What is she wearing? Underwear?! (Part 1)

A short while ago I was working on two Chemise dresses so here's a little post on the type of the dress. I'll post up some pictures of my creations in the part two as soon as I can.

I’ve managed to find only one existing example of a Chemise dress on Manchester Art Gallery website, read about it here.

Here some examples of Chemise dresses worn for paintings:

Self portrait with Wife (1791) by Jens Juel

Henriette Begouen (1790) by Alexander Roslin

Madame du Barry (1781) by Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun

A painting of two women by Pehr Hilleström

Comtesse de Provence (1782) by Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun

Danish Princess Louise Augusta (1790s) by Jens Juel

Madame de Moreton (1782) by Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun

Louise Augusta (1780) by Jens Juel

 Duchesse Polignac (1782) by Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun

The Duchesse de Polignac (1783) by Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun

Lady Elizabeth Foster (1785) by Angelica Kauffmann

Portrait of a Lady with a Book (1785)by Antoine Vestier

Lady Lemon (1788) by George Romney

And some fashion plates of Chemise dresses:

Chemise dress in 1787

Promenade dress with a green underskirt 1780

Chemise dress 1789

An English Morning dress 1788

French revoulutionary fashion plate: January 1792

The word Chemise refers to underwear because the shift was called chemise in french. The dress is also often called Chemise à la Reine (”in the style of the Queen”) which refers to Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France. She was wearing a plain muslin Chemise dress for a painting in 1783.

A portrait of Marie Antoinette (1783) by Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Lebrun

Here's a fashion plate of Chemise dress to be worn in Petit Trianon: