Robe à l'anglaise

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Large eighteenth-century rooms with their high ceilings could be very cold in the winter, even when a fire was blazing on the hearth. English ladies wore quilted petticoats to fight the chill and continued the fashion out of doors during the cool days of spring. These petticoats, sewn in brightly colored silks and stains, were elaborately quilted all over in fanciful patterns, not just in front, where the overdress was drawn away. This glazed chintz day dress is a rare surviving example of the elaborate floral chintzes loved by the English in the second and third quarters of the century.

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