin, however, this animal had learned to speak and liked to imitate orders, which caused great confusion. For example, the parrot made sure that a lady who was brought on board with a boatswain’s chair was pushed into the sea just because the bird shouted “Let go”. The Astrolabe, a French research vessel that sailed to Antarctica in 1837 under the command of Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville, had a cockatoo on board. This animal was probably much appreciated even though it had destroyed the captain’s barometer.

Nehemiah Slade, Able Seaman with his Parrot, Master and Commander

Hi, sorry to tell you but there is no such thing as "traditional Chinese sleepwear". Before the 20th century, Chinese people went to sleep in their undergarments or whatever was comfortable and clean----quite a universal practice. For night-time, garments worn by Ming and Qing women included:

抹胸 moxiong or 主腰 zhuyao, a sort of unstiffened corset-like undergarment buttoned at the front or tied at the back

A plain undershirt, which could be closed by a 交领 jialong crossover collar or 对襟 duijin center front button closure, depending on the era. These wouldn't be too long, usually hip length

A plain pair of underpants; I talked about the construction of Ming and Qing women's pants in this post

If the weather is cold, an optional 肚兜 dudou, a sleeveless apron-like undergarment, underneath the undershirt. This is more of a Qing Dynasty thing though

If the woman binds her feet, then also binding cloth and a pair of slippers

I think the only item here specific to sleeping is the slippers for bound feet. Women with bound feet only wore slippers for sleeping and would put on regular shoes if going out.

In the Republican era (1912-49), more specific styles of sleepwear emerged, often heavily influenced by popular Western styles of sleepwear. Prior to the 1930s, there were pyjama sets that resembled fashionable aoku (robe and pants) in silhouette, but were made of softer, more comfortable materials. From the 1930s on, Western sleepwear like bathrobes, slip dresses and pyjama sets were more popular. These were usually made of pink or peachy colored fabrics with a satin texture, and frequently featured lace trims. An interesting sleepwear phenomenon was night- or dressing gowns with shoulder pads from the 1940s, which you could catch a glimpse of in the 1947 movie Long Live the Missus.

Source

Ca. 1925 lounge- or sleepwear.

Source

1930s pyjama sets.

Source

1930s sleepwear in dress form.

Hungarian hunting sword, late 18th century

Scary Japanese Monsters — The Giant Firebreathing Chicken