Tea gown

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This tea gown, composed of a cut-up wool shawl woven in a paisley pattern, imitates a black-centered Indian Kashmir shawl. In fact, the material was probably woven in France during the 1860s or 1870s. On the upper right corner of the bodice is embroidered "Cachemire" in white thread. Such a tea gown, intended for gender-segregated leisure, is the feminine analogue to the man's dressing gown or smoking jacket.

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