Dress

Unknown

1819–23 · silk · Costume Institute

As the nineteenth century progressed, the waistline slowly began to drop from immediately under the bust towards the natural waist. Although this gown reflects the reigning essentially columnular silhouette of the Empire, it retains vestiges of pre-revolutionary styles in its applied ornament that suggests the decorated stomacher and overskirt of the open robe of the ancien regime.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1819–23

Medium

silk

Culture

European

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Gift of Mr. Lee Simonson, 1939