Dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The robe à l'anglaise, with open robe and petticoat, was the quintessential dress of the 1770s. The exquisite brocaded silk textile of this gown was probably the product of Spitalfields, the important silk manufacturing center just outside of London, and dates to the late 1730s to early 1740s. Previous stitch marks and the early date of the textile suggest that this dress has been remade from an earlier style. The high cost of silk made reusing fabric from outdated garments a common practice.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art