Open robe
Category
Costume
Date
1718 - 1720
Materials
Linen, Silk brocade
Measurements
560 mm (W)560 mm (Length)
Order this imageCollection
Snowshill Wade Costume Collection, Gloucestershire
NT 1348701
Caption
Fashionable throughout most of the 18th century, open robes are dresses where the edges of the bodice do not meet, so that the front of the petticoat is prominently displayed. The wearer put them on a bit like a coat. A stomacher was pinned in place at the front of the bodice. This example is made from a striking apple-green English-silk brocade accented with coral pink, mistletoe green and ivory. Wide sleeves and skirt panels and deep cuffs help to show off the large scale of the floral design to best effect. The pattern is similar to a design by the eminent Huguenot silk designer and master weaver James Leman (1688–1745), who worked in the Spitalfields area of London. The robe has been extensively altered, and the stomacher and petticoat no longer survive. A photograph from 1925 (NT 1336738) shows a woman wearing the gown as fancy dress at Snowshill Manor, alongside Charles Paget Wade (1883–1956) and other adults and children who are also in 18th-century dress.
Summary
Dress; Open robe - Apple green ground silk brocade with large scale formalised floral design arranged in wide stripes in coral pink, deep mistletoe green and ivory. Bodice lined with unbleached linen. Sleeves lined with deep apple green taffeta. Seamed at waist. Bodice front plain, meeting edge-to-edge. Shallow 'V' neck. Narrow strip over shoulder and across back neck. Back cut in one piece extending at centre into skirt, with stitched-down pleats to waist. Wide sleeves with deep turn back cuff. Skirt of 7 widths of fabric, deeply pleated at back and side front into triangular extensions at waist side. Untrimmed. Modern tape ties at centre front bodice and back inside waist. Bodice front has been altered - originally much longer and possibly pleated - extra fabric folder back at neck. Sleeves re-set. Shoulder pieces not as original. Waist seam stitched later with possible re-arrangement of pleating. Hem restitched. Pocket slits ovesewn. (Note by Natalie Rothstein); Fabric 1718-20. English rather than French although for English fabric wider than usual. Cf design by James Leman c. 1918-20 E. 4450-1909 V and A. Line drawing included with inventory card. (female)
Provenance
Charles Paget Wade Collection
References
Bradfield, 1968: Nancy Bradfield, Costume in Detail, 1730-1930, Harrop, London, 1968, pp.3-4. Antrobus and Slocombe 2025: Helen Antrobus and Emma Slocombe, 100 Things to Wear: Fashion from the collections of the National Trust, National Trust 2025, pp. 54-55.