Robe à la française

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Growing out of the fantastical atmosphere of the eighteenth–century French aristocratic milieu, and conceived as often by ennui as by personal vanity, the fashions embodied by the ever-formal robe à la française were the product of an age that sought at any cost to convey extreme grace and aesthetic perfection. This piece is imbued with the luxury and ostentation inherent in the era's metallic embroidered silks and serpentine floral textile patterns. The playfulness of the delicate hand-painted silk taffeta sufficiently showcases the Watteau (after the eponymous artist), or sacque back of the robe, reinterpreted from the seventeenth–century gown to incorporate two expansive pleats from the neckline at back. Though this piece does not demonstrate the extremity of the eighteenth–century silhouette as required by French Court dress, it clearly champions panniers to support the gown and a tightly corseted bodice.

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