This dressing gown changed fashion forever : the feminist history of going out in loungewear

Historical women would fight the patriarchy by wearing loungewear in public! Dressing gowns have a fascinating role in fashion history. On pajama days, I've enjoyed hanging out on Quilt! Join me for Jenell's Conscious Coffee on 4/19 at 7am PST by downloading here: https://bit.ly/SnappyDragon_Quilt

Yes, the iconic robe francaise, the French court gown we think of at Versailles, was a fancy dressing gown. Loungewear outfits for wearing in public may feel like a very modern fashion, but they're at least 300 years old. There are so many historical loungewear looks we're familiar with-- we just don't know that they were daytime pajamas, or how proto feminist women wore them to fight sexism! This story begins with the 17th century court ladies who rejected uncomfortable dresses and instead made high-fashion gowns called mantuas out of a bathrobe. Women dressmakers who made those gowns fought for the right to have their trade recognized, and suddenly women had a career option that would give them equivalent status and income to male tailors working in the same industry. The mantua spawned several other loungewear style dresses, including the robe volante and the robe a la française. Even after fashion changed, Victorian women were still the subject of much debate when they chose to go out in Mother Hubbard dressing gowns! Men simply couldn't stand the sight of women wearing clothes that weren't designed for the male gaze, and there are a treasure trove of incensed letters in newspapers, very much like a Victorian list of Fashion Trends Men Hate. Some towns even went as far as outlawing the Mother Hubbard dress! So anytime you wear loungewear for work, or spend the whole day in a fancy dressing gown, know that you are fighting the patriarchy in a way that many women before you have.

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