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A bedgown (sometimes bed gown, bedjacket or shortgown) is an article of women's clothing for the upper body, usually thigh-length and wrapping or tying in front. Bedgowns of lightweight printed cotton fabric were fashionable at-home morning wear in the 18th century. Over time, bedgowns (also called in this context shortgowns) became the staple upper garment of British and American female working-class street wear from the 18th to early 19th centuries, worn over petticoats and often topped with an apron. Made of sturdy cotton, linen, wool or linsey-woolsey, these bedgowns were simply cut to a T-shaped pattern, and were worn overlapped in front or with the front skirts cutaway.[1] The term "bed gown" to describe this item of clothing was used as late as 1876.[2]
In the Welsh spelling betgwn, the bedgown is part of traditional Welsh costume.[3]
Bedgowns lingered as fashion garments into the mid-20th century, usually under the newer name bedjackets, in the form of short robes or wrappers worn over a nightgown or negligee for warmth and modesty while sitting up in bed for breakfast, reading, or similar pursuits. They had mostly fallen out of fashion by the 1960s.
See also
- 1750–75 in Western fashion
References
- ^ Baumgarten 2002, p. 116-119.
- ^ Baumgarten 2002, p. 116.
- ^ "Welsh costume: flannel 'betgwn' or bedgown, 19th century (front view) [image 1 of 3]". People's Collection Wales. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
- Ashelford, Jane: The Art of Dress: Clothes and Society 1500–1914, Abrams, 1996. (ISBN 0-8109-6317-5)
- Baumgarten, Linda (2002). What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300095807.