Sack back dress
Category
Costume
Date
1770 - 1775
Materials
Silk, linen and metal
Measurements
510 mm (W)
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Snowshill Wade Costume Collection, Gloucestershire
NT 1348709
Caption
The sack, also called a sacque or robe à la française, was one of the three principal styles of women’s dress in the 18th century. Broad box pleats, which fall from the shoulders at the back, characterise the gown’s construction, silhouette and decoration. In this example, their arrangement is carefully placed to harmonise vertical stripes of fine, deep-cherry ribbed French silk and cream satin weave. The horizontal arrangement of the design on the stomacher and edges of the robe contrasts with dramatic effect. A brocaded pattern of meandering flowers in pinks and greens, and layered sleeve flounces with scalloped edges trimmed with red silk braid, soften the gown. Both features demonstrate the Rococo influence on fashionable dress. A loose, informal gown in the early part of the century, the sack evolved into a more structured garment from the 1720s, when it became fashionable daywear. By the 1760s it had replaced the mantua as the preferred style of formal dress at court, where it remained in fashion into the 1780s. Kate Bethune
Summary
Dress; Sack dress - Part of a silk dress, wide stripes of cherry red rib and cream satin weave. Brocaded pattern of small scale meandering flower design in green and two shades of pink. Self-coloured selvedge. Bodice and sleeves lined with bleached linen. centre buttoned stomacher of same fabric with self covered buttons. Self fabric trimmings edged with matching silk and wire braid round front edges of robe and stomacher.
Provenance
Mrs Solomon. £10.10.0. November 27 1913.
References
Bradfield, 1968: Nancy Bradfield, Costume in Detail, 1730-1930, Harrop, London, 1968, pp.35-38. Jane Ashleford, The Art of Dress. Clothes and Society 1500-1914, The National Trust, 1996, p.144. 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. 82-83. Arnold 1977: Janet Arnold, Patterns of Fashion 1: Englishwomen’s dresses and their construction c.1660-1860, Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1977, p. 34.